Thought I'd give this a go and post the results be interesting to see what others get if yooz can be bothered.



Bike is a Z on stock settings and I'm 15st. I was a bit surprised at just how much the bike sags under its own weight and didn't move much with me sat on it.

R1 750 F1 240
R2 680 F2 190
R3 660 F3 170

Free Sag Rear 70 Front 50
Ride Height Rear 90 Front 70

That looks very similar to the guidance in my Ohlins manual, which I'm yet to attempt.

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I've been wondering about fiddling with the spring preload on my Ten over the past few weeks, but feel a bit out of my depth. The bike seems to ride softer than it did 12 months ago when new. I've covered nearly 9,000 miles now, so I guess the springs have softened up?

I assume adding a bit of preload to the springs will help things along a bit, but the question is how much. Based on your details I guess I'm looking at additional compression of just 20mm difference between the bike without me on it, and with me on it. (I'm sure it sags far more than this at the moment).

I think rider sag is more important then free sag.
Lot of sag on Z model. Is it same on X? I know racing bikes have around 30mm in front and rear of rider sag. Kev fork spacers bring xt closer to this.

When you sit on bike for rider sag measuring you should shake the bike (push on handlebar and jump on seat a little ) to make correct measurement.

What is your shock preload adjusting settings? I think you should stiffen it little (Owners manual page 3-13 if you want to). Standard setting is 2, hardest 5.

You don't have to have workstand to take first measurement. You can put bike on sidestand and slowly tilt it over sidestand to elevate one wheel of the ground front or rear. Of course second person have to take measurement.


I don't think it's something about spring if it's softer then 9000 miles before. Maybe it is time to change front fork oil.

Yeah did that for both jiggled the bike front and back and allowed it to "settle".

Gonna measure sag on my XTX this weekend to see if there is some difference between Z and X.

The OE shock will get softer over that period. I dunno what cheese they make the spring out of, but it does just die over time.

I measured the static and rider (and rider+pillion) sag before and after changing my 25k mile old OE shock for my new Nitron. I'll try and dig them out when I get home, it was a bit of a difference.

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I spent a lot of money on travel and racing motorcycles - the rest I just squandered.

XT660Z - Commuter, Adventurer...Racer?

www.dashmoto.net

Other bikes >> MT-03 / CG125BR-J / ER-6F
Departed >> ZXR400L3 / EC300 / DR-Z400E / DR800S / GPZ500S / GS400

Preload adjustment on the Ten is very easy. For the rear, little tip, push in the black plastic button centres that hold the rubber flap to the swingarm, remove them and move the rubber out of the way so you can get a good range of movement on the adjuster (c-spanner in the toolkit). I would expect your shock will need a bit of tweaking, by 10,000 miles my OE shock was dead.
For the front simply wind in the heads in the fork tops with a 10mm allen key.

Bear in mind also that the generic sag adjustment guide is for road bikes, and not long travel trail bikes. If you try and get down to road levels of sag your bike will be very firmly suspended.

Fair point � I think I'll take the trial and error approach � up the preload a little then go for a ride, up it a bit more and ride again. Start small and try to feel my way to the right setting.

My rear suspension is very hard and looking at the shock it is on position 5 (hardest) setting.

Does anyone have a c-spanner they can lend me if I pay the postage?