Hi all,

Have had my XT660Z for a few months now and have been thoroughly enjoying taking it on trails and trying it out. I have found it to be a little soft at the back but the front has had the cartridge emulators fitted and that feels fine. On Boxing Day I went for a ride with a mate and hit an erosion channel quite hard, as it turns out I smashed the rear number plate and indicator structure doing so.

I've decided to look at the preload and found that it was on the lowest setting #1. I'm 115 kgs (250 lbs). I've taken it all the way to #7 leaving #8 and #9 to go.

I'm going to try it tomorrow but wondered whether anyone had any suggestions??

I was contemplating an Ohlins shocker in the rear but have also been told that all they need is a bit of a rebuild??

cheers

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2010 XT660Z
Suzuki DRZ400E
Suzuki PE175Z

The OE shock is not rebuildable as such. However, you can change the spring for a stiffer, or progressive one such those offered by Hyperpro, Yacugar etc. This will make a big difference for a small outlay (around �100 or so).

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to give you an idea , I also run a full ohlins rear shock and ohlins front fork springs
I also broke my license plate holder and the entire back support ,
have to say that I was with a hepco n becker top case with quite some gear in , and this driving through the spain desert

anyway , I also have a full ohlins rear shock and this still happened.

I fitted a OTR rising kit of 35MM and this makes the rear stand up much higher , don't think it will happen again now

Very interesting. I was led to believe that the Ohlins would solve everything. I'll check out the rebuild thing too - I may have been misled by a shock engineer over here.....maybe he hasn't worked on the Tenere gear before. Maybe some more research required.

Thanks guys.

cheers

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2010 XT660Z
Suzuki DRZ400E
Suzuki PE175Z

but don't get me wrong , the ohlins is a very very very good upgrade ,
bike handles sooo much better , on road , but especially off road , every bump is much better handled ..., I don't regret spending 850 euros on a rear shock

I really appreciate the input. Given the option, would you take the Ohlins or a steering dampener??

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2010 XT660Z
Suzuki DRZ400E
Suzuki PE175Z

You may well be better off going for a new shock sprung specifically for your weight, rather than a re-spring of the Sachs unit. It's worth considering that if you've done 15K Km or more the OE damping will be quickly fading away and a new (stiffer) spring will compound this problem, changing the spring is a cheap, short term fix. The added bonus of a new shock, which ever you get, will be that they are all rebuildable and will last you a lifetime.

Don't forget there are other very good (and cheaper) options than Ohlins - Wilbers, Nitron, Yacugar etc. It all depends how much cash you've got to burn!

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Good advice, thanks. The Ohlins from the UK costs me about $1000AU whereas locally it costs over $2000AU. Happy to research the others though, cheers.

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2010 XT660Z
Suzuki DRZ400E
Suzuki PE175Z

As it happens I've actually just shelled out for a Yacugar ER-s, which are basically made by the old WP people left in Holland when KTM bought them out and moved production to Austria. I had initially considered Ohlins, but price and lack of remote preload option stopped me going ahead. They have a Australian importer and retail at just under 800AUD...

http://www.yacugar.com.au/

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More thanks - am reading as we speak.

cheers

__________________
2010 XT660Z
Suzuki DRZ400E
Suzuki PE175Z