Useless post, but I have to tell SOMEONE! My 2014 TE511 will be arriving any second from Berts mega mall in los angeles. Its shipping had been delayed over and over (shipping company likely took too many orders in) but I got the call yesterday that it would be here around 10AM. My first brand new bike. First dual sport (knobby tires factory)! I cannot wait to go to Hollister or stonyford, I have not been in like 6-7 years since my yz250f got sold!
Nice! Are you in the Sacramento area? There's a few of us on this forum. Haven't been to Stony yet. But I've been having a blast at Georgetown and Forresthill (when it was open).
I am in Berkeley, near san Francisco. Once I get her dialed in and used to it a bit, maybe let me know if there is a group ride or something I am dirt inexp. (haven't been offroad in years) so its good to ride with people to show me the ropes.
ITS HERE I LOVE IT ALREADY BUT, its way tall, going to cut the foam down as much as is humanly possible, shove the forks up and drop the preload on the rear! Hope it works. I may have to go to 17's full time.
Mine is an 11 and the new ones are shorter. I had ZipTy shorten and redo my shock and run a good amount of sag and ran the forks up in the triples. Made a very big difference for the better. Great bikes, enjoy. Love your enthusiasm.
I am going to run the triples up to the top, do you have the torque specs handy? pretty please? New bikes have no keyed ignition just a steering lock. Already got her in racemap II. Started loosening the shock preload, question how much does static sag matter on these?
I will take some high q pictures later on. Going to finish lowering the thing as much as is humanly possible....I hope it settles out about a half inch in addition to the modifications. It may just have to live on 17's with some knobs if I do go offroad....this is one tall piggy.
Anyone know the fork torque specs...got the service manual and cannot figure out which is the pinch bolt for the triple clamp :\
A couple cheap lowering tricks....use a lower profile rear tire (for instance Michelins tend to be small than other brands with the same nominal size), run a little extra sag...try 110 instead of the standard 100..as you said, ride it a bit and let things loosen up some... In the end any good suspension shop can shorten both ends if you really want it lower.
SO. I took the foam off and cover, covered the seat pan in just low density 1" thick foam. Recovered it, it looks okay. Made the bike much easier to ride but was still too tall. SO, I shoved the forks up (lowered the front) all the way to the bars, then backed off the preload where static sag was good. The MOST sag I could get out of the bike is 2" This is loosening the preload on the spring to maybe a 1/4 or half turn. If I backed it off more the static sag of the bike went through the roof, and the rider sag stayed the same at 2". The bike did get lower this way but the spring was sloppby loose when on the lift, so I assume that is no good right? Rode it 30 kilometers (haven't figured out how to change it), and at first I thought the clutch was slipping the whole time, bled the clutch, adjusted the lever, checked the fluid. All good, it wont wheelie and a clutch drop while cruising does not show any slip. I looked at the tire and maybe I am just burning the hell out of the knobs in 1-4th? Seems like it. Anyways, but is at my MINIMUM workable height as it is, hope it settles a .5" then I could add foam back on the seat (it is painful but not too bad, on a bumpy road I will be crying). Do I need to go to a diferent spring in the rear? I am 140lbs with gear on or maybe 145.... ALSO its my first bike with 21" front and knobs, it feels a bit sketchy taking turns, and has slid out on me a bunch. It "falls" into corners very aggressively off center at 45mph (approximate) is this a sign of the forks being too far up with too little rear sag? SO I just slameed the front of the bike and am unable to make the rear to match? I assume that removing more preload which does lower the bike nicely, will put the suspension futher in the stroke and beat the crap out of it and make the ride very harsh right?
The bike is probably sprung for 180… this is part of why it seems so tall. If you think this one's bad, try any Yamaha. Or the Husky 2 strokes. Or any modern KTM. They're all taller, especially the Yamahas (almost 2" taller). I'm not sure what the stock tires are on that, but if they're dual sport tires… they suck in the dirt. Especially if they're Karoos.
At your weight, you're going to need softer springs. That will help with the ride height (but not totally solve the issue). You've got to be careful trying to get the bike to ride lower via sag. It might help the ride height, but it changes the suspension geometry and can screw up all the force balances that the factory designers engineered the bike for. You should set the bike to the "correct" sag level (http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/suspension-setup-recommendations.17268/). It's fine to run it like 5-10mm lower, maybe, but you're way outside that it sounds like. The spring should never ever be loose with the bike on the stand, that's really bad. If you slide the forks all the way up to the bars, the bike is probably going to handle badly. I don't have any experience with that particular model, but generally bikes get twitchy and don't turn right if you do that. It's generally difficult to impossible to put feet down on both sides on any "proper" dirt bike. Don't worry as much about the height, you'll get used to it.
Watson Performance in Hood River Oregon has been lowering them internally shock and forks,may give Tom a call on specs and cost.
Sorry, I actually ended up getting 3.75" of sag without all my gear on, and 4" with all the gear on. So it seems to be very close. It was hard to measure and hold the bike up etc. So I ended up chalking the wheel against a post with some straps holding it up by the bars. Worked great and I was able to properly set my sag. It feels great when riding, I think 99% of my worry was the feeling of how the knobs start to lean so easy. In reality the bike is so tall with such tall wheels and little to no contact patch it was spooking me out. FEELS GREAT NOW cruises at 45-55 wonderfully. 65 it wanders a lot and I worry of a tank slapper, but it has been solid so far. I only go about 1.5-2 miles of 65mph in the slow lane, then take a nice windy route another few miles and then 2 miles through the city and im at work! Going home has a couple of routes, one is very windy slow that connects to > a insanely rough screwed up road for a 22 miles of twisties. OR actually there is like 3 different ways. I do get a lot of buzzing from the plastics/handlebar area, it follows engine rpm so does anyone know what to check? I am getting more and more comfortable with the ride height also, I am likely going to get a custom step seat made. With minimum foam in the center (high density?)
How much do you weigh? You might want to go with lighter springs if it is not sagging in correctly when you sit on it. Make sure you allow for gear. Helmets, boots, and armor can add more weight than you would think. Bike height means little when you are moving. It comes into play mainly when stopped or when you have to get a foot down in the slow and tight stuff. Lowering the forks in the stanchions can have quite an effect on handling. I'd rather have a tall bike than one that doesn't handle well.
I know it's a little expensive but you may want to consider a motard set up for the street. Both my 2013 te 449/511 ride like they are on rails. The knobby tires on the street are almost dangerous. Once I went with this set up it lowered the bike about 3 inches. Went with a 40 tooth rear sprocket and now it's great and very street able. If I want to go dirt riding just swap out back to dirt set up. Once you do pipe and Akro map for ecu that thing will rip. Warp 9 has a complete set up for your bike, Michelin pilot power tires are super sticky. IMHO it's the only way to go for the street. My knobby tires were roached after 150 miles on the street cause the rear tire just spins 1-4 gears. Any awesome bike I love mine.
