T700 rear suspension Rally Raid Adventure shock

[Matth]

After upgrading my front suspension to a Rally Raid open cartridge system with the 5.6 nm springs, i had to look at the rear.

I was REALLY  pleased with results on the front which gave me the confidence to order the rear suspension from RR.

 

John Michinson ( KTM Mitch on the forum) is the owner and had decades of suspension knowledge so with that in mind I called him up to discuss.

 

It always felt like the front Open cartridge kit was significantly better than the rear with no bottoming but the  rear still did it.

I took the plunge and ordered the Rally Raid Adventure ( adjustable pre load) version.

it arrived only after 3 days so thanks RR team for doing a pre Xmas delivery.

After stroking it and caressing it i fitted it in 20 mins, has a high and low speed adjustment which is easy to get to when fitted as it comes with the tool to adjust.

Also the pre load is the same type as the genuine Yamaha version and the rebound adjuster on the bottom.

Had to try it out of course using originally the standard factory settings which actually i found a little hard.

What i did find is each click makes a significant change so plenty of scope to get it just right and backed it off 3 clicks.

Normally i take it to my favourite track which offers all types of terrain and dial in the adjustments bit by bit but on this occasion 

I took it along some local bumpy roads and flip me I never realised how good and how much it changes things, after 3-4 adjustments it now floats over the bumpy stuff.

I had it fitted with a 85nm spring (I'm 88kgs loaded ) which you can decide upon ordering.

I tend to ride with things being softer a bit like GS suspension cos im old:)).

I managed to find a dry bumpy gravel track to put it through its paces with a jump at the end and a rough ish hill climb so with the soft setting in mind , i hooned it to see if further adjustments needed and it just lapped it up and suspension all round just worked flawlessly, what really stuck out was riding the hill climb previously the rear wheel would bounce up and down giving a jerking affect through the drive train and pleased to say the rear just sticks to the ground and this bouncing effect has completely gone! Awesome.

  I seriously could not wish to make this better for my style of riding.

More reactive on  fast road and does exactly what a heavy bike can do with the right boots off road.

 

OMG what a change and yes I understand its a high value unit however I've seen the benefits this brings to an already brilliant bike, it doesn’t just jump around now which means a faster / plusher / easier ride in ALL variants.

 

Would I recommend this to my mates! Hell yeh i would as its Flippin awesome and looks the dog danglies.

Edited December 24, 2020 by Matth

[Aleksandar13]

Would you think this will be worth getting just for a on road bike... I'm presuming it is still 200mm travel, might be wrong... Awesome write up and I know just the man who needs to see this... @Rich T have a read and swipe the card mate...

Aleks 

[Matth]

Hiya

 

yep 200 mm travel still, im more of an off road rider however i have to use roads to where im going ( alot) 

its alot more controllable on road.

so heavy cornering on the yam system could float and wallow a fair bit and this does not.

it feels very much like my GS1250 in comfort mode.

You have hi and low speed compression adjustments and once you have it all dialled in with a fair bit of adjustments here and there it’s awesome.

tbf it’s premium unit so its gonna be good.im 85kgs ish and have the 85 nm spring. Hardly any pre load to get sag at 22mm and 58mm respectively.

This means i have the full “useful”movement and ideal for my luggage when needed.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Matth

[wil59]

Hi Math, i just finished installing a 95N/mm spring on the rear shock. I'm 103 kg  netto and my bike has 34 kg extra weight on it (crash bars, top case, bottom plate, center stand, rack etc.). To have a correct static sag (20 mm) and riders sag (60 mm) i have to adjust the preload on the rear shock to the maximum.  I mostly ride on road and a occasional gravel road. 

Would you advise turning down the preload or keeping it at it's maximum?

[MikeCMP]

9 hours ago, wil59 said:

Hi Math, i just finished installing a 95N/mm spring on the rear shock. I'm 103 kg  netto and my bike has 34 kg extra weight on it (crash bars, top case, bottom plate, center stand, rack etc.). To have a correct static sag (20 mm) and riders sag (60 mm) i have to adjust the preload on the rear shock to the maximum.  I mostly ride on road and a occasional gravel road. 

Would you advise turning down the preload or keeping it at it's maximum?

 

Thats interesting, I have the same spring, slightly lower weight but have the rear rack and top box plus skid and other pats, but my preload is pretty low. I have the extreme shock with no external preload adjuster though. 

 

I found mounting it up and checking sag it was almost perfect right out of the box.

[wil59]

@MikeCMP

I got my spring from the German OTR. They get it from Tractive .  What i noticed was that the new spring has a different outer diameter. See pictures. I think that is the reason they have the adaptor rings included.

[MikeCMP]

2 minutes ago, wil59 said:

@MikeCMP

I got my spring from the German OTR. They get it from Tractive .  What i noticed was that the new spring has a different outer diameter. See pictures. I think that is the reason they have the adaptor rings included.

oh I see and you are using the stock shock as well, i was using the Tractive shock, I see what you are saying. 

[wil59]

Oh,  sorry. Forgot to mention i still have the original shock. Then i think there is a difference in spring rate in some way.