Lowering the new world raid

[chrisC]

Today I rode on my friend standard/stock 21 T7. It is the first time on T7, so good . Before I pull the trigger on T7WR
 

I was told the World Raid edition is far more better in term of the central gravity (oil tank design, lower CG), length of suspension and damper etc...

 

 I am only 1.78m  so I might need to lower the bike.

 

Wondering if the offical/3rd party lower kit is a wise decision In term of WR more travel suspension, of coz I heard lowering the bike is not a good move, if you did the same on any versions of T7, feedback is appreciated.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by chrisC

[Quercus Petraea]

I tell you a secret: The Tenere World Raid has indeed 230mm travel in the rear (though Yamaha claims only 220, who knows why) and is already equiped with a larger (than the standard T7) linkage, that makes the bike "only" 15mm higher than the standard version. This has been checked by RallyRaid UK, since their 230mm travel shock (made for the standard T7) has same dimensions and stroke as the World Raid's.

 

So, i don't think there're many chances to lower the World Raid other than just swap the shok with a shorter one.

 

I would just take the seat to someone that can make it a little narrow in the front, so your legs can reach the ground better.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Quercus Petraea

[ninot7]

Just wondering whether anybody managed to lower the World Raid?

[HH007]

There are lowering links available from Lust Racing, specifically for the World Raid. Lowers the bike by 40mm. 

2019-2023 Yamaha Tenere 700 lowering kit | Yamaha Tenere 700 World Raid lowering kit | Yamaha XTZ-700 Tenere T7 lowering link kits | XTZ690 Tenere seat height lowering LustRacing.co.uk

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2019-2022 Yamaha Tenere 700 lowering kit by LUST Racing. Yamaha Tenere 700 World Raid lowering kit. Our lowering kit for XTZ700 Tenere 2019 to 2022 (XTZ690). Lowering the suspension the seat height can be reduced for...

 

[EstRider]

On 3/5/2023 at 7:53 PM, ninot7 said:

Just wondering whether anybody managed to lower the World Raid?

Heh, I'm in the same boat. It's tall for me, I'm waiting for spring to ride it a bit more and see if I can get used to having to do the 'scoot' to get a foot down, meanwhile refreshing this site every day curiously to see others experiences...

[ninot7]

1 hour ago, EstRider said:

Heh, I'm in the same boat. It's tall for me, I'm waiting for spring to ride it a bit more and see if I can get used to having to do the 'scoot' to get a foot down, meanwhile refreshing this site every day curiously to see others experiences...

 

 

yeah, with my boots (forma adv and sidi adv 2s i feel safeish on the balls of my feet. Cant flat foot. Used to it now, am sure once loaded up for long trips it will compress to flat foot level. Not in a hurry. 

[EstRider]

Yeah I've got the Sidi Advs 2 as well, they give a bit, but I find I can't really feel the shifter or break lever when I'm wearing them...

[ninot7]

Yes and me. I only wear my Sidis when offroading

[motonap]

Lowering the bike affects geometry and affects handling, I say this from the experience of lowering my T7 because I couldn't plant my feet on the ground when I used my adv boots. I am 1.75m and lowered the bike for 3 months before raising it back to stock. It is sooooooooo much better handling in stock form. I have just had to change my mindset and body position when stopped or needed to put my feet down in messy situations.

 

Lowering the bike made the front heavier affecting tracking, reducing the flick-ability of the motorcycle, and affecting suspension making for sluggish handling.

 

But, each to his own

Edited March 16, 2023 by motonap

[winddown]

Sometimes you have to just go with practicality.  I'm 185cm tall but if I was like 175, I would never have bought the T7.  The height wouldn't make a difference to a dedicated offroad rider but to a dedicated street rider it's a steep Steeeep learning curve. 

[Endopotential]

3 hours ago, motonap said:

Lowering the bike affects geometry and affects handling, I say this from the experience of lowering my T7 because I couldn't plant my feet on the ground when I used my adv boots. I am 1.75m and lowered the bike for 3 months before raising it back to stock. It is sooooooooo much better handling in stock form. I have just had to change my mindset and body position when stopped or needed to put my feet down in messy situations.

 

Lowering the bike made the front heavier affecting tracking, reducing the flick-ability of the motorcycle, and affecting suspension making for sluggish handling.

 

But, each to his own

 

Did you lower your front forks at the same time?  I moved them up the triple tree by about 2cm.  My lowered Tenere doesn't ride much worse than any of my other streetbikes.  Being able to flat foot easily on the streets was much more reassuring.

[motonap]

4 hours ago, Endopotential said:

 

Did you lower your front forks at the same time?  I moved them up the triple tree by about 2cm.  My lowered Tenere doesn't ride much worse than any of my other streetbikes.  Being able to flat foot easily on the streets was much more reassuring.

Yeah, was lowered on the front too. Sluggish handling off road from the lowering.

[Black99S]

On 3/16/2023 at 12:54 PM, motonap said:

Lowering the bike affects geometry and affects handling, I say this from the experience of lowering my T7 because I couldn't plant my feet on the ground when I used my adv boots. I am 1.75m and lowered the bike for 3 months before raising it back to stock. It is sooooooooo much better handling in stock form. I have just had to change my mindset and body position when stopped or needed to put my feet down in messy situations.

 

Lowering the bike made the front heavier affecting tracking, reducing the flick-ability of the motorcycle, and affecting suspension making for sluggish handling.

 

But, each to his own

I see on prior reply you also raised the forks in the tripples to lower the front.

Did you set SAG? Sluggish handling is usually because the rear is too low vs front.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Black99S

[ninot7]

16 hours ago, motonap said:

Lowering the bike affects geometry and affects handling, I say this from the experience of lowering my T7 because I couldn't plant my feet on the ground when I used my adv boots. I am 1.75m and lowered the bike for 3 months before raising it back to stock. It is sooooooooo much better handling in stock form. I have just had to change my mindset and body position when stopped or needed to put my feet down in messy situations.

 

Lowering the bike made the front heavier affecting tracking, reducing the flick-ability of the motorcycle, and affecting suspension making for sluggish handling.

 

But, each to his own

I agree. Lowering the bike does affect its geometry and behaviour. Whatever you lower front back etc, not gonna be the same as stock. 
also, sidestand needs lowering. 
 

factory lowered bikes are different as the chassis is tweaked too. 
 

lower seat height and beefier boots normally do the trick. Check Daytona boots they are awesome for that. 

[motonap]

On 3/17/2023 at 5:47 PM, Black99S said:

I see on prior reply you also raised the forks in the ripples to lower the front.

Did you set SAG? Sluggish handling is usually because the rear is too low vs front.

 

Did not set Sag, still wrapping my head around that and how to go about doing it single handed! 

However, preload was set to the same number of clicks on the adjusted both front and back.

 

On 3/18/2023 at 12:59 AM, ninot7 said:

I agree. Lowering the bike does affect its geometry and behaviour. Whatever you lower front back etc, not gonna be the same as stock. 
also, sidestand needs lowering. 
 

factory lowered bikes are different as the chassis is tweaked too. 
 

lower seat height and beefier boots normally do the trick. Check Daytona boots they are awesome for that. 

Side stand was a pain in the wrong place, would end up finding a parking spot that had a slight angle to it just to keep the bike leaning over enough most times.

 

Very happy with full height now that I have made a mental shift in stopping body position. So far so good!!

 

[ninot7]

7 minutes ago, motonap said:

 

Did not set Sag, still wrapping my head around that and how to go about doing it single handed! 

However, preload was set to the same number of clicks on the adjusted both front and back.

 

Side stand was a pain in the wrong place, would end up finding a parking spot that had a slight angle to it just to keep the bike leaning over enough most times.

 

Very happy with full height now that I have made a mental shift in stopping body position. So far so good!!

 

Am 178cm and dont flat foot my World Raid. Might consider a lower seat when they release one, otherwise just got used to it. It becomes more or less subconscious. 

[motonap]

8 minutes ago, ninot7 said:

Am 178cm and dont flat foot my World Raid. Might consider a lower seat when they release one, otherwise just got used to it. It becomes more or less subconscious. 

 Agreed!!

 

Becomes 2nd nature after a couple of rides

[EstRider]

Well I pulled the pin and put in 25mm Lowering links after several sketchy moments where I almost ditched the bike, had to do the seat shuffle and nearly hurt myself by catching the bike on my right toe tip poorly while moving at low speed. 

Figured I don't need a long term sprain or damage so I've lowered it. I've only done about 20km on the new height, but it has made a world of difference in my comfort riding. I no longer need to be careful of where low points in the road are when stopping as I can comfortably get the foot down. Suddenly the bike doesn't seem so big, though I think I may have lowered the front too far. Going to remeasure it and consider raising it up again. 

This weekend going for a long ride and will give the trip report to see how handling has been affected. 

Need that short stand to arrive soon though, right now parking it is skeeeeeetchy! 

[Black99S]

On 4/26/2023 at 12:24 AM, EstRider said:

Well I pulled the pin and put in 25mm Lowering links  ...  though I think I may have lowered the front too far. Going to remeasure it and consider raising it up again. 
Need that short stand to arrive soon though, right now parking it is skeeeeeetchy! 

How much did you raise the forks in the triples?

[EstRider]

2 hours ago, Black99S said:

How much did you raise the forks in the triples?

I matched. 25/25 Read a lot and found a bunch of arguements for 50% or straight match. Talked to the dealer while in inquiring about the recall and they said Yamaha recommends straight matching on their OEM links sooo did it. So far so good, first big ride post change this Saturday we'll see how it handles 

[Black99S]

51 minutes ago, EstRider said:

I matched. 25/25 Read a lot and found a bunch of arguements for 50% or straight match. Talked to the dealer while in inquiring about the recall and they said Yamaha recommends straight matching on their OEM links sooo did it. So far so good, first big ride post change this Saturday we'll see how it handles 

Straight match makes sense. On the 2017 I can only raise the forks 16mm.

Installed Motoz Rallz at the same time and now I'm getting head shake starting around 125kmh if the bike is perturbed. The Rallz front also tracks every crack in pavement - even the raised edges of highway lines will set the head shake off when returning to lane at 140 after a pass. Scary.

I'm going back to stock links and fork height to confirm if it's tyre or suspension related. 

I have tried lowering links and forks at stock height with little change to the head shake.

Lesson learned. Make one change at a time.

[EstRider]

1 hour ago, Black99S said:

Straight match makes sense. On the 2017 I can only raise the forks 16mm.

Installed Motoz Rallz at the same time and now I'm getting head shake starting around 125kmh if the bike is perturbed. The Rallz front also tracks every crack in pavement - even the raised edges of highway lines will set the head shake off when returning to lane at 140 after a pass. Scary.

I'm going back to stock links and fork height to confirm if it's tyre or suspension related. 

I have tried lowering links and forks at stock height with little change to the head shake.

Lesson learned. Make one change at a time.

Haha I'm an old man, you'd be lucky to catch me doing 120 and here in Estonia there's not many places you'll be able to do that.

 

I'm still running the stock tyres, so no knobbies yet. Going to get used to the bike a bit more. Mine was only delivered Oct 28th last year right at the very end of the riding season so she's not very broken in. The suspension on the World Raid is upgraded and I certainly didn't have trouble raising the forks. 

 

Did you set your new sag? I can't imagine that would be it, but it might help.

[Black99S]

2 hours ago, EstRider said:

Haha I'm an old man, you'd be lucky to catch me doing 120 and here in Estonia there's not many places you'll be able to do that.

 

I'm still running the stock tyres, so no knobbies yet. Going to get used to the bike a bit more. Mine was only delivered Oct 28th last year right at the very end of the riding season so she's not very broken in. The suspension on the World Raid is upgraded and I certainly didn't have trouble raising the forks. 

 

Did you set your new sag? I can't imagine that would be it, but it might help.

Yes, SAG set and re-checked at the suspension shop that put in the K-tech cartridges and re-valved the shock.

Those speeds are when passing - I rarely run more than 5-10kmh over posted speeds.

Everything is pointing to the Motoz Rallz front tyre as being the cause of the head shake,

Turning 70 this year. Have to ride more places before old age sets in.

[EstRider]

8 hours ago, Black99S said:

Yes, SAG set and re-checked at the suspension shop that put in the K-tech cartridges and re-valved the shock.

Those speeds are when passing - I rarely run more than 5-10kmh over posted speeds.

Everything is pointing to the Motoz Rallz front tyre as being the cause of the head shake,

Turning 70 this year. Have to ride more places before old age sets in.

 

Well Shet, I'm not an old man by that standard, keep at it! 

On a mission tonight to find a shop here that has Loctite, (looks like I'm going with a local Euro brand called Wurth) throw on the Camel Side Stand and then I'm riding the Baltic Coastline Saturday. Trying to get as much as possible out of Europe before I come back to Canada in a few years. Hopefully by the time I get back I can get a World Raid in Canada, sadly Transport Canada won't let you bring anything back <15 years old. The jerks...

[Dougie]

A lot of these issues may be sorted when they release the shorter bike worldwide. You might find many of the parts will be able to be retrofit to t7 and wr. I think for a lot of “general” riders, road use and some dirt, the shorter bike will be ideal and sell like hot cakes. The suspension is lower but has a little less travel, and the stand should be a straight swap.
We’ll see what the French think of it. https://www.yamaha-motor.eu/fr/fr/products/motos/adventure/
 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Dougie