T7 World Raid suspension mods ?

[zeljko_xtz]

Greetings. I need advice regarding the T7 World Raid suspension. Regardless of the preload, compression, and damping settings I use, it doesn't provide a comfortable ride over small dents, bumps, and stones. I don't mind bottoming out on jumps and off-road terrain; I'm primarily looking for a comfortable plush ride on the road. Apart from the suspension travel, they have obviously made some changes to the internals or linkage on the WR to make it stiffer and more "direct." I weigh around 80kg with gear.

 

So, does anyone have an idea of what upgrades could potentially help? I don't have a suspension specialist nearby, so my only guess is that maybe an Ohlins rear shock and a K-Tech piston/revalve kit could help. However, these upgrades may be also more oriented towards racing or off-road applications. There are various options available, such as Tractive, Rally Raid, Ohlins, K-Tech, but I'm not sure which one to potentially choose or try without going through expensive trial and error. I remember I had more comfortable ride back then on a old ZX-9R than on this adventure bike with massive suspension travel.

Edited June 12, 2023 by zeljko_xtz
added something

[Tenerider]

Interesting!

Well, the T7 standard suspension also isn't super comfortable on potholes. AND it lacks damping/bottoming resistance when you're going offroad.

 

I've changed to a Tractive rear (!) shock some months ago, and it was way more comfortable, even with default settings. I think this is mainly because the spring has the correct stiffness for my weight (85 N/mm).

The Tractive closed cartridges on the front feel much stiffer on the other hand than the OEM cartridges. They need more tweaking and careful setup (oil level, preload) to reach their sweet spot.

Tractive does in general NOT offer a really plush ride. It feels very planted and becomes better/smoother the faster you go. But low speed compression damping (especially on the front) is rather high IMHO.

I've heard from my suspension dealer that Öhlins cartridges for the T7 are a bit more road comfort oriented.

[Hibobb]

lower your tire pressure.

[Alf Meister]

What tire pressures are you running g on the road and offroad? The T7WR has pretty good suspension IMHO, vastly better than the standard T7. 

[Endopotential]

You're fairly lightweight, all things considered.  Not sure what the WR comes with, but one cheap alternative would be to replace the stock rear spring with a lighter one with maybe a -5Nm difference.

 

Welcome to the group BTW. Greetings from SF!   Zagreb sounds awesome.  I have an old professor friend from Dubrovnik and would love to visit one of these days.

[Noel McCutcheon]

Yes (agree with Hibobb) Lower tyre pressures.
Note suspension will soften if low miles on it.

[powder]

You are light. Remove all preload from the fork and the shock first. 

 

I read you played with clickers but you gotta do it once at a time once spring is set. 

 

Set clickers stock. Open compression 4 clicks and try. (anti clockwise) 

To slow rebound (hard, closed) can also make the bike feel stiff. 

[TimeMachine]

I can confirm that the Ohlins YA818 rear shock with remote preload will provide a plusher ride than standard, along with other benefits. I ride the regular T7 but you can get the longer travel Ohlins for the Word Raid (I think it is model YA819).

 

For the front, you should start with replacing the fork seals for some low stiction SKF seals, and try lighter fork oil. Dont trust the labelled weights on the bottles, they are pretty much meaningless. Check the actual viscosity rating which is in centistokes, usually buried in the finest print on the bottle. 

 

My setup on the front is SKF fork seals, Rally Raid open cartridges and Showa SS05 fork oil (15.1 centistokes). This setup provides a very controlled ride with reduced dive and much better resistance to bottoming out, but still more plush than standard.

 

And yes, lower tire pressures will be a big improvement. I typically leave my tires at 24psi because most of my riding is on dirt roads or tracks. For longer rides on bitumen would go up to 30+.

 

One criticism of lower tire pressures you might hear is that you run the risk of damaging your rims. This is real, especially stock rims. If you plan to do a lot of dirt riding and budget allows then put on narrower Excel rims which are much stronger and you can run low pressures safely.  

Edited June 21, 2023 by TimeMachine