I’ve had a 2009 TE510 since May of 2009 and have had issues with how the bike handles. Having a dedicated motocross bike, 2007 YZ450F, I decided to have this bike valved soft for trail riding and general comfort. I weigh 175 lbs and I felt I needed softer springs, so I changed the springs as well. LTR did the revalve and I was happier with the plush ride, but the overall bike handling still felt wrong to me.
In my opinion, this bike had a stink bug feel, i.e. too tall in the back. I could not get the bike to squat under power in corners even with appropriate sag settings and spring rates. This resulted in a bike that wanted to stand up. It was OK for tight slow trails where you could steer with the front tire, but if you wanted to rail a rut or blow up a sand burm, you were out of luck. I played with the clickers and the fork height (they are set flush with the top triple clamp) and made the bike OK. I later tried an interesting chain slider designed by Zip Ty Racing that changed the angle the chain met up with the rear sprocket at. This product very slightly helped me to get the bike to squat better under power.
The fix turned out to be the Kouba Link (HL8-1). I was worried about trying this product as it changes the geometry of the bike, but then I realized that I want to change the geometry of this bike. After I put the link on, I reset the sag, and left everything else as it was. The bike handled much better, but was stacking in the woops. I sped up the shock rebound by 3 clicks and found the bike to be excellent. I am now able to wheelie with less effort and the bike likes to be laid over in turns.
I felt this write up was useful because I’ve noticed posts regarding using a lowering link on the 08-09 era TE’s to help lower the height for riders of shorter stature, but nobody talked about intentionally changing bike geometry to improve handling. I’m 6 feet tall and did not need a lower bike, but am very happy that I lowered only the back of this bike and increased the lever angle on the shock (i.e. made the rear end a bit more progressive).
In my opinion, this bike had a stink bug feel, i.e. too tall in the back. I could not get the bike to squat under power in corners even with appropriate sag settings and spring rates. This resulted in a bike that wanted to stand up. It was OK for tight slow trails where you could steer with the front tire, but if you wanted to rail a rut or blow up a sand burm, you were out of luck. I played with the clickers and the fork height (they are set flush with the top triple clamp) and made the bike OK. I later tried an interesting chain slider designed by Zip Ty Racing that changed the angle the chain met up with the rear sprocket at. This product very slightly helped me to get the bike to squat better under power.
The fix turned out to be the Kouba Link (HL8-1). I was worried about trying this product as it changes the geometry of the bike, but then I realized that I want to change the geometry of this bike. After I put the link on, I reset the sag, and left everything else as it was. The bike handled much better, but was stacking in the woops. I sped up the shock rebound by 3 clicks and found the bike to be excellent. I am now able to wheelie with less effort and the bike likes to be laid over in turns.
I felt this write up was useful because I’ve noticed posts regarding using a lowering link on the 08-09 era TE’s to help lower the height for riders of shorter stature, but nobody talked about intentionally changing bike geometry to improve handling. I’m 6 feet tall and did not need a lower bike, but am very happy that I lowered only the back of this bike and increased the lever angle on the shock (i.e. made the rear end a bit more progressive).