449/511 Sing the praises of your suspension mods

[New511Guy]

I know Zip Ty is the place to go. What I'd like to know is what was done.
How much do you weigh?
How do you ride?
What was done to your fork (if you know)?
What was done to your shock?
When all was said and done, what did it cost you?

I weigh 210#.
Intermediate skill, like aggressive trail riding.
Like to mess around a little on an MX track (I look for the slow guys, then try to track 'em down).
Very poor jumper (but want to get better).
99.9% off road
My feeling about showroom floor suspension: Harsh, yet blows through travel; too soft.

So... What was done? How great did it work?

 

[Motosportz]

TE511, felt mine was to soft when going fast. Was plush for the roots and rocks but loose and sloppy feeling when at full boogie. So had ZipTy do mine up, is exactly as I asked, still semi plush but way more control. Springs, valves and shock lowered some. VERY happy with it.

 

[gillies]

Do it yourself. Moderate mechanical skills and tools are needed. Read the Race Tech Suspension Bible.

185# plus gear
Intermediate rider
Fast desert single and double
'11 TE449

Read the book to learn the fundamentals. From sag measurements front and rear, kept the stock fork springs and upped the spring in the rear. Fork valving redone with Gold Valves, while the rear shock valving remains stock. Made a huge improvement in my bike, cost a reasonable sum, learned a bit about suspension tuning, and wouldn't hesitate to rebuild or revalve my stuff any time.

If I had to guess, I say you are very under sprung in the rear and are trying to compensate with preload - hence the harsh ride, while still blowing through travel. You're heavier than me and ride track, so the forks are probably under sprung for you as well. Once you get the springs right, valving can be assessed, IMO.

 

[James Patton]

I live within driving distance to Hall's so had Jay do mine. Lowered, cleaned up valving, told me springs did not
need changed. (I thought they did but he was right) bike hadles great!

 

[makis]

I went the Race Tech route myself, gold valves and springs. I'm 180 lb, 6'2" tall intermediate woods rider on a TE511. I do occasionally like to play on outdoor style mx tracks. The stock forks were fine for slower play riding, but when the pace picked up, they were quick to blow through the stroke an bottom harshly. The stock rear end was ok, just softly sprung. I installed a heavier rear spring and gold valves in both ends. I also lowered the rear end (I have an '11 model). The mods made a huge improvement. The bike gobbles up rough terrain much better. I find that the bike likes a lot of sag, especially if you ride in more open, faster terrain or on fast motocross tracks. I'm still playing around with the settings, but right now I'm running 110mm of sag and it seems to be working pretty good. 105 works pretty good in tight woods, but if the terrain opens up it doesn't want to settle in the corners.

 

[James Patton]

Yes weight is a big factor. I can use the stock springs because I am 5'9" and 155/160. Also I want mine for single track,
TT stuff, the MX is a different bike for me.

 

[Tinken]

MY12 TE511, 6'6" 285lbs, advanced desert rider, Zipty modded kyb's, shortened rear. 55+mph across 7mile whoops canyon, g-outs no problem, completely controllable. Stock suspension was dangerous at high speed, modded suspension works from slow rock crawling to high speed.

 

[N4544D]

MY13 TE449, 6'4" 215lbs, intermediate trail / desert rider. Zip Ty resprung and revalved using race tech springs and lowered rear shock by 4mm. Running 110mm rear / 70mm front rider sag (40mm rear 25mm front static). Suspension as delivered is super plush. I am now starting to firm it up a little for whoops; trying +3 compression front and rear. Clickers as delivered are mostly in the middle setting so there should be enough to play with. Very happy with suspension so far.

Updated suspension settings:
Front compression: 5 out (delivered was 15 out)
Front rebound: 10 out (delivered was 12 out)

Rear low speed compression: 4 out (delivered was 11 out)
Rear high speed compression: 1/2 turn out (delivered was 1 full turn out)
Rear rebound: 16 out (delivered was 21 out)

Feels pretty good here, but may firm up more. Fork can still get a little unruly on hard hits.

 

[Luke Ballard]

MY12 TE511, 6'6" 285lbs, advanced desert rider, Zipty modded kyb's, shortened rear. 55+mph across 7mile whoops canyon, g-outs no problem, completely controllable. Stock suspension was dangerous at high speed, modded suspension works from slow rock crawling to high speed.

What size springs?

I'm 286lbs, going to do the springs myself but not sure what size springs.

Here is what the racetech site says for my wieght etc...

Riding Type: Desert / Enduro / Trail
Age: Standard Age - Up to 44
Skill Level: Dirt Novice / Beginner / C Class
Height: Standard Height
Gas Tank: Standard Gas Tank

Recommended Fork Spring Rate: 0.556 kg/mm (use closest available) which would be a
RT FRK SPR 44.0x460mm .54kg
FRSP 444654

Recommended Shock Spring Rate: 6.777 kg/mm (use closest available) which would be a
RT SHK SPR 63.4x60.6x270 6.4kg
SRSP 622864

Been told that the rear spring would be too heavy / big due to the CTS?

Any ideas?

Cheers!

 

[Tinken]

I think I have .56 springs on the front and a 6.7 in the rear which is too light. Race Tech calculator is never spot on. I'm experimenting with a new setup, I'll know more in a few days.

 

[danny318]

TE449 - I'm 130lbs, 5'10'' - Had LT racing revalve and shorten both the front and rear. Rear 1.5inches shorter and front 1 inch shorter. .42 springs up front and 4.8 in the back.
Bike feels much more friendly now, I can find the ground when needed, and its super plush and smooth. I recommend shortening to anyone under 6 feet especially if you ride tight technical slow stuff.

Cost about ~750

 

[Luke Ballard]

I think I have .56 springs on the front and a 6.7 in the rear which is too light. Race Tech calculator is never spot on. I'm experimenting with a new setup, I'll know more in a few days.

Thanks mate, I'm getting my bike into Terry Hay's Shock Treatment in a weeks time. In the end he was so cheap that it was not worth me stuffing about doing it myself. He seemed to think that I should go for the 6.7 for the rear and the .56 for the front too. He did mention that he is a little concerned about getting such a big spring in the rear and it rubbing on the engine casing? Anyway, I'm sure he'll figure it out for me and as I said, he is doing it really heap for me so I'm happy! Can't wait to be able to hit the table tops and drops without bottoming out! Should be so much better in the sand too!

 

[Luke Ballard]

So I got and installed the correct springs for my weight 6.7 eibach rear and .54 racetech in the forks.

Much better straight up, but now I need to dial the clickers in. Now I have the workshop manual and have just gone and reset the clickers all back to the standard factory settings so I can play with them from there. This was easy with the forks but I'm confused with the shock.

The manual says to "reset the standard setting, turn upper adjusters clockwise until reach- ing fully closed position. Then turn them back to the above-mentioned positions" (16 +1/-2 clicks shock low damp speed and 1 ± 1/2 turns for shock high damp speed, 16 +1/-2 click for rebound).

As I said the forks were easy as they say the same as above but the recommended clicks make more sense...
-10 clicks compression and-14 clicks rebound.

Can someone please explain exactly what the +\- and 1/2 clicks are all about?

In all, I'm looking for a smoother feeling fork at high speed desert type riding, on hard rocky stuff with deep sand sections with good smooth action on the drops and table tops. With the rear, I want it to be firm but not so harsh that it kicks my feet off the pegs or springs and pops up under me when it hits unexpected rough stuff. As I said though, I'm just trying to get the clickers back to the standard factory settings and work from there, just can't work out the shocks standard settings.

 

[Tinken]

I just set them in the middle and adjust from there. Also, you will want higher compression on the forks for sandy environments with the 449. Push forks all the way down into the triple clamps.

 

[Motosportz]

Can someone please explain exactly what the +\- and 1/2 clicks are all about?

means within 1 or 2 clicks of the recommended setting. So like if your target is 15 they are saying somewhere 13-17 clicks.

 

[bigmo]

Yes weight is a big factor. I can use the stock springs because I am 5'9" and 155/160. Also I want mine for single track,
TT stuff, the MX is a different bike for me.

Ditto - 5'9" and 160 pounds. I dont think the manual states it like KTM does, but I feel they aim for 160 pounds for the "average" rider. I did not find the stock clicker settings to be a good fit, but stock suspension with proper clicks and golden-rule on sag and the bike is VERY good for me. I have revalved every bike i have had for the past 20 years and this one is staying stock. The back end hooks up better than any previous bike no matter how much money I threw at it.

For anyone over 170, maybe 175 trying to fix anything without first re-springing front and rear I think you are wasting your time.

My only flaw I would like to address is that I have softened up the compression up front enough to soak small trail trash - allot of it. If I kick up the pace a bit, it tends to blow through the stroke too quickly. That being said, I have not had a ton of time to troubleshoot and I first may leave everything static and try swapping oil weights a bit and see if that helps.

On THAT topic, noone has mentioned fork oil - does anyone know for sure what is stock?