Yamy TX600 suspension

**dangerman** · 2nd August 2004, 12:37

I have a new Yamaha XT600 that I intend to use mainly for back road touring on sealed and unsealed roads (max speed 100kph). The suspension seems particularly hard and road repairs bumps etc. to come right through the suspension - both front and back.
Questions:
1 For my kind of riding should the suspension be hard, average or soft?
2 The rear suspension is adjustable and I'm sure I've read somewhere that the front suspension can be adjusted by altering the air pressure ?? There's nothing mentioned about this in the owners maunal. Anybody know whether the front suspension is or isn't adjustable?

**Motu** · 2nd August 2004, 14:04

Pre load only on the rear I think,just air on the front,plus changing oil viscosities.Set the rear sag with the pre load on the spring - fully extend the rear and take a mearsurment from the axle to some fixed point on the frame,carrier etc,get into all your gear,sit on the bike and take another measurment (a helper helps here) set static sag for 1/4 to 1/3 of total suspension travel - 200mm on an XT600E,so that's 50 to say 65mm sag.Next stand beside the bike and with your foot on the rear brake push down with your leg,if it squats even you're sweet,if not adjust the front to suit - bigger or smaller spring spacer or change the oil.I got ATF in my XT400E and haven't had to adjust the front once I set the rear sag.Suspension on an XT600E should be plush on the side of too soft.If it's hard someones cranked it up.

**dangerman** · 3rd August 2004, 08:27

Thanks Motu
I'll follow up your recommendations with the shop where I bought the bike

regards
Dangerman

**georgedubyabush** · 3rd August 2004, 10:40

I like the XT600. Recently rode one around Crete for two weeks.

**dangerman** · 3rd August 2004, 13:03

Thanks for the note from so far away. Where is Iondinium anyway??

Surely crete would have to be one THE places to bike
I look at the horizonsunlimited website and drool!!!!! at the exploring trips that other bikers are lucky enough to be doing all around the world

Glad you like on xt600, they seem to feature quite a bit on the above website.

It's winter down here with -5 degree C frosts and daytime temperatures less than 10 degrees, so biking limited to slightly warm afternoons.

Am "bonding" slowly with the new bike but will give it heaps when summer comes!!!

best wishes
Dangerman

**georgedubyabush** · 4th August 2004, 02:05

Londinium is London. Or at least what the Romans used to call it.
I'm a kiwi on my Working holiday. Left NZ at the start of winter. 2 summers in a row, what a trial...
XT was perfect for the Cretian (Cretin?) roads. 99% tar seal but in places pretty rough and patchy. Some excellent windy roads in the south carved into mountainsides, just watch out for goats and dodgy German tourbuses
Largely sportbike free. A few helmetless supermotos sliding around and about a million c90 type step throughs wheeling everywhere. The Greeks can get a bit mad, they had just won Euro2000 soccer.

**georgedubyabush** · 4th August 2004, 02:17

the first pic looks out towards africa,
the 2nd pic you can see the line where it is too high for olive trees to grow on the mountains in the background.

**moko** · 4th August 2004, 05:03

Originally Posted by dangerman

Surely crete would have to be one THE places to bike
I look at the horizonsunlimited website and drool!!!!! at the exploring trips that other bikers are lucky enough to be doing all around the world

Glad you like on xt600, they seem to feature quite a bit on the above website.

I had one a couple of years ago and loved it.Brit market models at least dont have air suspension forks,just good old oil and springs.I believe firms like White Power do better fork springs for the XT.I`m pretty sure that if you explore the horizons un-limited site you`ll find an XT-specific bullettin board and a couple of the guys on there are real "XT gurus"and really know their stuff,very,very useful site.If you cant find it there pm me and I`ll hunt it down for you.definately one of my all time favourite bikes and the way the speed cameras are breeding over here might well go back to one.

**moko** · 4th August 2004, 08:29

Actually,never mind the pm,for Dangerman and any other XT owners this is a great little BB.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/cg...Forum&number=10

**Motu** · 4th August 2004, 09:00

For a bike with such a long production run and so popular in Europe at least,it's been really hard to find any info on,this site has lots of good stuff - but it's in German! Even this English speaking part is not much help,as to post you have to be able to read German too.

http://www.xt-foren.de/forum.htm

**dangerman** · 4th August 2004, 12:22

Great pics, Georgedubyabush
I'll have to content myself with some south island back road trips
I see you didn't have a carrier on your bike
I've been looking at carriers/panniers but they are helishly dear so thought I'd have a go wearing my tramping pack

**moko** · 4th August 2004, 17:52

Originally Posted by Motu

For a bike with such a long production run and so popular in Europe at least,it's been really hard to find any info on,this site has lots of good stuff - but it's in German! Even this English speaking part is not much help,as to post you have to be able to read German too.

http://www.xt-foren.de/forum.htm

There are a couple of user groups out there too Motu Yahoo,Google and MSN are the usual places to look,one I found somewhere was run by a guy who`d modded just about everything on his XT,sounded like a real beast.Link I posted is great..............and in English,I`m pretty sure the guy who runs it is the same bloke that does that German site as well,knows his stuff.There`s also a Brit that runs a workshop specialising in XT`s who is a regular contributor to the "horizons" bb.