I had the same "stiffness" problem that your talking about. No matter how I adjusted it, I could hardly feel any difference. I took it to my local dealer, they took it apart and looked at it. They called Yamaha that told them they would give me a new one,( good thing too, because a new one would have cost me around 1,614 euro). In less than a week I had it on the bike.
At the time my bike had 27 000kms on the clock and was 2 years and 6 months old (guarantee here is only up to 2 years, so I was 6 months over).
Any way Yamaha stood behind there product and gave me a new rear suspension even though my guarantee had expired 6 months ago. The suspension works great now.
Way to go Yamaha.

I am in Basingstoke. If you would like to meet up sometime let me know.

Hi,

This is very kind of you, my bikes goes to a Yamaha dealer tomorrow, let us see what they say, I may very well take you on your offer, much appreciated.

Cheers

Hi,

This is most encouraging, thank you, my bike only covered 700 (seven hundred) miles but it is also 9 months after the 2 years warranty. Let us see what they say.

Cheers

Gage wrote:
Have a look here and go to page 94 for price and part number.

The catalogue is here and info on the 641 shock is on page 30

The UK distributor is here The guys there is very knowledgeable an d helpful.

The OEM suspension is fairly typical in the fact that the adjustment is very limited to keep it within "safe" parameters.

I don't know of anyone who has fitted one to a Vmax but Wilbers has a very good reputation for their quality and I hope to be trying one either later this year or early next year.

I have also checked to see if any of the other quality suspension manufacturers are going to be making a shock for the Gen 2 but it appears not. There is probably to small a market for them.

Good luck and keep in touch if you try one first.

I'm pretty sure this bike has a Wilbers on it, but I think this option was taken to lower the bike.
I think it was custom made. You can see the Wilbers adjuster just above the exhaust can and below the passenger foot rest. Not a very good picture but it's the only one I have.

How about the Y's Gear lowering kit? I think that comes with a completely different rear shock.
I've heard good things about the kit in general. Maybe someone who has this kit could chime in and give there opinion on the rear shock in comparison to the Oem shock. Oliver has one of these kits, maybe he'll see this thread.

Thanks, already spoke to the UK distributor today, they are based near Birmingham. If I do not get Yamaha to replace my original shock I will definitely try Wilbers. I will let you know the outcome in due course.

Guys,

Following inspection and test ride by my Yamaha dealer earlier today they first told me "this is a heavy powerful bike and thus has stiff rear suspension, this is how it should be and this is normal". Given that the bike was perfect when new I rejected this assessment outright. They then contacted Yamaha UK and were told this is the first complaint they are aware of it, a clear lie given the post above about a Vmax in Portugal who developed the same problem but in that case Yamaha replaced the suspension. Thee dealer then conceded that there is "reduced damping" - an acknowledgement of failure and that for a mere GBP 1,600 they will gladly replace the shock as Yamaha UK will not accept liability. Quite disappointing.

My only options are (a) to replace with a Wilbers 641 and or (b) sue Yamaha out of warranty on the basis of the Sales of Goods Act 1979 given that the product did not operate for a reasonably length, in this case 700 (yes, this is not a mistake seven hundred) miles.
If anyone has some info about how to get Yamaha to stand by its products I would be most interested to hear.

Cheers

I had my Honda X11 forks fitted with Wilbur springs by the blokes from Revs Suspension, which are the people you mentioned, great blokes who certainly know their stuff . What a difference those springs made, I am never left behind on the twisties by my sportsbike riding mates....