Aprilia Tuareg 660 Motorcycle Suspension

KYB 43mm USD in a split design, with compression in one leg and rebound in the other. Comp and reb damping plus spring preload are all adjustable. The standout for us was the 0.37 kg/mm rate in the initial part of the spring. This is far lighter than any of the contemporaries; Tenere T7 (0.60), KTM 890R (0.68), Africa Twin (0.54/0.56 Progressive), Ducati Desert X (0.63).

The coil springs are the same diameter as a Yamaha Tenere T7 but requires a spacer to fit the Tuareg tubes - we send the springs with a spacer tube that needs to be cut to fit. Unless you are very light, getting stiffer spring rates is a good move.

From a damping perspective the Tuareg is also quite light, designed for smooth road comfort. We replace the fork springs and revise the entire fork specification to a more adventure/offroad setting suitable for Australian conditions.

Our workshop found some nasty surprises inside the forks of one of our first Tuaregs. The mid-speed valving spring being warped and wrapped around the bent shims isn't great, but the missing chunk out of the damping piston bottom skirt (on what is a very new bike - see the pics above) is a very bad sign. Getting lumps of disintegrating metal ripping up the insides of your expensive suspension will quickly turn it into scrap. We have developed solutions on the dyno though; check out our fork upgrade kit.

It's also worth noting the first Tuareg we worked on had bent chrome fork tubes from heavy landings over MX type obstacles. There was a lot of deflection going on there (red arrows) when we spun it in the lathe as seen in the pic above. We can replace bent fork tubes if this happens to you.

We highly recommend getting your forks re-valved and re-sprung if you use your Tuareg 660 for anything other than basic road commuting. They are not capable of handling anything more intense.