Houndman said:
I know what you are saying, done it on other bikes, just not on a huge enduro. I'll pass on the experiment, I'm gonna eventually get some stuff done on the Yamaha.
Then frustration must be the only reason you referenced Yamaha's claim that 460lbs could be carried on the bike.
The way to look at THAT is like this:
Say you buy a pickup truck that has a GVWR of 9200lbs and the truck alone weighs 7200lbs. That means you can theoretically carry 2k lbs of extra cargo.
Would you expect that truck to handle exactly the same with 0 cargo and 2k lbs of cargo? Heck, would you expect it to handle IDEAL over the entire varying range?
Of course the truck cannot. This is why companies sell air bags and load levelers. They don't add to the GVWR, but they help everything cope with the different loadings to improve handling and ultimately safety.
The same is true for your bike. Sure, you could throw 460lbs of people and gear on your bike with the factory suspension. It certainly would not handle IDEAL, but you would get where you want to go.
Aftermarket springs and suspension help tailor the bike to YOUR desired use.
Make sense?
ac