I recently started another thread “Newbie Joins the Ranks” chronicling the trials and tribulations of my first sled purchase, a 2002 Venture 700 with a little over 500 miles. I’ve spent the past few weeks doing a complete service and received a lot of valuable information from this forum. (Thanks to all that helped)
In the excitement of new to me sled ownership, and my inability to leave things alone, I picked up a set of Viper shocks. I intended to install them on my Venture, even though I haven’t ridden the Venture or any sled for that matter.
In searching this forum and the interwebs, I found there isn’t a lot of information on the 2002 Venture. The following is what I discovered and want to share with anyone in a similar situation. For most of you, it’s probably nothing new.
The Venture rear suspension has steel bodied, non-pressurized shocks. The mounting points use a steel collar inside plastic bushings. The Viper shocks are gas pressurized aluminum bodies, with needle bearings for the mounting points on the rear shock. The Viper center shock has the plastic bushings for the mounting points.
If you want to upgrade the plastic bushings, I found several threads by “Beth the Viper”, on how to upgrade the mounting points to needle bearings.
When I compared the springs between the Venture and Viper shocks, The Viper center shock spring was slightly stiffer, but for the rear shock, the Venture was stiffer. Both Viper springs were variable rate, and only the Venture rear spring was variable. I intended to install the Venture rear shock spring in the Viper shock, but the ID on one end of the Venture spring was a little too large. I think a simple spacer would allow mounting the Venture spring on the Viper shock.
When I compared the damping between the Venture and Viper shocks, both shocks were smooth and uniform to compress and extend, but it took a lot more effort to extend the Venture shock compared to the Viper. I came to the conclusion the Venture shock has more rebound damping.
My method to measure damping was not accurate, strictly how much effort did it take to push or pull, but it was pretty obvious which shock took more effort. I have no way of knowing if the Venture shock damping decreases as the shock heats up with use, but I suspect that it does.
After a few adult beverages and several hours of comparing suspension components, I had an epiphany. I realized Yamaha suspension engineers are smarter than me. Even if I installed a complete Ohlins suspension, I’m still riding a Venture, not a race sled.
I decided to re-install my Venture shocks, ride the sled “as is”, and adjust the suspension as needed. Long term, I plan to revalve and respring the Viper shocks. Hopefully, by next season I will have gas pressurized shocks with needle bearing mounts in my Venture.
In the excitement of new to me sled ownership, and my inability to leave things alone, I picked up a set of Viper shocks. I intended to install them on my Venture, even though I haven’t ridden the Venture or any sled for that matter.
In searching this forum and the interwebs, I found there isn’t a lot of information on the 2002 Venture. The following is what I discovered and want to share with anyone in a similar situation. For most of you, it’s probably nothing new.
The Venture rear suspension has steel bodied, non-pressurized shocks. The mounting points use a steel collar inside plastic bushings. The Viper shocks are gas pressurized aluminum bodies, with needle bearings for the mounting points on the rear shock. The Viper center shock has the plastic bushings for the mounting points.
If you want to upgrade the plastic bushings, I found several threads by “Beth the Viper”, on how to upgrade the mounting points to needle bearings.
When I compared the springs between the Venture and Viper shocks, The Viper center shock spring was slightly stiffer, but for the rear shock, the Venture was stiffer. Both Viper springs were variable rate, and only the Venture rear spring was variable. I intended to install the Venture rear shock spring in the Viper shock, but the ID on one end of the Venture spring was a little too large. I think a simple spacer would allow mounting the Venture spring on the Viper shock.
When I compared the damping between the Venture and Viper shocks, both shocks were smooth and uniform to compress and extend, but it took a lot more effort to extend the Venture shock compared to the Viper. I came to the conclusion the Venture shock has more rebound damping.
My method to measure damping was not accurate, strictly how much effort did it take to push or pull, but it was pretty obvious which shock took more effort. I have no way of knowing if the Venture shock damping decreases as the shock heats up with use, but I suspect that it does.
After a few adult beverages and several hours of comparing suspension components, I had an epiphany. I realized Yamaha suspension engineers are smarter than me. Even if I installed a complete Ohlins suspension, I’m still riding a Venture, not a race sled.
I decided to re-install my Venture shocks, ride the sled “as is”, and adjust the suspension as needed. Long term, I plan to revalve and respring the Viper shocks. Hopefully, by next season I will have gas pressurized shocks with needle bearing mounts in my Venture.
Last edited:
yamahamark
Member
That's a very good observation Carey. It's best to find your limits for riding and what the limits for the sled are before making any major changes.
if your not going to ride it double, or just with kids, I would use the viper shocks with a difference center spring. also change out the arms on the sides of the shock to ones with bearings. and put a shorty seat on it,