Hi,

As everybody knows Yamaha YBR250 is a great wee bike for touring in China. Reliability cant be beaten, everything else most likely can Anyway, I like my bike (though its a bit boring).

Ive been thinking of riding from China to Europe for few years now, but never had time. It looks like finally in 2016 I will get to do it. I have a spectrum of decisions to make and problems to solve starting with what bike to ride. I can ride my old (40000km) YBR250 or buy new Yamaha XTZ125..... I still need to think about it. A HUGE factor in this decision is wether I can or cannot replace YBRs rear suspension. It sucks. Last 14k km trip in China resulted in really bad suspension experience and my friend who rides his YS from China to Africa now, after having his shock replaced somewhere in the STAN countries, said he finally can enjoy riding.

Ive done some research and taobao doesnt really offer anything that fits YBR. On ebay there is custom build suspension but costs RMB 5000. I have to say I was hoping for something cheaper. I found out that YSS makes suspension for YBR but found only one place to buy it and its not adjustable. Im afraid it will be too soft and Ill end up paying for nothing so I dug deeper and it seems like Ninja 250 has a similar shock. Look at this chart

YSS-MOTORCYCLE APPLICATION LIST
BRAND / MAKER CC MODEL YEAR TYPE LENGTH TOP BOTTOM STD. SPRING PISTON SIZE (MM.) SHAFT SIZE (MM.) PRELOAD
Yamaha 250 YBR 250 / FAZEN 07-09 MS 280 12x30 F.30x12 46-115-150 30 12 T
Yamaha 250 YBR 250 / FAZEN (HARDER SPRING ) 07-09 MS 280-290 12x30 F.30x12 46-135-150 36 16 T
Kawasaki 250 ZX 250 R Ninja L5 08-12 MS 315-325 12x30 F.32x12 46-80-160 36 16 T

This list is from YSS website. Its just an example as there are many shocks for Ninja and the dimensions are the same apart from lenght which varies from 310 to 330.
There is an a much bigger choice for Ninjas. Im not sure if they will fit my YBR and since I dont have any experience changing shocks I was hoping somebody can help me.
To my inexperienced mind (if the bottom 32 can fit) I could compress the shock by 2-3cm to fit YBR which would result in stiffer suspension. Am I right? Im not sure if it can be done.

Here is the pic of original YBR shock


and here the YSS for Ninja Im thinking about.




Of course if there is a different option that you know about feel free to share