Just finished breaking in my Elkas riding easy last night for a couple of hours. I was ready for some heavier action today but first thought the shocks could use a little more compression since there didn't seem to be much resistance when pushing down on the rear grab bar. So, I turned the adjustment **** a half turn clockwise (harder) but didn't notice a difference. Turned it all the way in and backed off 1/4 turn - no difference. Turned all the way out (softer), still no difference. Now I have to say I didn't leave the driveway while doing this test. I am just going by the amount of resistance when pushing down on the rear grab bar. Joey9 and other Elka shock owners, would you mind performing this same test to see if you notice a difference on yours? The reason I think something isn't right is that I have a Honda 400ex that you can definitely tell a difference between the hardest and softest settings when pushing down on the rear grab bar (and it is a factory Honda shock).

Joey9, the answer to your question from another post is that my bike was not sitting up high to the point I needed to make any preload adjustment to the shock. It sat 1" lower than the factory shock did. Yours should have been adjusted properly for your weight too. Starting to wonder if you have my shock and I have yours. I weigh 190 lbs, how about you?

Could you also measure the distance between the rubber stop bushing inside the spring to the lower part of the shock that travels up and down the rod? I only have about an inch with no weight on the seat and 1/2 inch when I am sitting on the quad. That doesn't leave much shock travel before bottoming into the rubber stop bushing.

I am sick to my stomach that I spent $1,500 for these shocks. I expected a HUGE difference just like I did when I got my WR400 shocks revalved and new springs. I didn't spend even $500 getting this done and it made a very noticeable difference.

I am going to call Martin on Monday to get his perspective but wanted some insight from others before calling.

Thanks!

 

Same here. The fronts seem fine but the rear compresses to easy and
I tried the same thing (adj. the compression) no change at all from all the way out to all the way in. The suspension is definately better, but not $1400
better. I think my fronts are fine, but the rear bottoms out off 5-6 feet of air. I was expecting more also. I'm going to call Elka and/or Marty also and see what's up. I'm getting tired of taking shocks in and out of my quad.
I had my shocks setup for 220#'s
I'll get back to you about the travel. I assume your talking about the rear, right? Later

 

Yea, the measurement on the rear shock. Mine is setup for 190lbs which leaves me about 1/2" of travel before hitting the rubber stop bushing. My dad is 220# and when he sits on my bike it is already touching.

Although adjusting my fronts doesn't seem to make any difference either, I don't think I am bottoming them. I can't tell that this rear shock is any better than my stock one except for the ride height difference.

Something has to be wrong. No use having the adjustments if you can't tell a difference.

 

Mine is about 1" away from the bump stop in the rear with me on it.
About 2" without me on it. I definately noticed a performance difference and
the stock one bottomed out much more. I remember the old shock no matter how
I adj. on heavy woops the rear end would hop all over and it doesn't do that at all anymore. As for the adj. not working I'll have to call about that.
I definately noticed a difference with those adj. on the stock shock also.
There is an adj. (I think)on the lower part of the rear shock.
I would assume this is the rebound adj. Did you mess with that??
Later

 

Maybe when the shock is valved for your weight then the compression settings become a very fine tuning adjustment. I have to say that I turned mine to the hardest position today front and rear and backed off three clicks. Was flying down a gravel road and hit a small whoop and almost whooped my a$$ all the way of the bars when the back end flew up. In fact, the bike was all over the place. So, I turned it to the softest setting and then half a turn in and that did the trick. I made it to the MX track today and was tearing up the jumps without bottoming. I am going to call Martin tomorrow just to make sure all is well. I think I might need educated a little more on setting it just right for me. The fronts are not a problem on mine either. I don't think I could bottom them.

I didn't mess with the rebound at all on the rear shock but that is what that adjustment is.

Later...

 

Hey Guys,

Martin told me that the compression adjustment would not make any difference at slow speed. It only comes into play when you hit bumps or whoops at high speed. That's probably why you are not noticing any difference when you just push down on the rear grab bar.

 

RoadKillJoe is right. The shocks are not made to be any harder/softer just by pushing onto the grab bar. I have works... but basically its the same ideal. You will not notice the compression difference by doing the test you did. When you start flatlanding tabletops, and slamming a whoops section, you will.

 

Thanks for the confirmation guys. THis is my first set of aftermarkets.
I'll never go back now. Later

 

This is not related to adjustment, but here is a tip for mounting the rear nitro can.

Tip

 

Good tip.....the new 350x brackets look a ton better.