I have read your take on the Elka springs. Your ride comparison with the dealers 700 Progresives & 589s' against your Dunlops & Elkas did not seem to be a fair one as you indicated in your post. Some time has passed and I am wondering if you have different tires on yet and how they feel now.
My Concern is I want better springs but no stiffer a ride with mt ATR's. I am looking to see if they are indeed more comfortable a ride that the progressives or not. And how much if any stiffer than stock?

 

No, he had ATR's on and I had Bearclaws. True, it was an unfair comparison as I tried to express. We just didn't have time to swap tires and parts that day as I cut into his workload. I would like to see how the ATR's ride on my machine with the Elka's.

He still felt the Elka's handled better than his Progressives even with my Bearclaws. I can't imagine the ride would be "better" with the claws over the ATR's? He hammered the machine pretty good and put it through all the paces. So, I trust his opinion after having ridden his machine all the while with that setup; then jumping on mine. My new purchase bias had me interested in his opinion more than my own impressions.

I have the preload set at zero and they are not any more rough than the stockers. To me they ride more smooth. Even more so with the Bighorn Radials I have on now. I am thinking about bumping the preload up to stiffen the springs some. I want to feel the change it makes.

Conversely, I thought the Progressives did ride more rough. Although, I think he had his preload jacked up for racing that day. The next time I rode it they didn't seem as bad.

I hate subjective evaluations.....

I had another friend over and he really liked how my new springs rode also.

So, my opinion is that both spring sets are better than the stock ones. I leave it up to you to decide if the Elka's performance and name warrants the expense over the Progressives.

I don't regret my purchase one bit, but, I wouldn't dump the Progressives to get Elka's either.

I hope that helps.