I'm helping a friend set up his Elkas, raptor with stock width front a-arms he's around 160 lbs intermediate rider, i'm 200 lbs expert rider.

After 3 - 4 days break in, (during which time the front end was as stiff as hell) we still found the front end to be like a lead brick, damping is way to heavy, the front just does not travel nicely, even with me pounding the hell out of it........... Elka claims it is what they usually supply ????................ compared to my old PEP suspend LT they are crap, my LT would totally blitz this for rideability...................... They suggested a lighter set of springs, well okay, send em......they sent a heavier set ?? (based on wire diameter and coil spacing) so basically I would seem they don't know what the heck they supplied us with in the first place....................

It seems wack to me that they supply them with the compression damping "set" at the lightest setting, so there is no way we can ease them off, would seem alot more logical to have the compression "set" at mid adjustment.

Now they are being less than helpfull, I'm convinced thay screwed up and basically set the things up incorrect, I mean hell it's worse than stock..............

Anyone else had this problem............. these things cost us a fortune down under and are looking like being an expensive set of bookshelf ends..........This is a major pain cause we are 1/2 way around the world from Elka............... so sending back costs us like $200.00 plus.............................

just blowin steam as this is very frustrating...................

Kiwi

 

Where did your friend purchase those did he tell them how much he didnt weigh and what type of riding that he does, i ordered mine and it took like 20 min of questions for them to get everything right,that what the problem might be.. jmo

 

i have yet to ride mine...but i can push the front end down fairly easy and pull it up alot higher than its sits alone

 

Pretty much the same story here. I have them at The Quad Shop now hoping they can work a miracle. My $1,500 Elka Suspension is not as good as a stock Honda 400ex suspension. I bottom the crap out of it and it lands like a load of bricks. I am 200 lbs.

I definitely wasted a wad of cash on the rear. The fronts are better than stock but not that much better.

/NotuRaptor

 

You guys are worrying me now [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

I recently installed an Elka rear and will be testing it this weekend in the dunes - I was under the impression that Elkas are awsome (the quality looks great) and will make a significant improvement - but.......?

Let's hear it from some satisfied owners out there. I almost justified (in my mind) the cost !?!?

I suppose I'll know after I spend some time dialing it in.

 

I have been thinking about ordering a set of Elkas myself, this is the first bad I have heard, lets hear some more stories, maybe I will put the money else where....

 

I got my Elka's from the Quad Shop three weeks ago and their great. It didn't take me twenty minutes of questions either. All I had to tell them was how much I weigh with my gear on (215lbs), and that I race cross country. The fronts are tripple rates with piggy back rezzies and compression adjust. The rear is dual rate with remote rezzie and compression adjust. I did not get the rebound adjust because you lose 3/4 inch of wheel travel. I have got some seat time in the trails and on the track and they are awesome! I also kept the stock width because of tight trails on the GNCC tracks. Because the shocks are zero preload the shocks can set lower in their travel and I now set more than two inches lower, and it spread my front width out a little to 45 inches. These shocks also give about an inch more wheel travel in the front and rear. With the cross country set-up I can still hit the doubles at the track, but also cruise through the roughest of trails. The Quad Shop said Elka's are the best shock out right now and these guys do race.

 

I ess the reason it took 20 min a of questions is because i had questions and the guy wanted to make sure i was getting whai paid for, maybe some of you that had troubles with your shocks or anything for that matter should probably think of some questions thath you want answered before you go and buy something and come out dissapointed JMO!!!!!!!

 

Holeshot77, I didn't mean anything bad about you taking twenty minutes to ask questions. Sorry about that if you took it wrong.

 

I understand that did not mean to point at your statement but was just pointing something out, that if you do not understand what your buying and get it I personally think it could have avoided, but anyways i wish it would stop raining even though we need it, i wanna go riding[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]