Update. WOW.
Well our Elka S3 Shocks finally arrived the other day, right at 10 weeks (they said 8-10). So here’s some info on the install and my thoughts on them.
They are advertised as being for a P500 2015-2017. In my comments above you can see I did as much as I could to make sure dimensions seemed the same for the 520. Everything looked like it should be okay so I went ahead and ordered. They fit perfectly with no issues and were super easy and quick to install. The front reservoirs are angled out somewhat but there is definitely room for them to go straight back like the rears. At first I put the front right side on and was able to tuck the reservoir inboard and facing rear, was very well protected, but on the left, trying the same, it just touched the brake line, so I swapped them around and both face the rear but angled out a bit. Maybe there was a clearance issue with something on the 500. All the instructions said was to have the reservoirs facing aft. There is also plenty of clearance for the left rear reservoir from the exhaust, and there won’t be any heat issues.
This original testing was with me and my wife, 3/4 tank of fuel and nothing in the box. As soon as I started driving it I noticed a difference in the feel immediately, it’s not near as stiff feeling just driving around. Just has this plushiness to it. Then we went across the field beside me, it’s fairly rough and one section has some sharp ruts. Before I would go slowly in 2nd gear over these ruts and it was jarring, now I was able to go across in any gear and it was like they were hardly there. Next was a trip over to the local village, it’s about 10km’s and there is a very rough and rocky trail we take to go there, which also has quite a few wooded and sandy trails that go off it. I’d say we got there in half the time it usually takes! Again, rocky sections that we used to crawl over in 2nd, we were hitting in 3rd and 4th and the 520 soaked them right up, the difference really was amazing.
The S3’s have a low speed compression adjustment, a knob you turn on top of the reservoir. 24 clicks from Firm to Plush, their wording. Elka set up our shocks using information I sent them, so they had the spring preload all set up, and the compression setting at 10 clicks down from full firm. I’ll mention here that changing to the 27 inch Kenda Bearclaw tires, the ride height went to 10 3/16” at the front, and 10 3/4” at the rear. I gained another 3/8 at the front, and 13/16 at the rear after installing the Elka’s. That can be increased or decreased as well, by adjusting the spring preload. That will also affect the ride as well depending on the weight.
I spent decades setting up suspension on my dirt and race bikes so I have started playing around almost right away with the settings on these. The spring preload seems to be right on the money, so I won’t play with that too much right now. I started with the compression. On our ride back from that village, I dialed them down to full plush at the start. A noticeable difference, it was definitely more “plush” and this setting would be good for riding on smooth trails lightly loaded, but I didn’t like the feel as much. Then adjusted to full firm and rode over the same section, a very noticeable difference again, definitely firmer and you could feel the rocks a bit more as well. But at our weight and no load in the box, it was still a good ride but a bit too harsh for us. But this is what I like to do, go from full soft to full hard so you can actually feel the difference. I dialed them back to the 10 clicks down from full firm and then we hit some wooded trails. The suspension was really good, the trails are typical for in a forest, good bumps, some rocks and roots and good undulations, the Elka’s just soaked it all up. Then we went to another section that had a lot of really good sized sand whoops and it handled those really well too. There was never any jarring or bottoming out like before.
I’ll start playing around with different loads in the box soon, and next week we are going on an overnight trip to an area that has some amazing trails, very rocky and big elevation changes, so I can’t wait to see the difference up there compared to when we were up there a few weeks ago.
All in all, we are very happy with our decision to spend the CDN$2000 on the suspension. The difference is amazing and has completely changed the feel of this little guy. I’m looking forward to many more miles of enjoying this investment. Like others have said, this is the biggest “wow” improvement I think you can make.
F right
F left
R right
R left
, while checking out the site shipping estimates varied depending on what page I was looking at. Some estimates went as long as 16 to 20 weeks. Oh dear lord don’t let it be so 
