P500 Elka stage 1

[Chevyfan396]

I ordered Elka Stage 1s for my P520. The main reason was I wanted a better ride. Between the short sidewalls of 24" tires and the hard shocks, our first few rides in the Colorado Mountains near Leadville were pretty bad. So, after swapping tires to radials and a much larger size for more absorption. I knew the only way to improve things further was to swap the shocks.

I chose stages 1s because I didn't feel I would ever change the settings other than preload. To be honest, I have a hard time spending $2k on a set of shocks for a machine that has a sticker price of $10k. And, as others have pointed out, we only have 5.9" of travel to work with. If I had a machine that cost $20k and had 12-14" of suspension travel, I might be more inclined to look at other stages.

I'm looking for an improvement in my ride, not the ultimate in adjustability. These machines are fairly simple so I thought the Stage 1 was appropriate.

Rob

Did you order from a dealer or straight from Elka. I've been looking at ordering stage 1 as well but not sure who is a reputable dealer.

 

[crewcabrob]

From a dealer, I didn't think there was any extra benefit for going straight to the source on this one.

 

[JCart]

Installed my Elka Stage 3s in January of 2018, huge improvement. Easily 2 gears quicker (within reason) compared to stock over most terrain. Be interesting to be able to compare: same machine, terrain, etc, only changing shocks. In terms of changing setting first time was this autumn prior to storing a my buddies for him to plough snow with, stiffened up the fronts. I will say when ever I ride the “Dozer” makes me smile and laugh, controlled pillowy compliant ride. My recommendations, if you plan to keep it and can swing the dough… do it!
Cheers
j

 

[The Green Goat]

Man, those Elkas are good looking.

 

[JCart]

Man, those Elkas are good looking.

Yaaas thought I’d toss in a teaser… when I ordered mine I told the guys in Quebec @ Elka, how much weight typically I have on (just me, chainsaw, recovery keerap), they came preset as in the above image. I removed my anti sway for better rear articulation for really slow rough terrain. If I drove on more gravel forestry roads I’d reinstall it maybe for better cornering at speed. Or I guess play with dampening on shocks.. heh.
Anyways I’ll say it’s made the Dozer so much fun!
Cheers
j

 

[crewcabrob]

Just a quick update:

I ordered Elka Stage 1s on March 9th.
I was notified on April 22nd they shipped.
Estimated delivery is 28th of April.

No ETA on when I will install them.

Rob

 

[Kkettlebell]

Just a quick update:

I ordered Elka Stage 1s on March 9th.
I was notified on April 22nd they shipped.
Estimated delivery is 28th of April.

No ETA on when I will install them.

Rob

Just a quick update:

I ordered Elka Stage 1s on March 9th.
I was notified on April 22nd they shipped.
Estimated delivery is 28th of April.

No ETA on when I will install them.

Rob

Nice! I ordered my 4 stage ones on April 18th…can’t wait to get them! Give a ride report when you get them mounted up.

 

[GRANITE]

I'm interested in knowing how they are too...thanks

 

[stobiadas]

I put a stage two Elka on mine last year. Have to say that they are fantastic shock and really transformed the ride. Riding on 27 inch mud bugs by maxxiss. As mentioned above they come set up from the builder. I feel the set up is pretty much perfect did not have to touch a thing. It transformed my little red from a farm waggon to a trail machine. Waited 12 weeks for mine

 

[crewcabrob]

Look what goodies showed up today

 

[crewcabrob]

 

[Smitty335]

View attachment 331854View attachment 331855

What's a little confusing is the high and low speed compression settings, this isn't about speed of the buggy, rather the speed of shock compression, high speed is for hard impacts like rock ledges, low speed is for like dirt roads, I've got my low speed set pretty stiff since I don't run sway bars, the rebound is a total different thing, if you run the rocks you'll want the rebound faster than if you run whoops, if you have your rebound set to fast in the whoops it will buck.

 

[Kkettlebell]

Look what goodies showed up today

View attachment 331852View attachment 331853

Get these beauties on and give a ride report!

 

[GRANITE]

Please get us a report. I’m holding off ordering until I hear how much different they are or aren’t.

 

[crewcabrob]

I have to tell you guys, the build quality looks amazing. Of course this is only observed from the outside.

I have a very busy month of May. We are taking all of our adult kids and spouses to Disney for a week. Our youngest daughter is graduating from law school and I have a business trip for 4 days too. I’m not sure when I will get them installed.

Rob

 

[JCart]

Please get us a report. I’m holding off ordering until I hear how much different they are or aren’t.

GRANITE,
Just do it, you’ll be shocked…. Mahahahha. Really, 2 gears quicker on my “Dozer” compared to stock. I tried spacers, (just increased the harshness) installed the updated stock Honda shocks (in Canada was a warranty thing). Then finally swapped in stage 3s, yaaas they are a pretty penny, (for me and wife totally worth it), if you wanna change how it rides for the better, like different machine better… highly recommended.
cheers.

 

[Chevyfan396]

Where is everyone ordering from? There seems to a few different online dealers, not sure which are reputable or if any of them offer discount codes etc.

 

[crewcabrob]

I actually went to eBay and order them from a retailer.

 

[crewcabrob]

For your advice: I put them on my wish list and got a 5% discount after a few days.
Rob

 

[Kkettlebell]

Where is everyone ordering from? There seems to a few different online dealers, not sure which are reputable or if any of them offer discount codes etc.

Direct from Elka