P500 Elka stage 1

[GAug440]

My Elka 1s (Front) just arrived today, installed them and toke a little ride in the mountain up and down to test them with my girl friend. It's totally another machine now, so smooth ! Cannot imagne what it will be once the rears will be istalled. Really worth the buying View attachment 350087

I agree, the transformation is dramatic.

 

[Splorin]

Vertebrae love the rear shocks.....

 

[railrunner]

Email with tracking number from Elka showed up today..... delivery date 08/29
Stage ones all around, looking forward to trying them.

Railrunner

 

[Janesy]

Im weak, I ordered a full set stage 1.

 

[wvupsc]

Im weak, I ordered a full set stage 1.

You won't regret it.

 

[Rdrcr]

I ended up ordering WE's. The wait begins....

Mike

 

[railrunner]

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

Same here with the settings, do not anticipate changing preload, a buddy of mine has some WE with a 16 position preload adjustment...set it on 4 when he first got them, been there ever since, same with my road bikes and progressive suspension on the wings and VTX.....set and forget, KISS method

Railrunner

 

[wvupsc]

I've had my Elka Stage 3's for a year now and have yet to change the settings. Obviously the Stage 1's would have been fine for me. Maybe some day I will experiment with the settings since I paid the extra $$ for the feature.

 

[railrunner]

Elka shocks arrived today, just a heads up if someone is interested.... roughly 3 week turnaround since placing the order which I was advised of at time of ordering, I assume it might be a bit longer if ordering from the US.

Railrunner

 

[futzin]

Elka shocks arrived today, just a heads up if someone is interested.... roughly 3 week turnaround since placing the order which I was advised of at time of ordering, I assume it might be a bit longer if ordering from the US.

Railrunner

Looking forward to another review!

 

[crewcabrob]

I normally do things way over the top, but glad I didn't go crazy and get stage 3-5. I'm pretty happy with what I have.

I have adjusted the preload to get the desired height front to rear and side to side. It made very little difference in the ride quality after turning the adjusters for preload. On the stock shocks, adjusting the preload made the ride really harsh.

Every Elka has the preload adjusters. I encourage to take measurements to make sure everything sits level. Adjusting the preload is no big deal.

I started a different thread about ride height and alignments. You can go read what I did to make things level after new a-arms and shocks.

Rob

 

[Yomama101]

I normally do things way over the top, but glad I didn't go crazy and get stage 3-5. I'm pretty happy with what I have.

I have adjusted the preload to get the desired height front to rear and side to side. It made very little difference in the ride quality after turning the adjusters for preload. On the stock shocks, adjusting the preload made the ride really harsh.

Every Elka has the preload adjusters. I encourage to take measurements to make sure everything sits level. Adjusting the preload is no big deal.

I started a different thread about ride height and alignments. You can go read what I did to make things level after new a-arms and shocks.

Rob

Thanks for the info. I adjusted a little more preload on the front to cope with the bottoming out. I took pictures and measured the factory preload settings so I have a baseline to work from. Added four threads worth on the front. Currently at 10 exposed threads above the collar. Left the rear alone. Measured ground clearance at the skid plate and both front and back are at 10.5".

 

[Janesy]

Im weak, I ordered a full set stage 1.

My Elkas are coming today! 7 days including shipping

 

[futzin]

Looking forward to another review!

☝️

 

[railrunner]

Just curious, I got 200lb spring rate, based on 550 pounds of payload what did everyone else get.

Railrunner

 

[Janesy]

I didnt even check. I bolted them on this afternoon and went down the same trail, i was easily able to travel at 3 times the speed and 3rd gear confortably. Which I dont need to do bear hunting, but the rough trail was completly tamed by these shocks.
At the same time I added 1" spacers on all 4 corners and now this machine is how it should come from stock.

 

[Yomama101]

I didnt even check. I bolted them on this afternoon and went down the same trail, i was easily able to travel at 3 times the speed and 3rd gear confortably. Which I dont need to do bear hunting, but the rough trail was completly tamed by these shocks.
At the same time I added 1" spacers on all 4 corners and now this machine is how it should come from stock.

Same here, didn't see any info included with the shocks. Just went off there presets according to the information I gave them for the build and set-up.

 

[Janesy]

Same here, didn't see any info included with the shocks. Just went off there presets according to the information I gave them for the build and set-up.

It now feels like when I went from a solid axle back in the day to my 2005 kingquad 700 and that feeling that the rear qheels are not just following along, it was a whole new feeling. They are acting independetly. This bike feels like it went from an axle dragger to a proper independent setup like it should have been. It is so much nicer on the rough shield trails now, with the stock suspension if you were a little high sided it tended to lift a wheel off the ground. Now it feels like all 4 wheels stay in contact more.

I'm impressed, and also very much impressed with the service from Elka, 7 days from order to delivery

 

[Yomama101]

It now feels like when I went from a solid axle back in the day to my 2005 kingquad 700 and that feeling that the rear qheels are not just following along, it was a whole new feeling. They are acting independetly. This bike feels like it went from an axle dragger to a proper independent setup like it should have been. It is so much nicer on the rough shield trails now, with the stock suspension if you were a little high sided it tended to lift a wheel off the ground. Now it feels like all 4 wheels stay in contact more.

I'm impressed, and also very much impressed with the service from Elka, 7 days from order to delivery

Very tight description. I love the independent articulation now. Never look back

 

[railrunner]

Put the Elka's on last night, went for a ride today....what a difference in handling, the ride was a lot smoother a lot of the feeling of tipping was gone on inclines due to the suspension following the terrain a lot better than stock setup. the shocks were bolted on as ordered from vendor, no further adjustments needed, for those on the fence about which version to buy I have the stage ones, and for the capabilities of our buggies stage 2 and up in my opinion are overkill. there was 600 pounds at one point in the SXS....suspension handled it well and also when I was riding alone.

When I ordered the suspension from Elka I was asked a series of questions about ride type, tires and anticipated total weight of occupants and gear, the shocks were built according to specs provided, appropriate spring rate is used and preload set at factory. I don't assume I will need any further adjustments.

I did notice the springs are wound much more progressively than stock to absorb bumps as effectively as possible,
One singular spring on the rear shocks and two on the front shocks with a spacer in between

Final thoughts: other than the power steering....shocks next best upgrade

Railrunner