I had a chance to do a couple of trail rides with the Elka this weekend. I was absolutely blown away. It is by far the best shock I have ever ridden. I usually would just describe the characteristics of the shock. With the Elka it is so adjustable that you can change the shock to get any characteristics you like. A few clicks and it truly feels like a different shock.
I am not one of the people that was terribly unhappy with the performance of the RP23. That shock is hard to tune on the Tracer but I certainly felt like I had it as good as it was going to get. That being said I also felt like there was some performance left on the table with the Fox. The biggest benefit to the Elka is what it doesn’t do. It completely cured the the tendency of the RP23 to move excessively through the mid stroke. The bike is a totally different animal through G-outs and burmed corners. It stays nice and high in the travel. It is more plush in all the settings I tried and pedals pretty well to boot.
Out of the box the shock felt like a modern DH racing shock. The LSC, HSC and rebound were all pretty heavily dampened. I am sure it would have just eaten up a gnarly rocky and rutted course. The problem is that this is my trail bike. If I am riding anything where I would want a full face or flat pedals I take my other bike. Time to play with the knobs.
One click on any of the three damping adjusters makes a big difference. On top of that, each has a bunch of clicks. There is a wider range of adjustment than you could use on any one bike. I backed off the LSC a few clicks and the HSC a click or two. I also sped up the rebound a couple of clicks. I ended up with the perfect set it and forget it ride. The bike was super plush on the little stuff and the spring curve seemed perfect. It was still poppy on the lips and pedaled well. The travel felt deep when it should and didn’t when it shouldn’t. Very nice.
Normally, I would have stopped there and just ridden but I wanted to see what the possibilities for this shock were. I backed of the LSC, HSC and rebound a bit more. All I can say is that it was a magic carpet ride. All trail chatter was gone. The odd thing was it still felt really connected to the trail. I could tell exactly what my tires were doing in terms of traction but I couldn’t feel the bumps. There were some downsides in that the bike did tend to flatten lips in this configuration and it was a bit mushy when sprinting. It is really nice to have this option for a long days in the backcountry.
All in all, I was super impressed. I am sure there are other coil shocks that would similarly transform the Tracer. I haven’t tried them so I can only compare it to the RP23. All of the configurations were a huge improvement and the ability to choose your ride is an added bonus. Wow.
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It never gets any easier. You just go faster.
Rob Cunningham
President
3D Visual Concepts