Ordered the shocks from MADDMACK MOTORSPORTS (forum member QuaddingManiac). I got 2 quotes from other dealers and they had the best deal at the time. Jean Paul is a great guy to talk to and deal with and will definitely do business with him again.
Delivery took 2 1/2 weeks as quoted but unfortunately Elka used the wrong product codes and sent me a set for the G2 chassis. I called J.P on a holiday(Good Friday) and to my surprise he answered. Within 20 min he had new shocks being built and had setup for wrong ones to be picked up. Wrong ones were picked up and within a week the proper ones were in my hands. So about 3 1/2 total weeks for proper setup. J.P was very apologetic and more than made up for the inconvenience, between his customer service and a very nice discount, I was more than satisfied.
During install I texted and called J.P many, many times and he answered every time and was more than happy to help.
Install on the rears were the most time consuming as it took a bit of head scratching to figure how/where to mount the remote resevoirs. With the fact that the “banjo bolts” cant be adjusted, routing the hoses was a slight pain. But other than that its simply unbolt old shocks, install new ones. Very easy and can be done without help, granted a second pair of hands woulda came in handy when mounting the rezzys. its hard to hold rezzy inplace while trying to install clamp and screw down. That was honestly the hardest part. I also wrapped a piece of rubber around the hose where its zip tied to the braket, just to make sure theres no rubbing/cutting.
I started with rears on the softest setting, tightened spring collar all way to the top, which gives 9″ of ground clearance, which basically makes the shock too soft and is not usable, but I just needed a baseline to start from. Then I tighten them down 1 1/2″ and that gave me 10″ GC. For the fronts I did the same 1 1/2″ and it gave me 11″GC. I then adjusted rears to 2 1/2″ and now have 11 3/4″ GC.
Stock setup was at highest setting and was 10″ in front and 10 1/2″ in rear.
The Elkas seem to have about 5 1/2 inches of threads to adjust with.
Test run consisted of all pavement so I was unable to see how the “rebound” acts. Rebound is set at 30 from the factory so that will be my baseline. Mostly my test run was just doin wheelies.
WOW! WOW! WOW! I cant believe how easily it wheelies now. 20 km/h rolling wheelies in High gear. No rear end squat anymore and the front end comes down so soft it doesn’t feel real. stock shocks came down violently and would almost bottom out. Low gear wheelies are just stupid easy now and actually scared me a little as it comes up so fast. There is still some front end dive when slamming on the front brakes, but again, its very soft and its not violent and throwing me over the bars like the stock ones. I really cant get over how “soft” everything feels. When I push on the front/rear it basically snaps back to position. I really cant wait to hit the hi-speed stuff and the rough back country. Its going to feel like a completely different machine on the trails as it already feels that way just on pavement.
Well I thinks that everything, sorry for being long winded. Again, big thanks to member QuaddingManiac(Jean Paul) at MaddMack Motorsports for his all his help.
Link: http://www.can-amforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=460121
