long travel worth it?

[quader400]

is long travel worth it over standard travel. i have a good setup now but allways have wanted long travel. and is there a long travel +2 setup, i think there is... and whats the best without spending a ton of cash? thanks

[prepracing]

depends on what kind of riding you do whether its worth it or not, BUT unless you find a good used setup nothing longtravel is cheap. Not sure if they make +2 longtravel or not but if yoy buy it new I'm sure most companies would make them for you.

[quaddy87]

seriously call ATVfourplay. their a-arms are really good and i got long travel elkas with the lt arms for a really good price, that included longerlines and clamps

[FHKracingZ]

this guy above me smokes crack :D .. go houser / PEP man























j/k ATV Four play makes great stuff, and has good prices. But nobody can touch Elka/LSR long travel for $1,500

[quader400]

well i was going to rebuild my elkas to become longtravel for 300 bucks and was wondering if it was worth it? i mainly am jumping and ridding mx

[prepracing]

Originally posted by quader400
well i was going to rebuild my elkas to become longtravel for 300 bucks and was wondering if it was worth it? i mainly am jumping and ridding mx


where were you getting this done ? never heard of rebuilding a shock to convert it to long travel, because longtravel takes a longer shock :confused: And if they were doing it for $300 thats ridiculously cheap considering you would be getting new longer springs, new longer shaft, all new internals ????

[Chino886]

Originally posted by prepracing
where were you getting this done ? never heard of rebuilding a shock to convert it to long travel, because longtravel takes a longer shock :confused: And if they were doing it for $300 thats ridiculously cheap considering you would be getting new longer springs, new longer shaft, all new internals ????

^^^^Yeah, I want to know tooo....


But to answer the original poster of this thread, most people are not going to realize the difference between LT and ST. You can get the same widths in either arm so it that is a non-issue. I run ST shocks and arms. If you buy LT and don't lightly bottom out your quad at least once per lap, you are not using all of your shock travel (I have been told this by a couple of people).

[400exMO]

Exactly what chino said. You should bottom out once a lap. Is Elka going to convert your shocks to LT? If so, the price is CHEAP, they add resevoirs for 400 and convert for 300:huh

[quader400]

maybe im wrong then about the conversion. i heard that its kinda just like rebuilding cause they still use the same body and just put a longer shaft and springs. dont know why they wouldnt be able to. maybe i heard wrong

[prepracing]

Originally posted by quader400
maybe im wrong then about the conversion. i heard that its kinda just like rebuilding cause they still use the same body and just put a longer shaft and springs. dont know why they wouldnt be able to. maybe i heard wrong

It could be done, its just that $300 sounds really cheap :eek2:

Originally posted by 400exMO
Exactly what chino said. You should bottom out once a lap. Is Elka going to convert your shocks to LT? If so, the price is CHEAP, they add resevoirs for 400 and convert for 300:huh

actuly if you can land perfect every jump you shouldnt bottom out. and if you do land perfect all the time you can run nice in loooooooow.

i would just stay ST but if you got the money than i would go long travle only because its said to be better.

like my 400ex i got the most travle posible for my shocks. if i had even a qorter inch more shock travle i would break or bend my ball joints b4 the shocks would bottom. so i dont see how long travle would rilly help. but im running yfz fronts on my 400ex(like 9in travle) and my rear has about 10.5 travle.

[Chino886]

Originally posted by yamaha yz426ex
actuly if you can land perfect every jump you shouldnt bottom out. and if you do land perfect all the time you can run nice in loooooooow.

i would just stay ST but if you got the money than i would go long travle only because its said to be better.

like my 400ex i got the most travle posible for my shocks. if i had even a qorter inch more shock travle i would break or bend my ball joints b4 the shocks would bottom. so i dont see how long travle would rilly help. but im running yfz fronts on my 400ex(like 9in travle) and my rear has about 10.5 travle.

Okay.....like I said when I posted, I have been told by people that work on suspension that you want to "lightly bottom out" once per lap. I never said I was an expert.

Now, Blue450yo, hetdrunk, or Yamaha y426ex.....whatever you are calling yourself now......what makes you an expert in suspension, if I remember correctly you are 16, you have a lot to learn (include a typing/spelling class for the next semester). I think the reason that your ball joints would break is the fact that you are running shocks that most likely have the wrong leverage ratios for your setup! Just cause something fits, doesn't mean it will work.

I am not flaming you, just don't post info like that if you can not provide information better than "I did it". The information that I have posted is taken from information I have gathered from individuals like Colby, Laz, etc...........

[TBD]

Originally posted by yamaha yz426ex
actuly if you can land perfect every jump you shouldnt bottom out. and if you do land perfect all the time you can run nice in loooooooow.

i would just stay ST but if you got the money than i would go long travle only because its said to be better.

like my 400ex i got the most travle posible for my shocks. if i had even a qorter inch more shock travle i would break or bend my ball joints b4 the shocks would bottom. so i dont see how long travle would rilly help. but im running yfz fronts on my 400ex(like 9in travle) and my rear has about 10.5 travle.
LT doesn't mean wheel travel. LT is for the shock shaft travel. It's not how much wheel travel you have it's how well it works. You must be one of those people in that Wallgreens perfect world commercial. Land perfect every jump.
We went testing last week using data aquasition equipment and the most wheel travel we used in the front all day long was 9.25" out of 11.8". That wasn't because it was too firm and wouldn't allow it to bottom. The point I'm making is that unless you nose dive the quad your front end doesn't take the abuse that the rear does. Everyone who said that a quad should bottom once a lap are correct. Myself I would like to see it soft bottom a little more then that.

Originally posted by TBD
LT doesn't mean wheel travel. LT is for the shock shaft travel. It's not how much wheel travel you have it's how well it works. You must be one of those people in that Wallgreens perfect world commercial. Land perfect every jump.
We went testing last week using data aquasition equipment and the most wheel travel we used in the front all day long was 9.25" out of 11.8". That wasn't because it was too firm and wouldn't allow it to bottom. The point I'm making is that unless you nose dive the quad your front end doesn't take the abuse that the rear does. Everyone who said that a quad should bottom once a lap are correct. Myself I would like to see it soft bottom a little more then that.

depends how you have your shocks set. when i ran stock 400ex shocks the fronts were bottoming alot then i made the rear shock softer and it took some of the presure off the front shocks and it stoped bottoming all the time.

[Chino886]

Originally posted by yamaha yz426ex
depends how you have your shocks set. when i ran stock 400ex shocks the fronts were bottoming alot then i made the rear shock softer and it took some of the presure off the front shocks and it stoped bottoming all the time.

And that has to do with LT how??????? What was the point of that post?

Originally posted by Chino886
I think the reason that your ball joints would break is the fact that you are running shocks that most likely have the wrong leverage ratios for your setup! Just cause something fits, doesn't mean it will work.


reason the ball joints would break for me is because yfz fronts lower the front like an inch and have about one more inch of travle. i took the springs off the shocks and let the front end down to see if it would bottom out on the balljoints or if it would be the shocks bottoming out. and if the fronts had a tiny bit more travle the shocks would have to much travle for the balljoints

[Chino886]

Originally posted by yamaha yz426ex
reason the ball joints would break for me is because yfz fronts lower the front like an inch and have about one more inch of travle. i took the springs off the shocks and let the front end down to see if it would bottom out on the balljoints or if it would be the shocks bottoming out. and if the fronts had a tiny bit more travle the shocks would have to much travle for the balljoints

Plain and simple, WRONG SHOCKS!!!!!! Did you ever think of that?

[TBD]

Originally posted by yamaha yz426ex
depends how you have your shocks set. when i ran stock 400ex shocks the fronts were bottoming alot then i made the rear shock softer and it took some of the presure off the front shocks and it stoped bottoming all the time.
I believe that would be part of setting up your quad for the correct ride hieght.