Shocks - Reworked Stockers vs. Aftermarket

[Chris S.]

I want to upgrade my shocks and probably just my fronts for now. I mainly ride the dunes and was wanting opinions on what to do. I am considering sending stockers to GT Thunder and have them put on dual rate spring kit and revalve them or buying elka dune editions with piggyback rezzies with adjustable compression and rebound. I can buy the elkas for about $750 setup and delivered. What is the better way to go, I hear alot of good things about GT thunders shock building ability.

[pudamac12]

i would go revalves over elka anyday. I had elka's and they were the worst shock I have ever ridden. So i thought it was just my luck and then my buddy bought his, and lo and behold his are a pile of crap too. I would go tcs before elka and if you get revalves i hear that sometimes you can get away with your stock springs and that could save you some money.

[j_cyrus3]

i rode an elka lt setup on a 450r and a yfz, it wasn't all that good. on the yfz it was setup for my weight, and still wasn't that great imo. the 450r was setup lighter than me, but it still handled like crap. my derisi revalves are decent, but my buddy had some gt thunder revalves that were awesome. they rode better than the honda elka lt setup imo.

[Lonestar_R]

Send them to Derisi........Santo is an awesome guy to deal with and he is cheaper and than GT Thunder.......I have his XC Setup with his link and it is a night and day difference over stock.....here is a pic of my fronts

[j_cyrus3]

heres a pic of my derisi setup.

[FireMedic686R]

Lets just start off that derisi is a extremely nice and very cool guy to deal with. I got my shocks back in 2 weeks and let me tell you for the money you cant go wrong.... I bolted them up and went to wellsville ohio where it is extremely rocky and rutty and these shock empressed me. I had a lt set up raptor and the ride wasnt as good but wasnt far off. Especially for the money. My girlfriend even complimented on how much better the ride was! In addition to having the revalves done I put a precision dampner on. I had a pep dampner and omg the difference is night and day compared to a stick worth every penny! I was able to ride faster and harder than my buddies with this set up. When we were climbing really rocky hills I could see how much their arms were jerking and jumping around and it was like I was riding on pavement with this combo.

If anyone is debating on getting aftermarkets or revalves unless you race competitively dont even bother getting aftermarkets unless you just love to spend money cuz you dont need them. If a lt set up is a 10 revales are a 8.5. If your a racer that 1.5 is a edge that can win you a race and not worth the extra 2 grand to a rec rider. As you can tell from my review I highly recommend this set up and you cant go wrong. Best bang for the buck and the best upgrade you can do on a quad.

[Phills450r]

750+200 just to send them back to someone and get them set up again.. i hear elka never dials their shock in right.. JJs450r just got his shocks revalved for C&D and I can ride his with a broke collar bone and not feel a thing.. if that says anything

Gt Thunder

[trx450jason]

I've never had anything to do with aftermarket shocks but I'm sure if you get the set up right they are sooo much better than revalved shocks. It's just the thing of what you have the money for.

[cchrider]

I have also heard great things about the revalves.I am doing a revalve job to my rear shock. But I race xc and I have the Elka/Houser LT setup and I guess they got the valving right because so far I am REALLY pleased with my shocks.

[trick250r]

id go with the revalves but elkas cant be that bad... its all in how you set them up