rear elka shock on 400ex

[holeshot19]

i race xc with a 400ex with a elka dual rate shock and at times i pitchs and bought throws me over the bars.can anyone tell me where there ride hight is and how much is the adjustment collar is down on the shock

[harebounder]

I was having the same problem. My collar was set all the way up to the top when i recieved the shock it is still there but i switched to softer springs nice in the woods but bottoms hard off anything big and still kicks me in whoops. Trying to do some fine tuning now but my hands hurt to much from the race to try stuff i will try to keep you updated on what i try.

[holeshot19]

come on now i know someone knows

[Wingnut]

If you are refering to those two foot high braking bumps at Parker Valley, I don't think that any suspension set up will help. Santo revalved my rear shock and when I got it back I was having a little trouble with the rear end hopping. Adjusting the rebound is what helped me. I was already running the pre-load about as low as it would go.

[holeshot19]

it works great as long as you have it pinned but when you let out hang on. that back secon of the mx track i would pin it and it soaked it up but if you have to let up it bucks and piches it like the piston is so far in the travel that it bottoms out santo look at it when i first got it and said i might work i mx but not in the woods so i rasied it a bit and played with compression and slowed down the rebound now it may be packing up

[harebounder]

Mark at elka told me to add compression and make my rebound faster so it wouldn't be packing still went to softer spring now i am starting over because now i am bottoming.

Try adding a few clicks (harder) on the comp and then add rebound till it starts to swap or begin packing then start backing down the rebound till the packing goes away, but remember if you go too agressive it may be a little more rough than b4 in the small stuff.

[Leo]

mine would try to buck me off on a regular basis until I realized I had my compression set way to soft, and my rebound set way to fast...

I just backed the rebound off until it started to feel like the thing was packing up in the really rough stuff, then cranked it up a few clicks..

I have the collar almost at the very top of the shock (maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch down..

Now I love it :D I guess at first I was making to many adjustemnts at once and not trying to be systematic with it..

make one adjustment at a time, in small increments is the best advice I can give you.

Leo

[holeshot19]

sounds good i have the rebound one turm out from full hard .i think ill start in the middle of the adjustment and the comp adjuster is like 5 clicks in.the bike sets so low just wondring if the shock is bottoming out. and maybe its packing up. i run xc what do you run leo

[Leo]

mostly trails / XC type terrain..

I try the track, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most gifted MX rider that ever sat on a quad ;)

I'll take carving through the tree's over a big double anyday :D

Leo

[holeshot19]

thanks leo if you can help me take a measurement at the rear of the frame at the middle and a measurement at the front of the frame. and do you have a pic you can post of the quad from the front and side

[Leo]

I'll have to go measure it tonight.. I know it's considerably lower than stock..

Leo

[harebounder]

Hey guys could you give me your shock set up for weight how many clicks you have your rears set at. So i can get mine so what close i have mine set for a 220 pd rider. I don't know just thought i could get in the ball park if you guys were as big as me.

[holeshot19]

well ive been a** around with it . i now have it in the middle of the adjustment on comp and reb

[Leo]

I've got the compression roughly in the middle of the range, and the rebound about 1/4 of the way of full slow (roughly)..

but really the only way to get it the way you like is to play around with it..

I forgot to measure the clearance under my frame for you, try to get it tommorow.

Leo

[harebounder]

I have been slowly messing with mine and i am getting real close to the best ride i have yet. I'll keep you guys posted.