Trade stock 450r shocks for Elka's?

[quadmanw]

Haven't been on here in awhile, but I need some help! Guy on craigslist wants to trade straight up his elka standard travel shocks with resi's connected for my stock 450r shocks. What do you guys think? Seems like a good deal to me. Think they would work perfectly with my +2 GTT arms. Let me know what you think!

[mbogosia]

I think it is going to come down to what version of Elka they are. I believe the 450r shocks you have have all the adjustments which include high speed compression, low speed compression, and rebound. There are some Elka's that don't have all of that. So if it is one of the versions that don't then you would be better off sending your 450r shocks off to be sprung and valved specifically for you. You would most likely have to do that with the Elka's too anyways.

[quadmanw]

They are the version with the Resi's that come off of the side so I don't think they are the cheaper ones. I was thinking about grabbing them and getting them rebuilt anyways.. It seems to me that rebuilt Elka's would be better than rebuilt 450 shocks.

[mbogosia]

They are the version with the Resi's that come off of the side so I don't think they are the cheaper ones. I was thinking about grabbing them and getting them rebuilt anyways.. It seems to me that rebuilt Elka's would be better than rebuilt 450 shocks.


Well even if they have the resi doesn't mean they have all the adjustments you current ones have. The stage 3 only has high speed compression and rebound which is one less adjustment than yours.

[400man]

im kinda in this same situation. I am currently running some stage 3 elkas with piggyback reservoirs and they are kinda worn out and wouldnt hurt to be rebuilt. but I also have a set of stock 450r shocks that I could send off to get the race conversion. im not sure which would be better in the long run. I know if I use the 450r shocks I can rebuild the mounting bushings myself, but if the elkas get worn out, I have to send em somewhere to have new bushings installed.

[Blodg]

I don't have any experience with running Elka's but I do know that 450R revalves work amazing so if it was me I would keep the R shocks. I have heard both good and bad from people running Elka suspension.

[cheetah]

I've owned and raced on both at the national level. With a simple dual rate spring setup and valving the OEM shocks are a better shock than the elka. The elka can be made to perform as well with some internal modifications and an experienced shock tuner that would know what valving to go with for those particular mods. Long story short without going into unnecessary detail, I would stick with OEM and get them setup and you're wallet would feel better too.