Elkas'

[400exr]

Well, I got my Triple rate elkas w/o rezzies on friday and took them for a ride over the weekend. WOW! they are really nice they soak up the little wash outs and ruts like notheing and take a beating, but the problem I'm having is that they bottomed out on a 25 foot table top that I over shot and flat landed, I know I know thats what can happen, but the same thing happend with my stock shocks and they never bottomed out like my new elkas! Is it just me or does it feel like they bottom out if they are too stiff? I had them set up for a 190 pound MX rider and I wiegh exactly 190, now with my gear on I wiegh about 198-200 pounds. Should I get elka to send me some stiffer springs or what should I do? I've never riddin or owned after market shocks so I wouldn't Know. Thanks in advance!

[440ex kid]

You are suposed to tell Elka your weight with all your gear on. You need to get them valved for your weight. Check your preload adjustment. You can turn that up and it will stiffen up a little.

[beak7707]

Shocks arent valved for an exact weight, usually like 150-165. So you should be good on valving. If they are SSD just stiffen up the pre-load, and turn your compression up some.

[speeddemon105]

Preload won't do anything to stop bottoming, and since he doesn't have rezzies, he can't turn up the compression. Sounds like you need to send them back to Elka. Weight wise you're fine, as long as your within 10 lbs that shouldn't make any difference.

[400exr]

Well I talked with Elka today and they told me I should turn my Preload up till the bike sots even front and back, so I did and it seemed to be better ,but they still seemed to land hard. How much should these shocks be able to take? Please help:(

[KYmxracer52]

I have Elka's on my Cannondale and they bottom on certain style jumps. At first, my rear bottomed. Then Elka told me the amount of frame clearance your suppose to have. I had about 6". I was suppose to have around 8". So I raised the rear up and it has helped a lot. The SSD shock sit so much lower anyway. My frame does hit the ground on certain sections, but not like a bottom out hit. If you watch Pro riders, their footpegs will hit the ground in areas. Unless it's a really hard hit, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[boogiechile]

set the preload to where the rear of the frame under the foot pegs is about 7 1/2 inches of the ground and the frt of the frame just before it turns up is about 8 inches. if it still bottoms too much you can increase the size of the crossovers in the middle springs and it will transfer to the main sooner giving you more bottoming resistance but will not soak up the smaller hits as good. If it still bottoms too easily you need stiffer springs.

[member]

i told axis i weighed 200 and i lost 10 lbs and the shocks felt a little stiff so i went and turned the rebound and compression down a little and it made quite a bit of difference

[400exr]

Bump :(

[400exr]

Hey guys I really need to know what these things should handle, and how they should ride! :(

[speeddemon105]

Call Elka! They made the shocks, we didn't. Tell them you fixed the ride height, and they still feel to soft.

[Pappy]

how are you landing the jumps? flatlanding or landing incorrectly wont help the shock none:p

[400exr]

Originally posted by Pappy
how are you landing the jumps? flatlanding or landing incorrectly wont help the shock none:p

LOL:D No, I'm not landing wrong, I'm just landing on the flat from 25feet and about 8 feet high, they seem to hit kinda hard (it's probably just me beating on sh*t again!) I don't know if it's just how the shocks should be or if it's the fact that they really are too soft. I talked with Elka and they are reluctant to send me new springs they say I'm not used to aftermarket shocks so I don't know what to expect, who knows they're probably right;) Anyway, sorry to nag you guys like this I just needed to know :(

[Pappy]

well it wouldnt be the first time a shock company made a mistake if you gave them the proper info when you ordered you shocks. i myself did that and wasnt happy with the outcome.


if you are constantly bottoming the shocks then you do have a problem. its ok to bottom here and there but not on every jump if you are landing correctly etc. i also found that out the hard way by bending a pep shock into a pretzle:p