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Elka Shock - Race Tested

Posted by Brad Puetz

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

Elka Shock Race Tested

There is a new player in the aftermarket sportbike shock category and that company is Elka. Elka have been major players in the competitive ATV off-road world with numerous championships to their credit. They have also had some success in the Canadian Superbike series with veteran Steve Crevier winning a championship up north. Here in the U.S. roadracing paddock however, Elka is just starting to make a name for themself. After seeing some of their recent success in Canada and talking with some local racers having success with their product I decided to give it a try on my own 2005 GSXR 1000 racebike.

I brought my racebike to Cyclemall.net, one of Elka’s major U.S. distributors and had them install the Elka 3-way series shock and set it up for my weight and riding style. The first thing you will notice about the Elka shock is it’s excellent build quality. They use CNC-machined, aeronautical grade anodized billet aluminum parts and adjustment knobs which are easily on par with any other high-end shock out there. The shocks are custom-built for each rider and Individually tested on a dynamometer to ensure quality and performance. The Elka 3-way series shock has adjustable preload, high and low-speed compression, rebound and ride height adjustment.

Unlike many shocks I have tried in the past, the Elka actually came with a spring that seemed ideal for my weight so it was pretty much just a matter of bolting it in and setting the sag numbers. This was a breeze thanks to the convenient hydraulic preload adjuster allowing you to adjust the preload without the use of any tools. Once we had the sag numbers where we wanted them, Cyclemall set the rebound and compression to get me in the ballpark for my first session on the track.

We decided to test the shock at Willow Springs Raceway, a track I’ve done hundreds of laps around with my GSXR 1000 with both a stock shock as well as aftermarket shocks. I figured this would be helpful in gauging the performance of the Elka.

I went out for my first practice session and was anxious to see how close we were on our settings back at the shop and to my surprise we seemed to be pretty close right off the bat. The bike felt very plush when hitting the larger bumps and was stable in the fast turn 8 and 9 area. I was getting a little wallowing out of the back end when hard on the gas out of the corners leading me to believe I was set-up a little too soft. For the second practice I went stiffer on my rear settings to see if it would help with the corner exit. Due to the fact this would be my last practice of the day I wanted to make a pretty large change to see if I was going in the right direction before race day tomorrow. The bike now seemed a little harsh mid-corner and the wallowing didn’t seem to drastically improve.

For Sunday morning we went back softer on the rebound and instead played with the compression damping and increased the preload just a touch. The beauty of this shock is that these changes can be done in seconds. All of the adjusters are conveniently located in easy to reach areas and the knobs click smooth as butter letting you know just how many turns out you are.

The bike felt excellent after the changes in morning practice and I was feeling very comfortable going into the races. Despite the lack of set-up time I was able to run some of my fastest ever race times at Willow on a shock with only 25 laps of set-up. The small changes we made to the compression and preload had the bike tracking super stable both on the gas and on the brakes. The Elka shock seemed very responsive to adjustment allowing me to gauge if we were tuning in the right direction.

Traction from the rear never seemed to be a problem, with the rear shock giving excellent feedback as to what the rear tire was doing, a very important factor in allowing the rider to have the confidence to go fast. Tire wear seemed very good throughout the weekend with no strange tearing or excessive wear.

At the end of the weekend I have to say that I was very pleased with the performance of the Elka suspension. With excellent performance, ease of set-up and the seemingly infinite adjustability, Elka has proven they deserve to be added to the top of list of top-quality shocks in the sportbike market.

Many of the racers at the track seemed to notice the Elka shock bolted to the GSXR over the weekend (I’m sure mostly due to the bold red and gold colors of the shock). They seemed very curious and asked a ton of questions. I can honestly say that as the curiosity builds and word gets out about the great performance of the Elka products you will start to see much more of the red and gold shocks from up north.

The Elka 3-way shock retails for $1,095.00. To order Elka products contact Cyclemall.net at 866-CYCLEMALL or visit www.elkasuspension.com for more information.

Brad Puetz

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