[sergemcgraw83]

So Elka Stage 3's vs the Fox QS3's that come on the XTP for 10-40mph trail riding 'plushness'?

Elka Stage 3's for the win..... waaaaayyyy better than the FOX QS3's that come on the XT-P. That's what I upgraded from. You have to remember the Elka's are custom made to your weight and riding style. They aren't some generic "made for everyone" shock that the manufacturer puts out. If you're a guy who is over 220lbs..... stepping up to Elka Stage 3's over the glorified XT-P's QS3's is a very noticeable improvement. You get 3 clicks of adjustment on the QS3's.... the Elkas give 20 clicks if I remember correctly. I adjusted mine once for sag, then beat on it for a few days and dialed it in perfectly the second time.

That's great. I see you are canadian too. How are the stage 3 in the snow? (trails)

 

[berick]

Im actually interested to hear what 'fast trail riding means'. I only ask because im in the market for a set of shocks as i too want to 'ride on a cloud'. I have a 2018 DPS 850. Fast trail riding to me is 20-30mph max. crawling over some rocks and washouts and maybe a log here or there. Would you still recommend STage 3's or something else for my type of riding?

Stage 3's...... this is similar to how I ride but I tend to go slower than 30mph if the trail is really rough with whoops etc... That's where the Stage 4's & 5's would be more beneficial at speeds.

Thanks berick. very helpful. You seems to be happy with stage 3s and seems to be riding like me.
Probably gonna buy them, but omg thats a lot of money.

They're not priced too bad given the performance increase.... trust me on that. Back when I had my 2007 Outty 800 the Elka's were brutally expensive .... much higher than they are now. I cheaped out back than and bought Crutchfields while my brother paid $3300.00 for a brand new set of Elka Stage 4's for his Brute. The Crutchy's did what I wanted but they didn't come anywhere near the Elka's. Hence the reason I went Elka this time around and was pleasantly surprised at the prices. Their Stage 3's have been a godsend and I will likely have them on each and every machine going forward. They are extremely simple to set up and offer all of the adjustments that I need. Again, if all you plan to do is hit everything fast and hard all of the time.... I would step up to a Stage 4 or 5.

 

[FleeterXMR]

Cool guys. Bur are they THAT better than stock XT shocks?
I like sending it but I want trail comfort too.
I find the stock ones harsh in plane (no BIG bump) but rough ( lot of small bump) trails.
Pivoting toward stage 3s.
Convince me to click the buy button lol.

yes it’s worth every penny. You won’t ever go back to stock shocks and you won’t regret a dollar you spend on them

 

[berick]

Oh and for everyone asking if riding on Elka's is like riding on a cloud..... the answer is no, they are like LANDING on a cloud! Lol..... you can even hear a nice swoosh when your front end comes down instead of a clatter and bang with bottomed out shocks!

 

[purelybarbed]

2018 Outlander MAX XT 850

So I want to replace the crappy shocks.

I am torn between stage 1 2 or 3. I only do fast trail riding.
Stage 1 pretty basic and 400$ cheaper.
Stage 2 has rebound control but no low speed compression control.
Stage 3 has the opposite, no rebound control but low speed compression.

?????????? HELP!!!

None of the above...... you said "I only do fast trail riding". Get stage 4's or 5's if the only riding you do is fast, aggressive, rough trail riding.

I don't need "the best". I want a big improvement over stock XT shocks. I want to know if it's worth 1300$ (stage 3) or not.
Like is it night and day or small improvement only.
I should have been more precise too, I also ride slow a lot of the time and in groomed atv snow trails with 1485 millions of very small bumps made by 2x4 atvs grrrr.

I was in your same boat. The XT shocks are complete junk. I opted for the $575 fox podiums. HUGE improvement for the money. If you aren't looking to break the bank like me, go this route. I took the springs off and had them powder coated can am red. I need to set more pre load on the rears. These springs are known to be soft. When they wear out I'll put 2016 can am red 650 XMR springs on. Guy on youtube did this and it was a big improvement. The thickness of the springs was quite noticeable.

 

[maxrotax]

The difference between stock XT shock and springs vs Elka stage 3 is not like night and day. More like night and 4 days, LOL Best money spent so far.

 

[FleeterXMR]

Oh and for everyone asking if riding on Elka's is like riding on a cloud..... the answer is no, they are like LANDING on a cloud! Lol..... you can even hear a nice swoosh when your front end comes down instead of a clatter and bang with bottomed out shocks!

hahaha. Well said

 

[kryogen]

The ride is stiffer on my elkas vs stock XT. It's not like a cloud ride.
I like the ride because now, it actually steers where I want, I can travel the same roads twice as fast with half the shaking.
The ride feels a ton more secure.

Before that I was getting thrown left and right on bumps kind of unable to steer at higher speeds because the quad would lean, hard to explain.

It rides much much better now. It feels hugely more secure. Stiffer and rides better.

The ride on low speed forest trails was "plusher" before, but it would just feel like I was on springs with no shocks...

What I like about the stage 3s is that I set compression to 1 for low speed forest rides and it's much much softer, and to 16 or something for high speed stiff hardpack race. 12 or so feels like a good all around ride.

 

[steelejones1]

Thats exactly what i dont want. I dont want stiffer/harsher than stock. I want plush softness riding the trails. ugg

 

[Dr_Z]

If the ride is stiffer and harsher than stock, they are not set up correctly. Dont let that statement influence your decision.

 

[steelejones1]

But the consensus is that the Fox QS3 shock isn't that good vs a stocker off the XT. That's the main reason someone would consider purchasing a XTP over a XT am i right?

So i keep going around in a damn circle. I have a 850 DPS that i actually love except i would like it to be SOFT when riding the trails. I dont go FAST, i dont corner it going all crazy. But when i hit rocks and sticks i would like a nice soft ride.

So with that being said, i was going to upgrade to the 1k XT, but its the same shocks i have now. Then the XTP has the Fox podium Qs3's that vs the 1.5 RC2s on the XXC. I just dont know what to do...

Then i thought about keeping what i have and get Elka stage 3's, then people said that will only help me if i jump it. I barely EVER jump it. Im just wanting a soft plush ride.

 

[Dr_Z]

I don't have any experience with the Fox myself. My 2011 has the fully adjustable KYB it came with and my Kingquad had the older fully adjustable Elka's on it. Both ride great. Brian's 2010 with the older style Elka's on it is a great ride also. I can't remember the adjustments on his, but I think they do not have both high and low speed adjustments.
I myself will never ride basic stocks on any quad again.

 

[EvilGade]

I love my Podium 1.5's on my XXC. I ride my machine hard! It handles great and I just put 1" spacers all around so I expect it to handle better this season. I need warm weather ASAP!

 

[kryogen]

If the ride is stiffer and harsher than stock, they are not set up correctly. Dont let that statement influence your decision.

Well, that's not totally true.

If you want plush shocks you can have them, they won't ride as well at higher speeds.
If you want shocks that race better at higher speeds, they will be stiffer than softer shocks...

Overall with the sag properly adjusted and even with the compression at 1, my elkas ride stiffer than my "stock xt setup" which felt like bouncing on springs. It was more "plush" because it felt like bouncing but the handling was horrible.

2 things are nice with elka shocks:

1- they are custom made for your needs so they will be whatever you ask for... i asked for "agressive trail riding". I didn't ask for "plush shocks". It doesn't mean that they are not set up correctly.
2- you can adjust the compression clickers to get them closer to where you want, you will have approx 10 clicks each way, they set it "about right" in the middle, so you can have them stiffer or softer, but it will affect your handling.

You can have elka make the plushest shocks for you, they just won't race as well, but maybe you don't care about high speed handling and that's ok, that's why they make custom shocks, but you can't have it all on the same set.

You get used to it though. When I got mine, I though elka got them wrong because they were wayyy too stiff, so I set them at 1.
They were more "soft" and ok riding, but I decided to try it stiffer. The handling was way better. So I increased 3 clicks until I got it to like 16 clicks, and the ride gets pretty harsh but it's laser handling. Down to 12-15 or so they ride really well and steer well.

So you know what, elka got them just right for what I asked for, aggressive trail riding.

Seriously I can drive almost twice as fast as before and it just steers straight ahead, it's like bumps don't matter anymore and before it would just throw me left and right and make it unsecure and I had to slow down.

 

[Dr_Z]

Using the words "stiffer and harsher than stock" makes it sound like they ride like crap. Maybe a better word choice could describe it? I just don't want that statement to negatively influence the OP's decision.


Obviously, the more adjustments they have the finer tuned you can get. Mine ride really nice over rock beds at slow speeds, handle great at high speeds and land pretty soft. It took a little time to get them to this point.

 

[Woodchopper]

steelejones1; As mentioned by Dr_Z take some of these posts with a large grain of salt, as they are confusing & misleading.

 

[awful knawful]

I have my stage 4s set up to ride fairly plush at cruising speeds and slow trail riding. I also can take quite the bumps at speed without issue.

Like others have said in nicer terms. Some people talk about stuff like they know something......but they really don't.

That's the great thing about custom shocks. They can and do ride nicely at low speed and take the hits when you wick it up!

 

[kryogen]

steelejones1; As mentioned by Dr_Z take some of these posts with a large grain of salt, as they are confusing & misleading.

Some members who disagree with my opinion don't even have elka shocks.

I think I have given my own opinion in a pretty detailed and clear way. Some members may disagree and have other opinions. It's their right, and this is a forum so everyone can give their opinion, including me, even if some members disagree with my opinion.

I don't flame other members when they have opinions that differ from mine. I respect that other members have other opinions and that's fine.

I am not a shocks expert, I am a dentist.

This is my 2nd can am, I am 35, I bought my first one 6 years ago.

My mom has been driving for 49 years and she doesn't know much about cars, and does she really drive better than me? or is her opinion on cars more valid than mine?

Some of our members have been driving quads for much longer than me, and believe anything I say isn't valid because I have not been driving quads for long enough, or I don't drive enough km per year. They have the right to have their opinion.

I am no expert. I've had elka stage 3s since this fall. I love them.
But, to me, to ride the proper way, they are stiffer than stock.
I didn't say that they were bad, or that I didn't enjoy driving with those. They are good and they ride great.
But, to ride the way I want, they are stiffer than my stock shocks.
You can have elka make custom soft shocks that will still drive well.

I'm out of this thread, I think I have given all I could.

 

[awful knawful]

Just ask guys the guys that own them.

What stage?
How long?
How many miles on them?
Make any adjustments?
Many adjustments?
How long till the shock broke in?
How long to get them dialed in?

You'll know who's full of it!!

 

[scoho2098]

I have Fox Podiums on the way so I'm very interested in this topic...

Has anybody considered removing the Torsion Bar on the rear end for slower technical trail riding?
I left mine out...
I replaced my whole suspension system and don't have any trail ride time on the upgrades yet but a test ride around the block on the stock shocks last night has me convinced I won't be re-installing it.