I know Elka’s have great name recognition but Fox does also. Has anyone tried the Podium X’s out? They run 1000 dollars less than the Elka stage 5’s and have the same thing. High and low speed compression, rebound, height adjustment and reservoirs. The difference I see is fox only does the dual rate spring vs Elka has a quad rate rear and triple front. A pair of top of the line Fox Podium X shocks just under 2000 shipped.
Elka vs Fox Podium X
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Well I have Elkas on my Renegade and had them on my Grizzly 700 as well and I will say they live up to the name, which is why the big boys that race run them.
Just because the Fox shocks have the same adjustments does not mean they are worthy of Elka status. Hell, the stock shocks that came on my Renegade 800X have all of those same adjustments, and they in NO WAY compare to the Elkas. Actually, when i ordered the Elkas for this quad, I ordered them with LESS adjustments and they by far out-perform the stock shocks.
Just because you have a lot of adjustability does not mean the guts and the springs are gonna act like an Elka.
Just because the Fox shocks have the same adjustments does not mean they are worthy of Elka status. Hell, the stock shocks that came on my Renegade 800X have all of those same adjustments, and they in NO WAY compare to the Elkas. Actually, when i ordered the Elkas for this quad, I ordered them with LESS adjustments and they by far out-perform the stock shocks.
Just because you have a lot of adjustability does not mean the guts and the springs are gonna act like an Elka.
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I have a friend who races in the pro class. He swears by the Fox shocks over the Elkas. I personally have never been able to tell the difference by riding his quad. I think Elka makes a great product, but these are other good manufacturers out there. A lot of the folks racing aren't happy with Elka shocks lately and seem to be switching over to the Fox evols or floats.
Thanks Grizzlywizzard for the input. I have had the elka's and Works "G" series on different machines before but never tried Fox.
I just did my first long ride 140 miles on my week old 850XP and came to the conclusion it really can't ride any better than it does already. Because of that I'm thinking I will wait on new shocks for now.
I just did my first long ride 140 miles on my week old 850XP and came to the conclusion it really can't ride any better than it does already. Because of that I'm thinking I will wait on new shocks for now.
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Yeah, it is hard to justify the price sometimes on suspension if not in any sort of competitive event. Shocks just aren't cheap, and if you are just doing leisurely trail riding then 1500 - 2500 bucks is real hard to justify.
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I completely disagree. I got a 2009 850XP EPS and I got some stage 1 Elka's with rebound, and the ride is 100% better than before. I got the shocks tailored to my weight, and they put triple rates on the front and quad rate shocks in the rear. It hooks up way better, rides on rails thru the turns and still has that soft feel for moving along the flat trail sections at slow speeds, as well as no bottoming out on jumps or heavy kickback due to the rebound adjustments. I can ride through whoops on the trails almost twice as fast as other guys on the same quad due to my shocks and at the end of the day, I am not sore or tired at all due to the EPS and my shocks.
I agree with Grizz, if you are doing nothing more than leisure rides around, then skip it, but if you want REAL performance out of your quad you need to upgrade the shocks and tires.
Well then I completely disagree with you. I've owned Elka's stage 4 just not on a Polaris and there is no way they are 100% better. Try 30-40% at most and very over priced but will eventually get a set of either Fox or Elka's. I can already leave others on whopped out trails so that's not a issue. My original question was how are the Fox vs Elka's.
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I agree that the Elkas are a bit pricy, but in some cases you get what you pay for. I was able to get in on a great deal and get them way below list price straight from the factory otherwise I wouldn't have them on my quad today.
I'm sure the Fox shocks will give similar performance gains over stock just like the Elkas. I have only ridden Elkas on a utility machine so I have nothing to compare against.
Also I had some great customer service from Elka. They swapped my springs out for free after three months of riding no questions asked.
Bottom Line---Anything is better than stock!
Your the second person that said they had to swap the Elka springs out. First guy said he lost 2" of ride height and went through hell with them, took 3 months if I remember right. Now I'm concerned if Elka has their stuff together on the exact setup. Anyone else know if the Elka shocks come setup correctly. For the price they should install them and test.
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There is no way to test every setup in the real world. I gave them my weight and my vehicle type and they probally used a computer to spit out a setup. It was real close. Ride height was perfect, but a computer can't see your riding conditions. They stepped down my 3rd rate front spring down a notch and I like the feel better on the rocky trails that I ride.
I saw that other post from a guy that was struggling with getting service. I didn't have the same experience. They were responsive and I had a pair of springs on my step in a week with standard shipping.
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