New Elka Stage 5 rear shock

[cha0s]

My FJ-09 was sent to the Elka r&d department for the development of a shock absorber. It came back 2 weeks ago and here are my comments.
 
We all know how cheap the OEM suspenders on our bikes is and this was a major irritant on my bike. Having raced motorcycles here in Canada, I was used to well setup machines and to me, the stock suspension was unnacceptable, displaying poor performance even on the street.
 
First thing I noticed when riding back from Elka's shop is how stable the bike had become, in straight line, on the highway at normal speeds. With the stock setup, I could feel the rear end feeling vague and loose, it would squat badly on acceleration and would do a very poor job absorbing bumps. All of that is corrected with the new shock.
 
In sport riding conditions, the bike feels more planted and puts the power to the ground much more efficiently. While leaned over, it no longer feels like it wants to kick you out of the seat.
 
The build quality is top notch. Very well put together and full adjustability (on the Stage 5 unit). You can get a Stage 4 for 200$ less which has all of the adjustments, less the high speed compression damping control.
 
Here are some pics :
 
 
www.dropbox.com/s/i7fld6gxr9cvho1/2015-10-03%2015.27.22.jpg?dl=0
www.dropbox.com/s/m72u008p8bu4uqj/2015-10-03%2015.27.28.jpg?dl=0
www.dropbox.com/s/pj14swj76x4l3fr/2015-10-03%2015.27.37.jpg?dl=0
 
I also bought some Elka fork piston kits and Racetech springs which will be installed this winter as I have to remove the forks and send them to a shop. I am expecting an enormous change in front end feel and precision as the forks are extremely soft and cause extreme nose dive under hard braking. They feel very vague in the corners and provide very little feedback. I hope I can get the front wheel feel close to what I had on my supersports bikes of the past, without sacrificing any of the FJ's great road and touring capabilities.
 
I will keep you posted.
 
 

[mmandell]

Chaos, any more feedback on your new Elka shock?  Did you get the forks done yet?  I am looking at Elka and Penske.
 
Thanks!

[cha0s]

I just had my forks done by Accelerated Technologies in Ontario Canada. He used an Elka fork piston kit and 2006 R1 fork caps and piston holder (Compression), and the inner rebound rod. We had to use a ZX-10 rebound piston holder as it was shorter and we needed the stroke length. We also installed a set of 1.0 fork springs in place of the stock .70 ones. Everything is now back up on the triple clamps and waiting for some decent weather to give it a test run.
 
The shock already did a major improvement, but with the forks, I'm expecting huge results. More soon.

[cha0s]

Sadly, I have been informed Elka is pulling out of the street bike business. Too bad, they offered a good local product.

[koth442]

That is sad news.