Elka VS Raptor VS Exit????

[IFSM8]

Anyone have any opinions on each of these shocks? Benefits of each one. The Elka's catch my eye but I hear a lot of good things about exit and raptor as well.

 

[maxwell]

Got raptors all around on my xm next season very excited curious to here what people say here

 

[Director]

Went with raptors on my XM as well and think they work awesome.. Multi-rate springs and clicker adjustability was my selling feature.. Heard the Elkas are good.. Don't know what stage works best - to me as soon as you have varying stages you have a good, better, best scenario and that doesn't fly.. Not familiar with Exit..

 

[oler1234]

Loving my Elkas on my ride that is for sure. Total control not only on the trail but On the hills for all power levels. Drastic improvement, like comparing bb power to a stock sled when getting a complete setup. You can ride hard on the trails to get to the hills and still have more energy vs arm wrestling your ride throughout the day. Stage 5 really shine when you are starting to pull air or large catwalks.


Elka is somewhat new to sleds but are well known in the offload market, ie quads and utvs. For sleds they have two stages. Stage 1r and stage 5. Stage 5 you will find on the race circuit as well some backcountry ambassadors of the sport run elka.

I have run both elka stages on a sled, and tried the exit's on another ride for my experience.

 

[oler1234]

Pic of the stage 5's mounted

 

[IFSM8]

Oler, When you rode the exits did you like them?

 

[IFSM8]

I am also wondering how difficult they can be to tune for your riding style. When you read all the websites they all tell you it is real easy and simple but i'm looking for some real world feed back.

 

[oler1234]

The exit shocks were stiffer ride, it really hammered the rider on landings I found. And for whatever reason, it didn't matter how much you turn there adjustment knobs it didn't seem to do much.

elka can be tuned. With them you get the base valve for your weight and gear which is setup by them. After that you clicker to fine tune them. There is a low & high speed compression adjustment and a single rebound adjustment. And it is litterally a twist of the knobs. If you look in the picture, there is the ls/hs on the reservoir and a rebound at the bottom of the shock rod. Clicking on these makes a large difference, myself I found 3-4 turns tops from there factory tune.

 

[Iron Horse Racing]

Havent had them on the sleds, but have been racing with them for years on our sport quads, find them easy to tune and a good company to deal with....

As we beat the crap out of them, have seen some guys on the race track get a few seasons on them, but we have found 15 to 20 hours of extreme riding and we tear them down, clean and check the seals, change the oil, and recharge the nitrogen.
We have purchased the tools to rebuild them, use Amsoil suspension oil and buy the parts from Elka, they are tricky to re-build, but good as new....

Dont see the sled shocks needing it any where close to what we do the race quads shocks.....

 

[smokindave]

I have the Raptors on my Cat and I have the Elka's on my Apex.
Both of these shocks work very well and are very easy to adjust.
After running aftermarket shocks on my sleds for the last couple of seasons I cannot see me ever running the OEM shocks again,the aftermarket shocks are valved so much better than stock,you can really tell once the groomers have stopped grooming and you do not need to slow down on the whoops.....

 

[lilduke]

Havent had them on the sleds, but have been racing with them for years on our sport quads, find them easy to tune and a good company to deal with....

As we beat the crap out of them, have seen some guys on the race track get a few seasons on them, but we have found 15 to 20 hours of extreme riding and we tear them down, clean and check the seals, change the oil, and recharge the nitrogen.
We have purchased the tools to rebuild them, use Amsoil suspension oil and buy the parts from Elka, they are tricky to re-build, but good as new....

Dont see the sled shocks needing it any where close to what we do the race quads shocks.....

A sleds shocks should be rebuilt after about 1000k of hard riding IMO. 2000k of moderate riding. Some stock shocks will fail after 1 hard ride....

 

[0neoldfart]

I currently have Exit X1's all the way around on my Cat, my wife's Pro has custom valved Fox. Whether you choose aftermarket shocks (Exit, Raptor, Ohlins, or even Fox), you are getting them valved for your weight and riding style. The OEM shocks are built as cheaply as possible, for the average 180 lb rider. Having the stock shocks revalved by COMPETENT people will impress you, without the high price tag. That said, you get what you pay for - quality costs money.

 

[Director]

Good points... Don't think there is a bad decision when it comes to aftermarket shocks - get them tuned to your weight and riding style and your 100% better than stockers..

 

[clay923]

here here. my exits are great.

 

[HoldMyBeerAndWatchThis]

I run Exits all the way around on my sled and absolutely love them, 4' whoops with a 20L on the back at 40-50 mph no problem. haven't run elkas on a sled but i have the stage 3's on my brute force and are amazing, cant believe the trouble that good suspension keeps you out of. That being said, they are both setup for me and that makes all the difference. I totaly agree with Director, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the choices you mentioned, as long as you get them valved and sprung for you.

 

[skegpro]

K just to resurrect this a little.
I have been looking into a new suspension pretty seriously for my T3.

Would I be correct in saying when comparing apples to apples:

Elka Stage 5 = ?

Elka Stage 4 = Exit X2

Elka Stage 3 = Exit X1 = Raptors

Elka Stage 2 = ?

Elka Stage 1 = Exit XP


The Stage fives are pricey when compared to raptors but when you compare the stage 3 to them it is right inline. Especially when you factor Elka being a Canadian company....... USD to CAD, shipping and customs.

Thoughts?

 

[iceman5689]

Raptors best bang for the buck. Great company feedback and support. Just hoping they are building front shocks for the Gen 4 soon.

 

[skegpro]

Raptors best bang for the buck. Great company feedback and support. Just hoping they are building front shocks for the Gen 4 soon.

You can't just send your raptors back to get them rebuilt and the length changed to fit the gen 4?

I haven't tried the elka stage 3 but they appear to have the same amount of features as the raptor for $1200 CAD a set.

 

[mooner]

i went through this same process last yr when i bought my Exit stage 2's... and pulled the trigger on them at the Edmonton sled show... Zbroz gave me the shocks at par on the dollar and shipped the shocks to boost-it so i didn't get stuck with custom's charges. I tried buying raptors at the show, but passed cause zbroz offered me the way better deal.... and i'll go back to zbroz for the shocks for my next sled.
set up was easy, boost it and zbroz gave good instructions and said to call if i'd had issues, i had the shocks dialed in one ride up the renshaw trail...
the difference in performance between the stock and the x2's isn't even comparable....

 

[iceman5689]

You can't just send your raptors back to get them rebuilt and the length changed to fit the gen 4?

I haven't tried the elka stage 3 but they appear to have the same amount of features as the raptor for $1200 CAD a set.

Rears will work fine but fronts are longer then the xm, they'll have some out on the shelf shortly for the 17