A name you may not have ever heard before, Elka Suspension have been involved in motorsports for decades. Based in Quebec, Canada, they have recently turned their attention to mountain bikes, leading to the release of their new downhill/freeride oriented shock, the Stage 5.
Understandably, a lot of people didn’t and won’t know exactly where the Stage 5 is intended to sit in the market hierarchy – is it meant to be a direct rival of the relatively generic Rockshox Vivid and Fox DHX5.0, or intended to give the super high end BOS and Cane Creek dampers some solid competition? Well simply, the answer is: yes. Confusing? Basically Elka’s aim for the Stage 5 is to keep the price low and the performance high. This low-key entry to the DH market has a few interesting selling points that have already turned a few heads:
- - True separate high and low speed compression adjustments, as well as a single rebound adjustment
- - Several valving options to suit the bike and rider – 5 different compression tunes and 5 different rebound tunes available from factory, mixed and matched by Elka. Further customisation of valving is also available if necessary. Elka claim they can cover a range of leverage ratios from 2:1 to 6:1.
- - Price comparable to a DHX5.0 (in North America, no RRP for Australia at time of publishing)
- - Standard size (1/2”) DU bushes
- - Springs interchangeable with Fox, Manitou, Marzocchi, Renton and Diverse springs
- - Standard schraeder valve for reservoir pressurisation, making life that little bit easier for the DIY folks to rebuild the shock at home
- - 14mm damper shaft – high oil displacement through the adjusters.
At first glance, it appears that the engineers at Elka have got their heads firmly screwed onto their shoulders – no gimmicky stuff, no excess of adjustments, no one-size-fits-all factory damper tune, no crappy adjusters that go from zero to full in 6 clicks, just a damper that is easy and intuitive to adjust, does nothing stupid, comes set up to a good base level for you and your bike, and doesn’t cost more than a small car. Chances are that you can actually whip your old shock out of your frame and use the same hardware in this one, and even your old spring if need be. These details don’t make your bike go any faster but they certainly win points in the convenience stakes.
First inspection of the Stage 5’s construction backed up the no-bullshit mantra behind the design – there isn’t any flashy 5-axis-milled reservoir bridge or anything like that, just a fairly basic chassis with accessible adjustments that turn easily by hand, click audibly, have plenty of range and actually make the difference they’re supposed to make.
The Ride:
Like the Fox DHX RC4 tested recently, one of the first things that made itself noticeable was the larger shaft size – the 14mm shaft coupled with the 150psi reservoir pressure at top out meant that there was approximately 35lbs of effective air preload at top out. This basically means there is a small air spring effect in the damper, which slightly reduces the amount of sag you end up having with any given spring rate, as compared to a DHX5.0, Vivid, Cane Creek or BOS. In some cases, this may mean you end up running a softer spring rate, particularly on very low-leverage ratio bikes.
After a couple of runs to break in, the damper felt very smooth and noticeably more free-moving than a DHX5.0 or Vivid, though again not quite matching the BOS Stoy’s level of holy-crap-this-is-sensitive. Interestingly though, the damping curves of the Stage 5, when set up to the factory recommended settings, felt similar to the BOS, having a similarly low degree of compression and rebound damping at super low speeds, yet progressing into strong mid and high speed compression to catch you when you hit stuff hard. Also similar was the somewhat progressive-feeling rebound damping that felt fast and lively at lower speeds, yet never kicked or bucked the rear end of the bike.
Buy this shock and you too will be able to almost perform turnbars. How could you lose?
Photo: Phat Wednesdays/WORCA
What this actually means, in laymen`s terms, is that the ride is simultaneously controlled and lively. The low speed compression adjustment is extremely useful to dial in how much the bike moves around and how lively it feels, with a wide range spread across usable increments between clicks – there is plenty of compression on tap here, more than with the Fox RC4, yet it can also be backed off to a very low level if that`s what you happen to like. The high speed compression adjustment was also very effective, providing a user-friendly way to control how the bike responded to harder hits at speed, something with which the Elka dealt with extremely well. Unlike ye olde DHX5.0 and to a slightly lesser extent the Vivid, the Stage 5`s compression adjustments are useful, intuitive, never seem to cause excessive harshness, and just plain work. However, there is a very slight hesitation between the shock compressing and rebounding, which is similar to the DHX5.0 and the Vivid (especially if you crank up the compression on the Vivid), which may be due to a check valve closing or similar. This is a pretty minor detail and doesn`t make itself noticeable whilst riding, but it does show that the shock doesn`t quite have the finish of the Cane Creek and BOS units.
Like the BOS damper though, the Elka obviously lacks the additional rebound adjuster that the Double Barrel sports, and doesn’t have quite the same enormous range of compression adjustment. On the surface this would appear to be a point awarded against the Stage 5, however the fact that it comes with a base valving suited to your bike negates the need to actually have those adjustments, and has the added bonus that if you don’t really know what you’re doing, you’re not going to manage to find that amazing rebound setting that manages to both give you no grip and kick you over the bars for no apparent reason.
One of the first things that made itself apparent with the Elka once on the trail was the degree to which it kept the tyre on the ground. Having come straight off a CCDB and Fox RC4 previously, on the same bike with the same tyres and all, for the first time ever I actually believed the rear end of the bike had more grip than it did before, particularly on rough off-camber sections of trail. Could this be placebo, or a track that had more grip available than I had estimated? Sure, entirely possible – but at any rate it`s up there with the best in that regard. Improving the setup still further from the already solid manufacturer`s settings led to excellent stability, with the bike not pitching around too much, yet maintaining excellent tracking and grip.
Slamming the bike into big holes, running into rocks and roots – you know, all the stuff that`s par for the course when you`re a bit of a hack but you`re trying to go fast – never upset the Elka, it didn`t blow through its travel when the trail got fast and hairy, nor did it want to introduce my face to that patch of dirt just in front of my front wheel when hitting lippy jumps. The only criticism I have of the damping is that it`s solely speed-sensitive, not position sensitive/progressive like a DHX5.0/RC4, which on certain frames that lack enough progression of their own may be a tad further from ideal. However this criticism is entirely circumstantial, because the flip side of that is that on some frames with certain levels of progression, you get excellent control of the damping without excessive ramp up or the bike blowing through its early travel too easily – horses for courses; in an ideal world every damper would be matched to its frame and/or vice versa. In reality that rarely happens, and this is already an excellent damper that in most cases will be an improvement over an OEM shock.
On that note, it should be pointed out that the shock was tuned for the leverage rate and ratio of the Banshee (2.83:1 average leverage ratio), rather than the slightly lower leverage ratio of the Sunday (2.66:1 average ratio), however the range of external adjustment seemed to cover this difference fine, and little difference in the ride of the bike was perceptible as a result.
So what`s not to like? Well, the shock did have issues while we were testing it, creating a knocking feeling partway through the travel, that Elka said was due to a loose reservoir cartridge caused by something or other being overtightened during assembly. Upon receiving the shock back after a rebuild, it felt stellar again, but after a couple more weeks of daily abuse at Whistler it started doing the same thing with the knocking. Reliability problems are never good news, but this is a first-year item and unfortunately issues usually do arise with such products in their first year of production. At the very least, Elka say they now have a revised design for the internal part that was causing the problem which should sort it out. An interview with Pat Tellier below explains Elka's situation for you.
The judgement:
Assuming the knocking issue gets sorted out quickly, the Elka Stage 5 will be, in my opinion, the best value shock on the market. The performance is nipping at the heels of the truly impressive BOS S*toy and Cane Creek Double Barrel dampers, and the price is competitive with a DHX5.0. The adjustments are simple and effective, the user’s manual is excellent at providing you with real-world advice that actually helps with the setup, the shock doesn’t have any silly quirks or new technology that just confuses everyone and adds stiction (looking in your general direction here SPV!). In fact all this leads me to wonder: why the hell hasn’t anyone made this shock before? Avalanche and BOS have had the same adjuster layout for years, sure, but those are both priced far higher than the Elka, and such high/low speed compression adjustments have been around in the automotive world for decades anyway if we’re just looking for technological precedent. Every other major player in the rear damper market has got some weird and wacky stuff going on, much of which is confusing, unrefined, unreliable or just plain dumb. Why didn’t anyone just make a simple, affordable shock with adjustable high/low speed compression and rebound? It’s not rocket surgery, in fact unless there’s something special and very subtle hiding in the Elka I would go so far as to speculate that there is absolutely no new technology inside it, just a solid no-nonsense damper that has the important quality of controlling movement well and not sucking badly in any particular way. Anyway time to get off the soap box now. In short, you can buy shocks that ride better – slightly – or cost less, but as of right now I’m seriously impressed with what Elka are giving you for your money.
The obvious next question would be – who’s going to start distributing them in Australia?
An interview with Pat Tellier, Director of Marketing at Elka Suspension:
Q: What is Elka's background?
A: Elka Suspension was founded 10 years ago as a motocross suspension tuning company. The company has been specializing in powersports suspension, mostly racing ATV, motorcycle, side-by-side vehicles and sports-utility ATV.
Q: Why did you decide to enter the MTB business?
A: The MTB project started 5 years ago. I joined Elka and was racing downhill with a few other Elka employees. We were not able to find something on the market that was up to our expectations and needs. We were used to the major improvement the Elka shocks made to ATVs, so we started modifying some pitbike shocks using ATV components and technology. When the owners saw that, they wanted us to test more seriously and allowed us to present a project to enter that business.
Q: How long has the Stage 5 been in development?
A: Like mentioned above, the project started 5 years ago. It took about 2 years of marketing research and another year of survey and observation on the field to develop a product concept and business model that would address the market’s needs. Once that was figured out, it took another year and a half of prototyping and refining to finally get to a product that matched our objectives.
Q: What did you see yourselves being able to offer to the market that was new? Outright performance, value, simplicity, new technology etc?
A: We mainly saw a gap in the market for a product with high/low-speed compression technology that was easier to use/set while providing enough adjustability for every ability level without being overly expensive. In the ATV market, all our products are custom-made for each customer. We used that experience to come up with MTB shocks that are custom-tuned for each bike design, which make the tuning much easier for the end user and provides better performance. Simply put, we don’t try to re-invent suspension but rather go the extra mile to do it properly.
Q: What's inside the shock? Something new and different or older and proven, or a combination of the two?
A: Our shock is using the same proven technology we have on our Elite Series ATV shocks that is adapted and tuned specifically to address the needs of mountain bike suspension. Actually, some stuff we learned while developing for MTB will now make it over to our Atv products. We used data-acquisition testing to understand what is happening at the wheel and then used our experience in hydraulics to control it the way each bike needs.
Q: What does your damper do differently or similarly to others on the market?
A: Other products have similar high/low-speed compression systems that provides a wide range of adjustment. That can be good when you want to have one shock to fit every bike model, but leaves the rider with huge increments and the rider can easily get lost. We start with a massive oil flow. By tuning the valving for the bike design, we can then adapt the range of adjustment so it is fully rideable with smaller increments for the clickers, which allows more precise fine-tuning. Our high-speed compression circuit is also designed in such a way that it is very sensitive with a smooth transition with the low-speed circuit.
Q: What are the limitations of your damper, and dampers in general? (honesty question here)
A: Like every damper, the main limitation is that the performance of the shock depends on the settings made by the end-user, which is out of our control. That’s why we try to do much of the tuning straight from the factory. We then leave the fine-tuning to the customer so he can adapt the shock to his personal taste. Performance-wise, there’s no limit to what can be achieved with enough time and testing.
Q: What tuning options do you offer the buyer? How many compression/rebound tunes do you have?
A: We have 5 basic tunes for compression and 5 for rebound. We use various combinations of these to suit each bike design for damping force, progressivity and adjustment range. Each of these basic tunes can be further customize if needed to achieve more specific ride characteristics for non-standard rider profiles. We can also do fully customized valving for racing teams and manufacturers based on field testing.
Q: What is the price (in whatever currency you base yourselves in, probably $CDN?) of the shock with hardware?
A: The shock itself is $450 USD, springs are $45/each, 2-piece aluminium reducers are $10/set and a 3-piece hardware kit (stainless steel sleeve + spacers) is $15.
Q: What bits and pieces are compatible with other shocks (ie hardware, springs etc)?
A: Our mounting hardware is based on a 1/2 inch DU bushing (12.7mm), which is compatible with Fox, RockShox, Progressive, Marzocchi and most others (except Manitou). Our springs specs are 35mm minimum ID and 55 maximum OD, which is compatible with Fox and most others (except for RockShox).
Q: How would someone in Australia purchase one of your shocks? Do you have an importer/distributor yet?
A: Our shock are available in Australia through DH Direct (www.dhdirect.com.au). We will also soon have a distributor that will make our products available to shops and will provide full warranty support and servicing. This distributor will be announced on our website soon after the Interbike tradeshow.
Q: What after-sales backup can you offer, particularly to OS customers if you have no distributor?
A: Overseas customers can always deal directly with us and send back their shocks at our factory in Canada for warranty or servicing. Usually, our global distributors are able to provide a replacement shock if needed to keep the customer riding on Elka while their shock is being serviced.
Q: What kind of service intervals do you recommend? What is your service time turnaround?
A: We recommend a basic service (oil change, seals) every 500 hours of riding to maintain optimal performance. Our turnaround time at the factory for this is a maximum of 5 working days from when we receive the shock. Usually, shock received early in the week can be sent back in time for the weekend.
Q: Is the shock user-serviceable?
A: It is not intended for that. Some special tools and a bleeding machine are required to service a shock to our factory specs.
NOTE: The clunking noise and notchy feeling you experienced was mainly due to a floating piston issue on the first generation of shocks. This issue has been resolved since then with a new revised design that is now implemented in production. That new revised part was not received when we sent you the second test unit. That second shock was rushed so you could get it in Whislter while you were there. We have also upgraded other internal parts since then to further improve reliability and performance. This product is undergoing constant testing and improvement and every update is passed on to our customers when they send their shocks for servicing or warranty.
Test Details:
Rider Weight: 90kg
Frame: Banshee Legend and Iron Horse Sunday (lower link required grinding to fit the Sunday)
Leverage ratios: Legend – 2.83:1, Sunday – 2.66:1
Leverage rates: Progressive to linear (both frames)
Spring rates tested: 400lbs/in (Banshee), 350lbs/in (both frames – preferred in both)
