Rear shock set up

[haulinit]

Great question I was also wondering that but my shocks are zero preload, don't know how that affects things.

[who_gives_a6]

ZPS makes things slightly different but still pretty simple. Generally you want to measure your ride height at two points; front engine mount and rear of frame. I am more of a track rider and i keep mine at about 7" at rear measurement if I recall correctly and the front will usually be about .5-1" higher. Shocks/setup makes things vary as well. I have air shocks on mine which is a bit different to setup than regular spring shocks. Also, the below is for aftermarket setups which have ZPS. I've never setup any shocks that weren't ZPS, so maybe someone can chime in with measurements for stock setups.

To make these adjustments you will adjust springrate which is by turning the adjusters with a spanner wrench. If you dont have spanner wrenches i suggest you buy them rather than using a punch and hammer like I've seen before, but do what you feel. To adjust the rear just put on full riding gear and sit on machine. Then have someone measure the rear frame height. Adjust ride height to suit.

As for the front: put thin cardboard under both front tires and again get on it. The cardboard is for tire scrub. Hop up/down a few times. Then measure at front engine mounts and adjust to suit. For woods riding you will usually go to 8-9" ride height. It is all preference and what works for you.

[MX Quad Dad]

I would recommend getting setup specs from Elka and start from there. Your sag or preload should be set first, every shock I sent out came back with a lot of preload. I am not sure but I don't think I could find recommended preload in the Ohlin's setup manual plus they didn't give any info on setting the crossover adjustment. I have never setup an Elka shock and don't know if they have a crossover adjustment.

I would have to dig through my notes, but, I perfered to set sag measuring like the Ohlin's setup disscribes even though I couldn't find what the sag should be set at. I did find a web site that gave recommended sag measurements and it was a percentage of overall travel. But remember all the setting are just starting point and changing one tends to affect the others. even the frount end aligment is affected by ride height/sag.

I'm not sure how much you want to dig into this but, tires or traction make a differance on what you want as far as sag settings. Good traction and a high front end will have you sitting on the tank or tank filler on the c-dale,LOL. and the reverse will have you hanging off the back of the seat. I know you will never get it so you can just sit in the middle. but the more comfortable the normal spot is the less tired you will be at the end of a run