When the new Kawasaki ZX10R hit showrooms this year it generated a tremendous amount of buzz. Gobs of power, ultra tiny and lightweight with advanced electronics made this new ZX10R one impressive machine.

The only bad thing I was hearing repeatedly from both racers and tuners however, was the limitations of the overly soft OEM rear shock.

One track session is all it took to reach these limitations myself. The Kawasaki's excessive squat under acceleration was unweighting the ZX10R's front end and causing the bike to run wide on exit. The stock shock was definitely holding back what was otherwise a very stellar package. Even maxing out the settings in the rear had little effect on curing the excessive squat. I weigh in at just 155 pounds, so I am sure heavier riders were struggling with these effects to an even greater degree.

I have ridden and raced on most every make of aftermarket suspension on the market and one company I have become very familiar with is Elka Suspension. So the call was made to try one of Elka's new Stage 4 shocks to cure our ailing ZX10R.

Located in Quebec, Canada, Elka carved a name for itself in the ATV market, becoming a leader in ATV and off-road suspension long before hitting the road racing circuit.

Visit a road racing track in southern California however and you might be forgiven for thinking Elka was a sportbike specialty company from right here in California. Take a look around the paddock and you are bound to see an impressive number of bikes sporting the distinctive red and yellow colors of the Elka brand. Much of this recent boom in Elka products is due to the work done by Catalyst Reaction in Tustin, CA. A top-level suspension tuning facility, they have been pumping out class championship winning Elka equipped racebikes for half a decade.

Testing of the Elka Stage 4 shock took take place at Auto Club Speedway on the same circuit used by the AMA Superbike series. I have probably done more laps around this circuit in the last ten years than any other so it was a great testing bed for the new Elka shock.

The Stage 4 unit features adjustment for rebound, high and low speed compression and on my ZX10R model, a hydraulic remote preload adjuster. The quality and finish of the CNC-machined, aeronautical grade anodized billet aluminum on the Elka is top-notch and just pure sexy.

Installation was pretty straight forward with no special tools needed and the new shock bolted right up once the stock shock was removed.

Once installed I took the motorcycle over to Tige Daane at Catalyst Reaction Suspension and had him give the bike a few bounces on the seat, a click here, a click there and I was sent on my way.

Experience has taught me how well Elka shocks are set-up straight out of the box and their latest 3-way shock is no exception. With a set-up basically straight from Elka and a click or two at the shop I felt like I was riding a bike that had a season of testing on it. The Kawasaki instantly felt more composed in the rear. It was now stiff enough to handle the horsepower being generated out back while still providing grip and feel. No stiff as a board feeling here.

The weather was quite hot and I ran some long sessions throughout the day but the performance of the Elka shock remained constant even in the heat.

With all the duties a stock OEM shock is set-up to handle - various different rider weights, freeway commuting, passengers, track duty, there is no way it will ever be a sharpened track tool. With the Elka rear shock installed the ZX10R had now transformed into a motorcycle that responded the way a racebike should when ridden hard on the track. Instead of hitting a dead-end as I had with the stock shock set-up, I now had a tool that could be continually sharpened and fine-tuned. As great as the Elka performed straight out of the box, I am excited to see just how good it will feel after a few weekends of testing!

For more information on Elka products visit http://www.elkasuspension.com/ or http://www.catalystsuspension.com/

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment