Most dune riders will never race their quad or subject it to the kind of punishment a full-fledged race ATV has to endure. However, there are times stock suspension just won't make it through the day without fading out and exhausting the rider. When you go for the fun in the dunes, you want your shocks to actually “absorb” the vibrations and hits all day long. Elka Suspension has developed the Dune Edition with weekend warriors in mind. Now you can ride hard all day long and never feel worn out.
Dune riding is very different from trail or track riding. The soft sand surface and hot conditions normally found affect the suspension and require a different response from your shock absorbers. Our dune-specific spring set-up without the Self-Sagging Device maintains the quad slightly higher in its travel to prevent sinking in the soft sand. It also provides more up travel to your wheels. Our external reservoir allows a larger volume of oil displacement for lower hydraulic friction and cooler operating temperatures.
The stock suspension on most ATVs is designed for moderate trail riding: it has very soft damping in low-speed compression for greater comfort and harder high-speed damping to prevent bottoming. This configuration is not appropriate for dune riding, where most of the workload for the suspension comes from high-speed compression vibrations caused by multiple tire tracks in the sand. The dune-specific valving in our Dune Edition shock absorbers takes a different approach. It provides more low-speed compression resistance, which eliminates excessive diving and body roll in sharp turns when carving the dunes and prevents bottoming out on g-outs during transitions between dunes and when jumping. The valving provides softer damping in high-speed compression so that the suspension is more active over choppy terrain and sand grooves, making the ride more comfortable.
Elka’s custom-built Dune Edition shock absorbers were specifically engineered for sand riding with only one goal in mind: making dune riding more enjoyable.
* = Linkage available
** = Linkage and Pro Dual Linkage available