The way I figure it the stockers hammer the spine pretty good on potholes, and I can't really afford to get any shorter.

The way I figure it the stockers hammer the spine pretty good on potholes, and I can't really afford to get any shorter.

I've never made that kind of leap financially, but I've got friends that say spending that money on quality shocks is worth it.  I don't think you'll regret it.

Let the adventure begin. Poker ride this weekend, that ought to show something.
Already I find if I jump on the trailer hitch extension the machine goes down then back up. With the factory shocks I got more compliance jumping on a railway track.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

I am jealous...

From the picture, it looks like the shock travel isn't much different from stock. Can you measure any difference between stock and elka?

My sitting on the floor test is grabbing the cage & giving the unit a shake. Stock besides not wanting to move the unit settles immediately after you stop shaking. With the Stage 1 Elka's I installed last year on the UFORCE there was much more movement when shaking the cage & after you let go it jiggled a couple of times. The new Z1000 acts more likes the Elka's.

Pretty scientific huh 

With suspension the quality of travel is more important than quantity, glenlivet's photo indicates that. I wouldn't be suprised if the spring rate is higher than stock & reduced compression dampening if we could compare.

glenlivet, good news you have them for the weekend & everyone here will be on edge waiting for your report! If you are attending the Logan Lake ride, the new CFMOTO Cdn BC rep will be there, His name is Fraser, make sure to meet him.

From the picture, it looks like the shock travel isn't much different from stock. Can you measure any difference between stock and elka?

That was my first thought too, and I used calipers to measure the exposed ram/rod at full extension.



The old back shocks have a 2.5" ram and the Elkas have 3", which seeing as they appear to be located 2/3 out on the A arms would equal an increase in shock travel of 1/2" and increased wheel travel of a whopping 3/4".
The old front shock rams are 2" (yes 2") of ram showing while the Elkas measure 3.5" of ram showing. Given an approximate same proportionate location on the A arm, there is a more impressive inch and a half increase in shock travel and thus 2.25" increased wheel travel there.

Elka included a spec page of figures that I haven't yet been able to make sense of, and I'm certainly not using the exactly proper figures with my crude measuring, but I am measuring the stock shocks the same way so I'm at least comparing apples with apples.



The back shocks in direct comparison.

Installation.
Baja buggy comparisons notwithstanding, the CF 800 Trail really cannot afford any more sag than it has in stock condition, and the preload the new shocks came adjusted to from Elka, given the occupant and cargo weights I provided, seemed to follow this thought.
Shocks installed as set by Elka, the ride height is the same as it was. (for some reason the rear Elka shocks are @ 3/16 shorter, and the ride height reflected this so I added preload to compensate)

Taking the old shocks out with a floor jack holding tires just off the ground I was impressed that the bolts on all four corners were completely neutral and once the nuts were removed the first bolts could be slid back and forth with fingertips. No load at all either up or down. 'Impressive engineering by CF Moto' was my thought. The suspension stops are reached just as the shock reaches full extension.
... Wait a minute... What 'stops'? Doesn't the internal stop on the shock provide the suspension extension limit?

I tried just by feel to figure out what was stopping the A arms and knuckle from dropping any further than the point at which the shocks also act to stop it, but just on a quick examination I could not tell.
What I took away from it though, is the certainty that there will be no 'lift kit' on a Trail. You ain't pushing those A arms any further down than the stock suspension parameters allow for, without busting something.
Unless I'm missing something significant. (and that's not impossible)

But already it seems more like a vehicle on a suspension than the old hardtail Harley with springer front end business that it felt like, stock. 

With no greater sag than stock this means that the increases in travel are all at the compression end, and if Elka has calculated the spring rates right then the vehicle will be using the added range, and maybe some added compression that the old springs were too hard (even with their paltry operating range) to use. Remember, jumping on the back end appeared to not compress the suspension at all, and that's not the case now. I jump and it responds!

I have no adjustments to worry about on these stage 1's except preload/ride height. Ya trust Elka to have set the valving perfectly. 
We're going to find out.

With suspension the quality of travel is more important than quantity, glenlivet's photo indicates that. I wouldn't be suprised if the spring rate is higher than stock & reduced compression dampening if we could compare.

glenlivet, good news you have them for the weekend & everyone here will be on edge waiting for your report! If you are attending the Logan Lake ride, the new CFMOTO Cdn BC rep will be there, His name is Fraser, make sure to meet him.

I would seek out Fraser but the ride I'm going to is Left Nuts, not Logan Lake. Who does this simultaneous event scheduling?

I have a gut feeling that the springs are going to be a lower spring rate than stock, in order to allow the additional new range to be used, since it's all new range on the compression end. How slow or fast the valving will need to be seen (see, I'm using the new lingo!)

My first impression was that the new springs are so much shorter yet than the stock but really they are not, they are quite a bit longer. That's because the CF Moto springs, at least the ones I have per the last pic, are at coil-bind for the first five turns on either end when the machine sits there, and only the middle five turns or so are actually left to operate as working compression springs! No wonder it rides like a runaway steam roller when you hit some potholes. 
I'm eager to see how it is now.

Well 100 kilometers on the new shocks now and even just loping along on slightly uneven dirt road it feels like a different machine, one with a suspension. At somewhat faster speeds on gravel road and through potholes, it doesn't melt them away to nothing, you still feel bumps but that jarring spine-hammer feeling is gone.
(The first time I took off down a road with the new machine and went through some potholes without particularly giving it much thought, I was startled into the here and now by the BAM BA-BAM BAM of the front and especially the back end, hammering home like I was riding in a kid's Radio-Flyer wagon. Oh... kay, so this is how it's going to be.)

Well  it's way more civilized now. This is the way it should feel.   

Very good news  bad news for CFMOTO. You've a shock with no adjustment capability other than some preload & this glaring difference in ride quality. So much for factory adjustable shocks 

The crashing or as you say bone jarring & spinal compression ins't tolerable.

Tx's for the report & taking the leap into this, many questions answered.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Yeah..thanks for the update. Nice to know even the stage-1s are an improvement.

Happy to see it worked out. The Scotsman in me cringes at the idea of the cost though.

I'm happy with the results of the ride from the front suspension with just shock adjustments. It's the rear suspension that is the problem.

Having softened the pogo-stick nature of rear suspension with shock, preload, and tire pressure adjustments, I'm left wondering if I should reconsider the "spring replacement" option as an affordable way to further improve the ride.

It won't help with the short stroke of the stock shocks, but perhaps might provide more consistent compression progression force between the stops to help get the most out what they are. Might be worth the cost of two springs just to find out.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm ....

Oh the Scot in me (all of the DNA) had me fightin back the tears, that's why I went with just the stage 1 but the difference is immediately apparent. Way way nicer to ride. The spring rates they chose for me for the stated weights in occupants and cargo, appear to be just right. (in comparison, the stock CFM shock springs seemed to be made for a Ford Louisville dump truck. I'd jump my 240 on the rear hitch and the vehicle didn't even budge. Now I jump and it goes down and back up, just like a suspension)
I won't miss fiddling with the valve settings, I didn't do much of that anyway and given the rest of the stock shocks attributes I felt like that was more of a showy gimmick. Like trying to adjust the carb on a Massey Ferguson tractor so that it runs like a Maserati. 

This mod I won't hesitate to recommend. It's a good 'un.