Stripped my Bandits off the stock shocks,does indeed have the 175 front springs so that should definitely help the front.
The rear elkas are 275's but seem perfect with 2 riders and a little cargo in the bed.

   So i've got the 2021 ZFORCE 500 Trail. as anyone with the Trail knows how stiff they ride, I went with recommendations last year to upgrade the stock coil springs to the ones from Bandit. Those made a great,fairly inexpensive upgrade.
   Couple weeks ago I ended up blowing a front shock and instead of dealing with warranty for a new one right now, I upgraded to the Elka Stage 1's. All i can say is wow!! its like a whole new machine,the improved ride is incredable. The front is just a tad stiff but big improvement from stock, the rear is perfect. Much better suspension travel due to the longer shock travel with the Elkas. I'll deal with getting a warranty replacement later.
    The front springs are rated for 252 lbs/inch and I've got Bandit springs that i put on last year that are either 175 or 200 lbs/inch so i'm goint to swap those onto the new front shocks and it should make things even better.
    If anyone is on the fence about shelling out the money for the Elkas , I say gor for it!

Well all my parts came in last Thursday. I got the Elka Stage 1's on for the weekend but wasnt able to have time to play with any clutch stuff.
What an improvement the Elkas make.... the rear is like perfect now, the front seems just a tad to stiff. I was able to find out the spring rating for the fronts and they are a 252 lb/inch rate so i have a set of Bandit front springs that are either 175 lb 0r 200 lb so im going to swap those on and try it. Hopefully ill have a chance to mess with the clutching again this week and update that when i do

I'm surprised you got that result with the 1015 spring and 18g weights. You may have the right idea to correct it and I'd be interested in getting your feedback on the new components you ordered for it.
My new outlander is getting a CVTech primary soon, as it's one of the biggest mods in the CanAm community. Since I've got some experience with them, I'm going to attempt to tune it myself like the Z500.

The 300/1200 1016 spring may fix your low end issue but I suspect it won't be able to fully open the sheaves, getting a lower final drive, but maybe that was just my situation. Good luck!

   Will do!  Parts are coming today so im gonna try a shim or 2 and try the factory 16 gram weights with the 1015 spring.
   I had seen someone else try the 1016 spring,1mm shim and 12 g weights with secondary at A1 and said it was a good setup,kept the rpms up around peak power and still shifted out. But..... they had 28's on it.

I ended up using the Airdam primary spring and the stock weights. I ordered 18g weights, but they are backordered so it'll be a while. After weighing a bunch of pennies, I just couldn't take that step. Pre 1980's pennies are 3g+ and post 80's pennies are 2.5+g. I'm not willing to trust the several tenths of a gram difference in each post 80's new pennies and what if one got loose? Nah, not for me lol.

The switch to stock weights gave me back the top end.

     How did things turn out and what did you settle on for final parts in your kit??   I've got the 1016 spring and 12 gram weights on the way and am going to clock to A1.
   was curious how yours turned out for comparison
   Thanks

I've since sold the Zforce 500, but before I did I learned much more about tuning these CVTech primaries.
For a Z500, lower weights may cause you to lose too much low speed, as it will require higher RPM to shift out. A 1016 spring is 200/1200. Stock is 300/900.
I had very little luck with the 1016 spring and A1, finally settling with stock secondary clocking and a 1015 200/900 spring and 18g weights.
That kept engagement low, and a quicker shift-out. With the 1016- 200/1200, it never fully shifted out and when you combine that with a reclocked secondary, I ended up losing 25-30+ mph top speed.
I'd be cruising at 30mph at 7000 RPM and not much more to give.
That wasn't acceptable for me.

My suggestion is to leave your secondary alone unless you want to replace the helix and secondary spring with a stage 3 kit. Reclocking slightly for larger tires is okay but if you use that 1016 primary spring with 12g weights you may lose a ton of high speed.
You'll have a hill climbing monster for sure, but that wasn't what I wanted. You might.
Z500's only have so much power, so drastic changes to the clutches produce extreme results, or at least that was my personal experience.

16-20g weights, a 1015 spring and stage 3 secondary kit would be perfect for the Z500 in my opinion. You'd not lose hardly any top end if done right.

I'm sure some more experienced fellas may disagree but that's just my experience with it and part of why I sold it once I found a decent setup.

Sorry if any of this is confusing, I'm at work and in a rush.

Good luck

       i've got the 1015 spring with 18g weights in it now. Engagement is low and it lowered cruising rpm which is nice but i think its just a touch to low on both.
   The other issue i have is the primary is now grabbing the belt ever so slighty at idle that while in park or nuetral its spinning the secondary,makes it difficult shiffting at times. One thing i noticed with the 1015 spring is it's a little shorter then the stock so maybe thats allowing the primary to squeeze just enough to grab the belt.
      I've got a couple thin shims on order ( as well as the 1016 and 12g weights) so i think im going to try shim the spring to see if it helps with it not gripping the belt at idle and maybe try the 16g stock weights to see if that raises engagment slighlty as well.
      Thanks for the reply and info.

 

I ended up using the Airdam primary spring and the stock weights. I ordered 18g weights, but they are backordered so it'll be a while. After weighing a bunch of pennies, I just couldn't take that step. Pre 1980's pennies are 3g+ and post 80's pennies are 2.5+g. I'm not willing to trust the several tenths of a gram difference in each post 80's new pennies and what if one got loose? Nah, not for me lol.

The switch to stock weights gave me back the top end.

     How did things turn out and what did you settle on for final parts in your kit??   I've got the 1016 spring and 12 gram weights on the way and am going to clock to A1.
   was curious how yours turned out for comparison
   Thanks