INDUSTRY 411
Elka Suspension ATV WORLD Magazine sits down with Elka
E
lka Suspensions was originally established by two brothers, Martin and Jean-Francois Lamoureux and their friend Marc-Andre Kingsley. The trio opened the doors to Elke Suspensions in September 2000. Before the trio were manufacturing shocks, the Lamoureux brothers were only rebuilding dirt bike shocks and Kingsley focused more on the financial/office aspects of the business. The three came up with the idea that there was an enormous market if they were to create and sell their own brand of shock absorber. The original company name was “LK”, simply the first letter of each of their last names (Lamoureux and Kingsley). The renamed the company “Elka” quickly after naming it “LK”. The reasoning was simple; in the French language and many other languages around the world, “LK” is pronounced Elka. The founders of the company preferred both the spelling and the pronunciation of “Elka”, and they went with it. Their first shock absorbers that they were selling were only for sport model ATVs. As Elka’s market share grew, the owners attributed the success to the three main pillars of the company; quality products, fast delivery times and personalized customer service. In the beginning, the Elka Suspension facility consisted of the three-man team in a 2,000 square foot garage in Boucherville, QC. There was no job too small. They would
52
ATV WORLD MAGAZINE • VOL 18 • ISSUE 3
all answer the phones, take orders, machine the parts, and custom build the shocks to the rider’s requested specifications. Elka’s market share grew quickly, which forced their hand to expand the company. By 2004, given that they experienced a larger than expected growth over the first four years, the head office had to relocate to a larger office space and Elka moved to a larger facility, but kept a Boucherville, QC address. To this point in Elka’s history, the feeling was that a lot of the increased sales up until 2004, was attributed to international race sponsorships. Elka was sponsoring ATV Racers such as William Yokley, Chad Duvall, Doug Gust, Doug Eichner, Wayne Matlock and multiple time Canadian champ, Richard Pelchat. Over these years, Elka has sponsored racers that have had numerous race wins and championship titles like the Score Baja 1000, Grand National CrossCountry (GNCC), AMA ATV-MX, the Dakar Rally and many more. SLEDARAMA • FAMOUS SWAP • NOV 21, 2021 • PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO • sledarama.ca
