John, so what about users servicing themselves please?
Is that even possible?
Bob
Bob, the real answer is it depends...Depends upon which series of shocks you have whether they have reservoirs or not. Depends on how comfy a person is in regards to opening a high pressure shock. Depends upon how organized the person doing the work is.
To explain further, Rezzy shocks separate the oil from nitrogen via either a bladder or piston. Some shocks without a rezzy will also have a piston, but not all. If I recall correctly, when I spoke with Elka, they stated their non rezzy shocks were emulsion style, and John can correct me if I am wrong, which allows the gas and fluid to coexist in the same chamber. For this style, you do not need a vacuum bleeder. These are very simple to service as you pour in a predetermined amount of fluid and install the sealhead, then pressurize with N2.
Since it is recommended by Elka to use a vacuum bleeder on rezzy style shocks, that is the optimum way to accomplish a bleed of the fluid. In all honesty though, the suspension industry has done hand bleeds for decades before we ever did vacuum bleeds. I have been doing vacuum bleeds on motocross shocks for over 10 years now. It is better for several reasons. In the end though, it would be easy to hand bleed and obtain excellent results if the person accomplishing the work understood the task.
Most people do not have Nitrogen available to them with a proper gassing setup. A lot of DIY MX guys will build their shock and have a local suspension shop gas it for say 10 to 15 dollars. Like all suspension tuning, if the gassing is done wrong, you can have problems. The Spyder having two front shocks need proper balance, part of this is a good bleed and proper gassing.
There are also specialty tools that allow the tech to accomplish a quality rebuild with no damage. Can a DIY go without them, certainly, but the risk of damage does exist. Outside of that, you are looking at parts and fluid. I am not sure what brand / spec Elka uses, but as I mentioned most times this fluid is over $10 per litre. As for seals, John would know best how Elka sells spares. In regards to replacing the entire sealhead this may be a best practice since it contains the bearing for the shaft, however it is common to not always replace the bearing in a properly designed shock and simply replace the seal itself. The flip side is that in these instances, the suspension is constantly torn down and inspected frequently such as in a race use type situation.
Hope this helped. The Elkas are no doubt popular and a quality product. Bob, being from California, you may want to look up Race Tech in Corona. Besides selling suspension products to all sorts of moto types, they offer training in suspension rebuilding and suspension tuning. Also, Paul Thede, the founder of Race Tech, published a book a few years ago. The Suspension Bible, and in it there is all sorts of good info.
To close, since this is getting long, high performance suspension is not something to consider lightly. Realize that companies that do this, whether manufacturer or service centers understand the inner workings. Consider that failure beyond a simple leak can be dangerous or even deadly, so before you open that shock, understand 100% of what you are doing and do not cheap out or cut corners.
With almost 40 years of building shocks and forks on all sorts of vehicles, I have seen some crazy crap come across my eyes. Often making me wonder why this did not end badly...
Have fun and be careful.
PK
hyea: Sometimes we don't realize how much time you spend on the road. 
opcorn: Tom :spyder:
