Spearfish shock question (rebound)

[car_nut]

I recently received a Spearfish with the Monarch R shock. The rebound seems a bit on the slow side and the rebound adjust appears to have zero impact on rebound speed. Is the rebound adjust on the Monarch more of a "fine tuning" type or is there something wrong with my shock? I'm new to full suspension and I'm used to Rockshox forks with rebound adjust that ranges from near lockout to wide open.

[ATBScott]

car_nut; The rebound adjust is not like a compression adjust-to-lockout. It is a "fine-tuning" adjustment that only affects the speed at which the shock returns from compressed to extended. You should notice some difference in how fast the rear shock comes back. Too little rebound damping, and the bike may feel like it is "kicking you off" after a bump or dip. Too much rebound damping and the bike will tend to remain settled down on the suspension (packing up) over bumpy terrain and could start to bottom out continuously over larger stutter bumps, etc... If you notice NOTHING changing when you change this adjustment, I'd recommend taking it to your dealer and have them check it out!

[car_nut]

Thanks for the replay ATBScott, I appreciate it. Yeah, there is absolutely no difference between any of the settings on the rebound. The speed it rebounds at now would render the first 1/3rd of the stroke useless as it takes about 2 seconds for it to go from 30% to 5% travel.

I'll contact the dealer I purchased it from and see where I should go from here. I just didn't want to bother them with something until I had a better understanding of whether or not it was broken to begin with.

[fast540]

do you have air in your shock?

[car_nut]

Yeah, air was in the shock. I got tired of trying to work with the vendor to get this resolved and just decided to take the shock apart. The rebound adjust knob acts as a cam and actuates a rod which works as a shutter to control the size of the rebound slow speed port. The control rod was too long and bottomed before the rebound knob reached its end of travel. The rod would then become jammed shut and not return when the rebound knob was opened back up. I put the rod on the lathe and shortened it in 0.005" increments until it no longer bottomed with the rebound knob fully closed. Works fine now and I also confirmed that the only difference between a Monarch R and RT3 is the adjustment lever. I'm working with my LBS to order the RT3 lever and will update if I'm successful.

[JMac47]

Originally Posted by car_nut

Works fine now and I also confirmed that the only difference between a Monarch R and RT3 is the adjustment lever. I'm working with my LBS to order the RT3 lever and will update if I'm successful.

I thought the RT3 was more of a "longer travel" bike shock, no? That's good to know as I have the R on my SF and was contemplating sending it in to PUSH for some tuning. Maybe just adding the adjustment lever is the ticket.

Good job at taking on the finding out what the problem was on your shock. Keep us informed how it turns out with the lever.

[car_nut]

Might you be thinking of the RC3? The Monarch Plus shocks are aimed at the big hit market. The Monarch R/RT/RT3 are all intended for XC/trail. The differentiating feature amongst them is the adjustable floodgate (aka platform damping/"propedal").
R= No platform adjustment
RT= 10 clicks of adjustment
RT3= 3 clicks of adjustment (I believe it has the same range of adjustment as the RT, it's just designed to allow quicker toggling between on/light/off while riding).

The 2012 Spearfish 2/3 now comes with the RT3 stock as well.

My LBS was able to order the lever assembly for $34. It'll hopefully be here in a week and I'll post a how to once I'm done. You will also need to de-pressurize the IFP chamber for installation so that'll be an additional $10 for the fill adapter. And, you'll also need a set of soft jaw shaft holders for disassembly. I don't know what those cost as I just made my own.

I honestly don't think it would be worth the cost/effort for most. I already had it apart so I figured "why not?" But for most, I think just flipping your Monarch R on ebay and picking up a new RT3 for $235 would be a better solution.

[ATBScott]

Nice job getting in there to fix the issue - most people - even most shops won't have a lathe to fix this should it be a problem. Since it is new, I would have still been tempted to just have it warrantied by SRAM/Rockshox. They are really good about it most of the time. That helps them know about the possible issue and they can make sure QC catches that on production runs... Be great if you could document it and send it to them as a "here's how I fixed your problem..."

[car_nut]

Trust me, my first instinct wasn't to open up a warrantied shock and start machining it
My efforts to get support from the vendor I purchased the frame from weren't leaving me with satisfactory results. After three weeks I was maybe half way to having a functioning shock. My LBS isn't a SRAM dealer so I have to drive half an hour to a shop and ask them to spend time dealing with something that isn't their problem. I've done it before but left them with $25 worth of beer for their efforts. I've also had a string of SRAM warranty issues and was frustrated with an inaccessible warranty system. I figured I had nothing to lose and if I found nothing wrong inside I'd just send it to PUSH for a rebuild.

[ATBScott]

car_nut - if your local shop isn't a "SRAM dealer" that still shouldn't stop them from contacting SRAM for warranty replacements/etc... Lots of bikes OEM come with SRAM and if there's a warranty issue, we have to contact them. Or are they just unwilling to do it?

[car_nut]

Originally Posted by car_nut

Works fine now and I also confirmed that the only difference between a Monarch R and RT3 is the adjustment lever. I'm working with my LBS to order the RT3 lever and will update if I'm successful.

Parts are installed and working. How to posted in the suspension forum:
How to: Monarch R conversion to RT3 for $37 and 23 easy steps!