I’ve had to move up from my usual 30 percent sag to 25 on my monarch, despite the fact that the high speed compression keeps the shock riding nice and high on repeated high speed hits – well it feels like it rides nice and high in rock gardens anyway.

It just wallows on the face of jumps and high speed g-outs, not sure how many spacers are in there but other than that it doesn’t feel like it needs any.

Interestingly, after the compression lever is flicked on, it takes about 30 repeated compressions before there is a massive thwunk and the circuits are finally closed off.

More volume spacers? Shagged shock? Or in need of a stronger low speed tune? Or all three?

On my Reign I have all but one volume reducing spacer in the top and bottom sections of my Monarch. It is an XL and I am large… I find it much more supportive at the correct sag and it doesn’t blow right through the travel.

When you flick between open and closed setting there does seem to be a slight delay in the change in valving but nowhere near as long as you describe.

I have no idea about the face of jumps or high speed g-outs…

Not enough high speed rebound? Is the shock going through its travel and then not returning? If the low speed rebound is fast enough then this might mask the issue? Just guessing 🙂

Honestly, the Monarch holds the bike back, shagged or not. I fitted a float X2 and it makes the bike much much more capable. More grip, more compusure and doesn’t do anything odd (the monarch I had always felt inconsistent). Yes, the X2 is £500, but it really is worth it.

It’s been a long time since I rode mine with a Monarch, but running a Float X2 that’s been on for over a year now, and I’ve not touched it.

Standard Fox settings +2 clicks on everything, a can full of spacers & just under 20% sag & it’s been bang on.

I found I can’t run even close to 30% sag – too soft everywhere.

It’s the high speed rebound keeping the bike riding high on repeated hits – so it’s likely that a lack of high speed compression is why it’s wallowing under G-outs and jumping.

Nothing wrong with running 25% sag or less (and measurement methods vary anyway). I’ve tried more sag on my Spitfire and always end up back around 25% on the shock.

Hmmmm, used to the old school downhill days of being recommended to run 30 percent sag.

Tempting to go to a coil X2 to see if I can get more midstroke support. All the reviews/testers agree that it works best with around 30 percent sag, I’m not sure I want to drop 500 on a float X2 and have to run 20 percent sag on that to get it to work – that seems Aaron Gwin low and I’m not racing 3 minute runs, I want something that isn’t going to batter me half to death over a long ride/run.

How heavy are you Hob Nob to be running 20 percent sag and the air can full of spacers?

I’ve been riding a Nomad MK2, with the push link and a coil and it just has loads of pop and support with around 35 percent sag. However, it would seem the leverage rate is a fair bit more aggressive in terms of progression around the sag point.

The Reign has quite a high leverage ratio, I’m not sure it plays too well with coil without a lot of work.

I always found the Reign (and most bikes to be fair) a bit soggy at 30%. I’m at about 18% on the back & 15 on the front. I weigh about 175lbs in kit. In a non ‘look at me’ way I guess I ride faster than most, having had a few podiums on it this season, I tend to just leave my setup as per how I race the bike.

The spacers are more there for helping end stroke ramp up, I found the bike used to bottom out hard if I overcooked something,

Huh, about the same weight as me. I wouldn’t run that kind of setup unless I was racing – too much work on long runs/long rides.

A lot of the sponsored Giant riders seem to have swapped over to coil shocks….I’ll talk to Flukes I guess.

Cheers hob nob.

Not so bothered about landing to flat as I tend to compress stuff, the odd bottom out thunk doesn’t bother me too much. So if you’re correct and the tokens really only help with the last third of travel, for any given sag the coil is always going to give me more midstroke isn’t it? The upshot is that if I reduce the sag further, the coil is going to eek out a bit more grip as well?

Wonder if Flukes could install a heavy duty bottom out bumper on a coil X2 or Vivid…

I’ve read the pink bike thread on the Reign. Lots of shock talk, from what I can pick up 20% sag for everything but park were 30% is recommended. I’m no jumper but feel the same with mine, looses composure in the mid range, I’ve three reducing bands to go in which seems the starting point.

A lot of the sponsored Giant riders seem to have swapped over to coil shocks….I’ll talk to Flukes I guess.

Yeah – I spent the summer in Whistler last year & repeatedly bumped into Barelli who seemed to run a coil most of the time, he was always happy to chat about stuff on the lifts, the coil needed a lot of work to ride the way he wanted, but then he has a bit of a quirky setup.

Also runs even less sag than me!

So if you’re correct and the tokens really only help with the last third of travel, for any given sag the coil is always going to give me more midstroke isn’t it? The upshot is that if I reduce the sag further, the coil is going to eek out a bit more grip as well?

I’m not 100% sure what I do is the ideal solution – I know the concept of spacers is to help make the suspension curve more progressive (harder to bottom out & make the top end a bit more supple) so I guess it would provide a bit more support on the mid stroke too?

Assuming it’s Monarch Plus you have I think the easiest approach to start with probably is stuff the can full of spacers, see how it rides, then start tweaking the number from there.

I’d be interested to try a coil out of curiosity, probably a DHX2 given the choice, even an 11-6 but i’m not spending that much on a shock 🙂

Do you have the monarch debonair? If so have you tried the tuning bands? Also played with tokens in the forks?
With regards to the delaid compresion switch mune ras replaced due to delaid threshold on my mornarch rl its a common issue with them ship it back to fishers for repair,replace if within warranty,
this will affect how the shock performs aswell so this may be the issue.