Has anyone else had one fail on them? mine went at the weekend, it’s only 3 months old so is getting replaced under warranty but i’m hearing a few stories of them being proper pants!

Are they made of cheese 🙂

Proper annoying while you’re in the middle of a great ride and all of a sudden your pedals start hitting the floor and your shock has collapsed 🙁

My 2nd is currently with RS for assessment with the same problem as the 1st, namely a pretty clear knock at about 20% compression. The original was replaced without question so hoping this one will be as well but will try and find out what the exact issue is this time and report back.

Not only that, they are just utterly cack, especially the debonair version.

Not had a complete failure but had two with knocking in the first 20% of travel. Both have been replaced under warranty. Been ok for almost a year since.

Went through 2 in 18 months. Both replaced under warranty. Latest one sitting in its box as I stuck a Vivid coil on instead

I’m on my 2nd Monarch Debonair RT3. The 1st one failed after about 3 months and was eventually replaced. A year later (just this weekend), I noticed that although the pressure was fine, the replacement shock had lost about half its travel. I removed the shock, and then the debonair sleeve. This came off with an enormous bang, but not any fingers or hands thankfully, and the travel returned to normal.

It seems to be working fine now, but I’m thinking that two very similar issues, on two separate shocks is a big warning sign. If I could afford it, I’d be shopping around for a replacement. 🙁

Yeah they seem to be utter pants, thanks for the responses guys.

I think once the replacement comes back I’ll start looking for a coil to replace it completely.

The knock at 20% travel almost certainly means that the air/nitrogen charge has leaked out of the IFP in the piggyback. I’ve found a loose valve core to be at fault on both that I’ve fixed. Quite easy to fix yourself with a shock pump, a Monarch air valve adapter (~£7) and a regular schrader valve core tool (I also rebleed the damper to be sure). SRAM provide full instructions.

When working right, I really like mine!

What bike out of curiosity?

It’s from a Radon Swoop 170

I’ve just found out that my 2nd shock is being replaced under warranty but to get the tune I need for my Aeris (ML3) I need one from Germany and it will take three weeks. Thankfully Bird are lending me a shock whilst I wait. Hopefully this one will last a bit longer but to be honest I’d prefer either a coil replacement or a different brand as they don’t seem to be the most reliable shocks in the world.

I went through 3 in 8 months with the knocking issue, then bought a DBinline 🙄

Dbair il now and that only be back 2 times in 6 mths.

Had fox before that, that went back a few times….they’re all pants.

When I had coil shocks, I never had a failure. Air = lots. Back on coil again.

It’s a 170mm enduro bike, do yourself a favour and slap a DHX2 on it. If it has a linear suspension curve, put a Float X2 on it – they seem to be about the most reliable air shocks about.

Edit: Seems the Radon swoops are pretty linear, so you’ll either need a Float X2 or a coil shock with a bottom out chamber = eg a Fox RC4, perhaps with a PUSH tune. Certain models of the RC4 are considered to be the most reliable MTB shock around btw.

My Monarch went back twice, once because the rebound stopped working and then another time for the knocking as mentioned by others, although running the shock in medium compression stopped it…

since upgraded to an Ohlins STX22 and I have had no issues.

The Vivid Air and the CCDB Air both work very well on the Swoop, I can vouch from riding both extensively.

Both are good enough that it’s the Lyrik that feels like the limiting factor.