Does the suspension loosen up after a bit of use? mine feels pretty stiff and lifeless but Ive only had a couple of rides so far. Could this be down to the shock ? I am aware the Monarch RT3 comes with differnt levels of tune, mines says MM on the shock body, is this correct for the frame suspension characteristics? A quick search on here tells me some folks have issues with the Monarch RT3 having very little rebound and floodgate adjustment, which I have experienced also with mine, has anyone managed to fix this? It also seems to have to be run at quite high pressures (180-200psi) for me to get the sag right, which then only makes the lack of rebound adjustment even worse.
From my experience:
The rebound compression has little adjustment as standard.
The RT3 is tuned on the harder side, pretty good for XC but not very plush. It will free up a little bit, but will generally be on the harder side of things.
Quite a few have moved to a light tune to get the plushness, this can be done at home if you fancy a challenge (unlike Fox shocks). Otherwise, ride it for a year and if you still find it hard/fast, send it off for a tune/service.
I found it was fine. Plush and doesn't really need the floodgate. I tended to run a bit more sag than usual and then use the floodgate settings to prop it up in the travel a bit when climbing or on the flat.
Much preferred it to any Fox shock I've ever used.
I can't remember exactly what pressure I ran mine at, vaguely remember it was between 120 -140psi and I'm 11.5 stone.
You sure it's not down to the frame / suspension design?