As titled need help looking for shock, wanting to change the RT3 that came with the mega AM 2012.. Just dont get along with it..it would either bottom out or too stiff just nothing in between…. I dont feel the plush feeling of it in 20-25-30% sag.. Its night and day compared to my Fox CTD and RP2 .. I use mainly trail centres and occasional north wales riding.. So looking for for best value alternative… Dont know what the shock size/diameter i am after as well… ..currently running a 160 lyrics solo air. Cheers

Have you played about with volume spacers? They best value fix may actually be a bit of work on what you already have

I’ve got a 2012 mega am an use a fox CTD boost valve shock. It’s been to the alps, wales and the chase mainly and has been flawless. It’s 200×57

I played on a Van RC for a while, as I didn’t like the RT3 for exactly the reasons you mention. It was lovely, but added a chunk of weight, so I took the opportunity to get the RT3 re-tuned by Loco. He reduced the volume and that made a massive difference. Sold the Van as the difference between them was much, much reduced (apart from the weight difference, obviously!)

200×57

The stock shock can be improved a lot by reducing the volume which does go a long way to remedy exactly what you describe. It makes it ramp up more so can be plusher but still resist bottom out.

I did a diy fix and it’s good. Simply depressurise, remove the big o-ring and slide the outer air can sleeve off. Pack something into this volume and refit. I used 2 layers of inner tube, fits perfectly and made a marked improvement.

If you are up for a bit of experimenting 20 mins could save you a lot of money or at least help understand what state of tune you want.

Fitted a ccdb to mine, lovely shock and with a ti spring the weight increase is worth it for the feel.

Only other option I would consider now is the ccdb air.

How much for it to be retuned by loco?

@gravity slave … By chance you have youtube video of that mate.. Havent opened a can yet really..

Got an RP23 Adaptive Logic on mine with med rebound, med velocity, 200 boost valve tune. HV air can, but that has been reduced in volume with a home made insert. Works great.

I did try the volume reduction on the Monarch shock, which did improve it, but the Fox shock is so much more composed when the going gets faster and rougher 😉

Push tune. That’s what did to mine. Much better. Better still with a coil…

From memory Loco charged about £70. Can’t really remember. That was for a service and tune.

Im leaning towards rp23 and just get rid of the monarch if tuning it wouldn’t make much of a difference or is it? ..i do mostly trail riding really. .. My 2 other bikes got foxes always spot on out of the box for my liking.

I replaced the Monarch on mine with an Xfusion O2 RCX, and it’s solved all the problems I was having. It’s a cracking little shock!