Rockshox Monarch Plus Debonair can upgrade – worth it?

So after upgrading the air spring and damper in my fork I think it’s time to look at the shock.

I have a 2017 Nukeproof Mega with a Monarch Plus HV RC3 rear shock – so a 2016 onward shock.

Will the Debonair can upgrade make much of a difference?
Would sooner spend £85 on that than £300+ on a new shock.

This is the one I’m looking at (216×63)

The shock feels a bit wollowy – am I right in thinking this will make it a bit more linear and give a bit more support?

I have a much older Mega (2011?) and due to a recent issue with poor maintenance (by myself) needed to replace the air can. It wasn’t compatible with the debonair can (yours probably will be)

One thing I always found with it was that it was very sensitive to IFP pressure – it felt very wallowy and didn’t ‘pop’ if the IFP pressure was low.

I was donated a new can off here (thanks to dangeorbrain) and it came with a couple of volume reducers – something I never thought to fit (duh!). I found that by reducing the volume of the air can the shock became more progressive and that suited the falling-rate suspension design (also explained why the higher IFP pressure was needed)

So, I have no idea whether the debonair upgrade will help, but I reckon simply reducing the air volume will. You don’t need the rubber bands necessarily, you can slide off the HV sleeve and simply wrap an appropriate amount of electrical tape around the inner can to achieve this. Give it a go – you might transform the ride for a few pence.

Edit: I think what concerns me is that “making the shock more linear” is really not what you want to do. The erosion link that the Mega comes with (well, mine has it) means you want a shock with a progressive compression curve. Whilst I was sorting the air shock out I fitted an old DHX5 coil, initially with a very linear setting. It was horrid. I had to tweak the IFP volume right to minimum to make it as progressive as possible to get a decent ride out of it. Hope that helps.

Thanks for that – will check the IFP pressure – didn’t know you could set it.
Just downloaded the service manual and ordered the tool!
Not sure how accurate my shock pump is though….

I’ve just realised you’re talking monarch plus (with the piggyback) whereas mine is normal/inline, however I still think its a good thing to check the pressure in there. I think it makes a difference!

The real progression would come from reduced volume though.

dirkpitt74 – I had the same sort of feeling on my Bronson V3. Correct sag felt plush but wallowy mid stoke, not a lot of pop off stuff and not a great deal of ramp up, resulting in using all the travel even on smaller drops/jumps. I bought a Meg Neg and after messing about with pressures, tokens in the +side and bands in the -side, I’ve settled (atm) for 1x token in positive, 2x bands in negative, 265psi. Feels nice but its hard to get a true feeling with the trails being soggy and sloppy.

Have you checked if there are any tokens in the shock. You could try adding/removing a token to/from the positive side and adjusting air pressure to suit sag?

Dunno if the Meg Neg would work for you on your bike.

Thanks all.
Taken a punt on the new air can – just need to wait for it to arrive and install it.

looks relatively straight forward – any tips on installing, any links to decent videos?

Don’t currently have any bands fitted – but having spoken to J-Tech they’ve said probably 2 bands due to the tune of the shock on the Mega.