This article saved me from having to warranty my Monarch RT off a brand new Bronson C S.
My roommate and I ordered two Santa Cruz Bronsons from our LBS, patiently waited two weeks, and picked them up... didn't even make it to the trail head before my rear shock was stuck, and couldn't rebound from about 60% compression. Less than two miles on a gravel road. Tried googling "Monarch RT stuck down" and futzed around with PSI (no amount of air pressure could fix this problem), and finally found this article. Showed it to our LBS mechanic, and while they didn't have Slickoleum, they had a similar heavy grease, and were able to replace the o-rings in ~10 minutes. When they took the cover off, one of the o-rings had clearly blown out of place. It was a huge relief to find this article -- I was worried my LBS wouldn't believe me when I said I was "just riding along."
So, thank you Andrew Major, Shawn Cruickshanks, and Jeff Bryson, for providing this information on a quick fix to a stupid problem! I'm 20 miles in and it's holding up fine so far. I was fully prepared to have to wait another X weeks, but it really was as simple as, "Let the air out. Replace three o-rings. Grease. Lube. Ride!"
May 7, 2017, 8:12 a.m. - fannystackaskill
This article saved me from having to warranty my Monarch RT off a brand new Bronson C S. My roommate and I ordered two Santa Cruz Bronsons from our LBS, patiently waited two weeks, and picked them up... didn't even make it to the trail head before my rear shock was stuck, and couldn't rebound from about 60% compression. Less than two miles on a gravel road. Tried googling "Monarch RT stuck down" and futzed around with PSI (no amount of air pressure could fix this problem), and finally found this article. Showed it to our LBS mechanic, and while they didn't have Slickoleum, they had a similar heavy grease, and were able to replace the o-rings in ~10 minutes. When they took the cover off, one of the o-rings had clearly blown out of place. It was a huge relief to find this article -- I was worried my LBS wouldn't believe me when I said I was "just riding along." So, thank you Andrew Major, Shawn Cruickshanks, and Jeff Bryson, for providing this information on a quick fix to a stupid problem! I'm 20 miles in and it's holding up fine so far. I was fully prepared to have to wait another X weeks, but it really was as simple as, "Let the air out. Replace three o-rings. Grease. Lube. Ride!"