Bumblebee came with a Monarch 3.3 rear shock, made by RockShox like my favorite forks. Last week I noticed it was leaking air, plus it had smeared out the anodized sag markings, so I contacted the bike shop. At first my sales guy played Mr. Hyde, saying up to 20PSI lost overnight is normal. Then he offered to sell me seals, take a class, or pay them to fix it. After arguing that it's not normal and pointing out it should be under warranty, then reminding him it's a Monarch rather than the more common Fox shock, he became Dr. Jekyll and ordered a free replacement and offering free labor in the shop to swap it. The new one is an upgrade to the Monarch 4.2 (shown above), and it's excellent.
I had thought this was just an air leak issue, and I should fix it to avoid the hassle of refilling the shock before each ride. But it turned out to be far more important. I'd taken the smeared sag marks to be grease shot through the seal, but now I believe it was rub damage from a seal assembled without any grease! (On the internet I've seen others had this problem.) Not only was the shock self-destructing, but the drag was wrecking the suspension action. The bike feels much better with the new shock, giving substantially better traction and a smoother ride. All is well - except now I need to start over learning the feel of the bike.
(Also, I finally cut down the handlebars, so they fit my narrow shoulders!)
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