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I had a fault with the shock on my spectral. Sent it back to canyon for replacement. Long story short, it's taken months to get a replacement. Fisher sent a loan shock to keep me rolling, which knocked but was perfectly rideable.
The replacement finally turned up - but the tune isn't the same. The original shock was
L | L3 | S | 320
The new one is
M | M | S | 320
So it looks like a medium tune. How much difference am I likely to notice with this? I really don't want the hassle of waiting months to get the correct one ????
the tune difference is just shims internal so they can be changed. The new tune had more rebound/compression damping. It will be stiffer and rebound slower. I'd not accept it as its not the same tune unless you prefer the ride.
Ask them if they've changed their choice of tune?
I'm not an expert but I'd have picked M/M for that bike.
If I ride it, then they possibly wouldn't have it back for a swap. No clue how different it will feel compared with the original. Guess I'll call them and see - seems ridiculous they can't send the right one in the first place!
I had the same situation with my monarch on my smuggler which started knocking, perhaps they sent you my old shock to tide you over 😆
I'd send it back or at least speak to them if I were you
I think that tune you've been sent is the stock aftermarket tuned shock, I think they just sell the one tune to make it simple. To avoid waiting months I got the same aftermarket shock (M,M,S,320)instead of waiting for the correct tune(L3,L,S,380), I would have missed the whole summer's riding waiting otherwise.
However it wasn't suited to the bike, it was really harsh, the M compression is much stronger than the L3 (lowest possible) compression the bike needs. Luckily my LBS I bought the bike from is really good and they had a spare I could use instead and the correct damping parts have now finally arrived to retune the replacement shock.
With hindsight I would probably have kept the original faulty shock, taken it apart and tried to fix it myself if I'd known fishers would bin it and there would be up to 11 weeks wait for a new one.
I'm surprised they've taken months to just replace with the standard aftermarket tune, I wonder if they've made a mistake. I'd go with the tune that suits the design of the bike or very close based on my experience anyway.
The actual difference between the rebound tunes is relatively small - the M rebound tune will probably feature a setting (given the wide range of tune on each rebound) that will work with your bike - eg if your old tune was 6 clicks on then you can probably find the same rebound on a M tune with 2 clicks... unless you ran it really fast. Even on an M tune winding it all the way out is pretty much a pogo stick.
On the compression its a bit trickier. The L3 (or L tune - they're supposed to be 2 versions of roughly the same 'firmness') is a fair bit softer than a M tune. That said, Ive ridden L, L3 and M back to back and liked aspects of all of them on the same bike. To be honest I would be happy with either on any given day - the M tune combats some of the wallow that Debonair shocks experience, and also lets you run a softer shock (35% sag for example) with much better pedalling characteristics than a L tune, but of course with some mid stroke bump compliance loss. I would say its worth giving it a go from my experience - its more like two different styles of shock rather than an outright no. Thats not on a spectral of course!
thanks for the explanation Ben! just what i was looking for. Im only around 75kg on the bike, so i would imagine the lighter tune would suit me more, but i'll see what they say.
I'm currently running a Spectral with a Monarch plus RC3 with the MM tune ( bought aftermarket). I find it looks ads better than the stock fox shock but it does sit further into the travel. When I add more psi it doesn't feel great either. If you can add a few bottomless spacers I think it would be perfect. I'm planing to sell my frame so haven't bothered with the spacers