RockShox MegNeg Air Can Upgrade Kit [Rider Review]

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Dialing in your suspension can most definitely be tricky and you can get down a really deep rabbit hole. Luckily, RockShox makes the MegNeg to allow more adjustability for your rear shock. Our friend, Preston just installed one on their shock. See what they think!

Overview

I have been riding my Intense Carbine on a RockShox SuperDeluxe for about 4 months and loved the way shock felt overall. The one thing that I felt was lacking was the small bump sensitivity and was informed that a coil shock would help to make smaller hits plusher and more comfortable overall. Looking at the price of a coil shock, I was not ready to make that investment. Upon more research, I discovered the MegNeg upgrade that Rockshox offered. I read articles and talked to my buddies about how this upgrade could improve my ride and was instantly sold. The installation for the MegNeg is as simple as it gets. The kit comes with everything you need including oil and grease for the air can.
On my first downhill trail, I instantly felt my ride is so much plusher in the initial stroke. As a 210lb rider, I was afraid that the entire travel would be too plush leading to more bottom outs and harsh landings. This was not the case. The mid-stroke and end stroke feel exceeded my expectations and have given me much more confidence carrying speed through bigger features and/or jumps. Climbing my long-travel 29er also felt more comfortable where I didn't feel as much pedal bob going through both technical climbing as well as fire road climbing. Through fast berms is where I feel a lot of change. With the MegNeg, my bike is much more predictable due to strong mid-stroke support. I no longer feel the bike compressing too hard and potentially sliding/washing out on the looser San Diego dirt.

To be honest I haven't messed with the tuning between the positive and negative air chamber due to the fact that I started with 2 rings and felt the shock gave me everything I wanted from a shock. With that being said, I am aware of the essentially endless possibilities for tuning between both the positive and negative air chamber. To start, I had to add about 20PSI more in the air chamber to achieve the same 30%-35% sag that I had before upgrading. I did not add any positive spacers when installing the MegNeg. The suspension is something that I think is the hardest in the world to tune and often times get in my head as to what I want to feel versus how the shock is actually feeling.

The RockShox MegNeg upgrade perfectly bridges the gap between a regular air shock to a coil shock. The amount of tuning that can be done with this upgrade offers every rider a chance to find the perfect feel whether that is increasing small bump sensitivity, increasing mid-stroke efficiency, or decreasing bottom-out resistance.

Final Thoughts

For only $90 I think this is one of the most effective upgrades that any rider can invest in to make every ride more enjoyable. The elite performance that comes at a very low cost is something that will be very hard to beat.