The Mega was a very very good bike. The only reason I got rid of it was because it was too small for me. It was a 17” frame, which is about what I like to ride, but on the 2012 Mega the top tubes were very short. They had a long wheelbase, but the length was all behind the rider in the chain stays, which made the bike hard to pop onto the back wheel.
I'm 6 foot 1(ish) but only have 31” legs, so my length is all in my body which didn’t work too well with a short top tube and steep seat angle. I always felt like I was sitting very far forward on the bike rather than comfortably in the natural position (even with a lay back seat post).
I do believe that the newer Mega (TR) has a longer top tube and shorter chainstays with a more relaxed seat angle so im pretty sure they ironed out everything I didn’t like about mine so I had every intention of replacing it with a newer mega, but I didn’t want the monarch shock again.
However, a friend of mine came out on his Five the other week and I had a quick blast. I instantly felt much more at home on the bike and it just fitted right (mainly down to the longer top tube and shorter stays). So I searched for one and came across this on pinkbike. With it being a maxle/tapered headtube model I jumped at it as it meant I didn’t have to buy a load of new parts.