One-piece all carbon fiber crown-steerer // Titanium hardware // Climb-It Control compression adjustment // Tunable positive and negative air springs // All Travel // External rebound adjustment // Travel: 63/80 mm // Spring: Dual Air
Submitted by
Daniel Hurran
a Cross Country Rider
from UK
Date Reviewed: October 13, 2003
Strengths: Weight
Weaknesses: Too many to mention.
Bottom Line:
Used the fork for 3 weeks untill the steerer cracked. £329 pounds to replace crown steerer and upper. (Marzocchi Marathons this year are £450 complete) Told that this is my fault for over tightening. No warrenty or assisted purchase. It will be a cold day in hell before I consider owning any RS product again. I would suggest using these forks if: 1. You are a 100 pound female elite xc racer and: 2. You get them given. and: 3. You have a spare pair.
Submitted by
Nick
a Cross Country Rider
from midcoast maine
Date Reviewed: August 29, 2003
Strengths: the weight, plush ride, stiff compared to sid sl, lockout, looks good
Weaknesses: still somewhat flexy, deflection is a problem at higher speeds. play in the fork lowers is somewhat annoying in technical sections, but it is a race fork.
Bottom Line:
definately a full on racing fork. lots of sacrifices made for the reduced weight. titanium hardware is a nice touch, i would not reccomend to the weekend warrior or someone who rides up only to go down. plush for the type of fork it is, i am impressed by the ride quality/weight ratio. even for the retail price, a good value
Similar Products Used: 01 judy sl, 02 mars compcoil
Bike Setup: salsa caballero, 03xtr/xt,00 crossmax, hayes mag plus, thompson cockpit, maxm carbon bar
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Submitted by
tom nguyen
a Cross Country Rider
from san diego, ca
Date Reviewed: March 20, 2003
Strengths: Of course Light weight & Carbon crown
Weaknesses: a little noodly when things get hairy or technical
Bottom Line:
Had the fork for about a year and no problems until now. **I used to ride 3-4 times a week, but for the past 6 months, just a weekend 10 mile ride.** Just recently saw that the wiper seals were starting to crack. The bike has been keep inside the house and has never seen mud or wet conditions until recently and now needs new wiper seals. Never had the seal or bushing problems that other people have had, maybe because I bought mine later in the year.
Whenever going down a rocky or technical downhill I feel it flex. I'm just 155lbs. but ride my bike hard where I can feel it flex laterally. But that rigidity it given up for the weight savings I guess. Overall, a bada$$ fork for what I paid. (I wouldn't pay full price for the 03'World Cups)
Similar Products Used: Manitou Gen 1&2, Marzzochi Gen 1, Specialized Gen 1, Specialized FSX Carbon, RS Judy
Bike Setup: 02' Tracer w/ all 02'XTR, Thompson, Easton, King, and of course RS Carbon
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Submitted by
Ben Potter
a Racer
from Kingston, RI, USA
Date Reviewed: February 2, 2003
Strengths: Very Strong, Stands up to suprising levels of punishment. With 80 mm of travel, it even soaks up the big ones. I would suggest it to anyone who can stomach the selling price and wants to gain an awesome fork.
Weaknesses: I did have a problem after 8 months with oil leakage, however this was due to my failure to tighten a loose fitting. And when it was sent to Rockshox due to a lockout issue, they send back an almost entirely new fork, FREE of CHARGE. So kudos to them.
Bottom Line:
This shock rocks, mine weighs in at about 2.7 lbs, and you don't lose any strength when you lose the weight.
Similar Products Used: Dual Air SID, Marzocci Bomber z-1, Manitau MARS.
Bike Setup: Bontrager Comp. Steel Frame, Bontrager Racelite Components and wheels. SRAM 9.0 shifters, Avid Black-Ops Brakes <-- also very cool.
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Submitted by
Chuck
a Cross Country Rider
from Santa Rosa, CA
Date Reviewed: January 28, 2003
Strengths: Amazing adjustability, super plush, and incredibly light Nothing on the market even comes close to the adjustability of this fork.
Weaknesses: The crown has noticable flex, but nothing to make me nervous to ride it.
Bottom Line:
Maybe I just haven't had the fork long enough to experience failure, but I have about 400 miles on this setup and couldn't be happier. It took a bit of tuning to get the fork dialed in the way I like it, but this thing works very well. Nothing even comes close to the SID's adjustability. People complain about bushing play, but I wonder if that is for previous models. I understand that the bushing length was doubled from 10 mm to 20 mm in the later forks. I do notice a bit of flex through the crown, but I only weigh 160 lbs. so I am not too worried about over stressing it. Overall, I would say this is a great fork
Update from prior listing. The P brain at RS still claiming the fork was over tourqued. I was using the easton magnesium stem. The stem would have stripped out before the fork steering tube could have been crushed………. This was at 70lbs/sq in. This fork is a bigger piece of crap than the RS warranty. OOPS, RS does not have a warranty. They sent the fork back to me, no repair. They wanted over 300 bucks to replace the steering column.
This fork and RS’s reputation is total crap. Do yourself a favor, do not buy this fork!
Strengths: Light, smooth operation, forgiving on the hands and arms
Weaknesses: Getting one that works
Bottom Line:
I have owned two. The first failed after 2 hours of riding. Lost its compression completely leaving me with a rigid rig. It also leaked oil out of the top of 1 leg. RS acted like it had never happened before. They did end up replacing the entire lowers and I have had flawless performance since. I use a little drylube on the stanchions and keep the fork soft for riding. I am 160 lbs and race hard. A delightful fork for ease on wrists, hands, arms, joints. It is a little mushy and so provides for some rubbing when compressing in turns etc..
Well for starters, the writers for Mountain Bike Magazine hit the nail on the head with their review. At first, I was mad because they had a poor review for my new fork. As I rode the fork, the bushing play got worse and worse. Finally, I was afraid to stick the corners. Time for an overhaul……
Took the fork off the bike and noticed that I also had a cracked steering tube. The P brain at RS tried to claim it was over torqued! The stem was installed with a torque wench to specifications.
Bottom line: If you are on a race team that can get a Sid for free, take it and have it checked often. If you plan to use this fork on your every day rider, forget this shock. With out daily checks, I see this fork as a hazard!
Submitted by
martijn
a Cross Country Rider
from H.I.Ambacht
Date Reviewed: November 18, 2002
Strengths: Light, good looking and strong
Weaknesses: A bit expensive iff you pay full retail!
Bottom Line:
Best fork ever! Shut up about stiffness, who needs stiffness with Magura HS33 brakes. I'm 200 pounds and is is stiff enough for me! For the guy way down this list of reviews who thinks he can't use a Thomson stem on the carbon crown/steerer, you CAN use a Thomson stem on a carbon steerer. A Thomson stem has a contct area 4 times larger than that of a Syncros stem. Rock Shox has given aproval for using a Thomson sten on the Sid race carbon fork.
Similar Products Used: Marzocchi Z2 BAM, Marzocchi Z2 superfly, Rond/WP Rebel, RST Mozo Pro, Rock Shox Duke SL 100mm
Bike Setup: Cube Airwing Blackline, full XTR, King/618ceramic/Sapim CX-ray wheels, RS SID Race Carbon, Thomson goodies and SLR evolution. 23 pounds pure speed!
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Submitted by
Tom Clark
a Racer
from Pontiac Lake Mi USA
Date Reviewed: October 5, 2002
Strengths: Lightweight
Weaknesses: Difficult to service. Leaking compression and rebound chambers. Flexy
Bottom Line:
I can't believe all of the positive reviews this fork has gotten. It was awful right out of the box. It leaked air from the negative chamber and after 1 hour of riding the fork had approximately 1/4 inch of travel. Not something that you would expect from such a pricey fork. I took it to a local shop that attemted to service it but they were unsuccessful in fixing the problem and they eventually sent the fork back to Rock Shox. The bottom line is as soon as I got the new fork back I sold the bike so it is now someone elses headache. I would not reccommend this fork at all.
Similar Products Used: Cannondale Fatty DL, Rock shock SID race
Bike Setup: Fisher Supercaliber
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Submitted by
Mark Jamis
a Cross Country Rider
from Queens
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2002
Strengths: Light and stiff. The lockout feature and compression adjustment is rightous.
Weaknesses: the price is steep
Bottom Line:
the adjustability and stiffness of the fork made it sooooo sweet to ride. Reguarding the air seals breaking, I'm 135 lbs, and a friend of mine who is bout 155 lbs hammered my fork jumping and it held up, Another friend just got the SID SL and he is about 180 lbs and riding very nicely...I must say it well wort the arm and leg price...
Bike Setup: Jamis Dakar Team, Titanium ti dye spokes, machine tech hubs,XTR R-Der, 2002 Magura Raceline rim brakes
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Submitted by
Jason Koch
a Cross Country Rider
from New Haven
Date Reviewed: September 13, 2002
Strengths: Working perfect, feeling plush. light weight. Where is my Ti brake post go? I didn't know that this fork comes with Ti post, before I read all this revieqs...damn...
Weaknesses: Missing Ti post...
Bottom Line:
It rocks, it rules, everything is good, however somebody get me that ti post. The money I paid for this fork is $600... Who should i talk to for this?
Submitted by
Nicolaus P
a Cross Country Rider
from Cracow, Poland, Europe
Date Reviewed: September 12, 2002
Strengths: Great modulation, very versatile.. stiff. Awsome performance. Climb it works great. ABSOLUTELLY BEST fork performance i have had for years !!!!
Weaknesses: Costs of oils, and lubes. a lot of often servisable parts, very complex, difficult to clean (it must be nearly sterile!). OUT OF THE BOX COMPLETLY NOT PREPARED TO USE!! No special tool for cartridge removal, and lubes and oil for starting supplied! Sometimes the rebound adjuster knob is sliding when turning. No option for rubber boots. Not only dust can be dangerous. What about the stones, and branches?
Bottom Line:
The fork works great..It can be set for any needs. Can be very comfortable, and in a minute you can make it race fork.. Doesnt looks very hermetic. For extensive rainy use it needs boots (doesnt matter what roskshox says.. they have to sell you the next one..) The fork was NOT prepared for use. Forget the quality control. There was no oil in one of them (i got two), both never seen the judy butter. One of the pumps was not working, after a while i had repair it. When i pulled the legs, i found a lot of small METAL DEBRIS in the oil. I have olso scratched the legs a bit. THIS IS UNBILIVABLE!!! When they sell a 100$ fork, lets say ok.. I had to change one air valve, because it didnt worked well, and spend a lot of time to prepare them, refill and lub. WHERES THE CARTRIDGE REMOVAL TOOL??? If you see stuff like that, you instantly have to check the oil, and the air system, and then supprise.NO TOOL!! They work great so far, but iam wondering all the time, is there a loose screw i forgot?, did i cleaned the fork from metal debris well? In my place theres no rocksox service point, and i wouldnt give this stuff to anyone to check. Its simply too expensive. The rating is bad only because of how the fork was prepared. There must be an info on the box.. "prepare it yourself, or just for one ride.. dont forget the metal debris inside the lower tubes..". Strong pros, and a lot of cons. Tell me if iam wrong.
Submitted by
Dave Harvey
a Racer
from San Marcos, Calif
Date Reviewed: September 11, 2002
Strengths: Light, dependable, plush and very adjustable
Weaknesses: Had a problem with the positive chamber leaking into the negative chamber right out of the box. Supergo provided a loaner sent it to Rockshox, has been great ever since
Bottom Line:
I have never ridden a more race worthy fork, very light, goes where you point it and provides lots of control. I ride very rocky, rough trails, and some hard pack. The ease of adjustment makes this fork in all terrain. I would definitely buy it again. I actually met an x-employee of Rockshox and he told me the carbon crown had more testing than any other component that they make. Apparently they want to avoid expensive lawsuits. I have been riding for better than a decade and have been though many bikes and components and I am not surprised is something has a problem out of the box, there is always going to be some problems with individual components and you can always find someone thats broken something, so I don't sweat it as long as the company and the LBS back the product. I have not been disappointed with Rockshox or Supergo, both are reputable companies.
Similar Products Used: Manitou,Girvin,Judy, Sid Sl
Bike Setup: Sugar 1, Mavic CrossMax,Easton Carbon bar,Selle Flite Gel Seat, XTR, Hutchinson Python Tubles
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Submitted by
Matt Donnelly
a Cross Country Rider
from Aspen, CO
Date Reviewed: September 3, 2002
Strengths: Light, lockout
Weaknesses: Leaks a little oil on the crown. . . Long Term durability?
Bottom Line:
Love the lockout. I thought it was BS at first, then I started locking it out. Now it's locked much of the time. My Judy's springs must have been shot, but the adjustability of this shock rocks. With the Carbon crown/steerer and Easton MonkeyLites, the vibrations don't get far. We'll see how how long this chumpy lasts.
