9 August 2011 - 7:46SID Vicious

So last week, I facilitated H.R.Dickness’ new squishy fjork. I know it was very difficult choice for him to make. Oh, the hemming and hawing, pros, cons, pro-cons were all heavily weighed, ruled upon, overturned and reconsidered. He wanted it for the upcoming Breck Epic, and I told him that having a squishy fjork on his bike would be a benefit over the 6 days of racing. What am I talking about?

The new Rock Shox SID 29er that’s what.

Niner had a small run of OE lever SID RLs available, which is a basic feature (Rebound, Lockout) version of the venerable race level fork that little wheelers have had available to them for years. It appealed to Dicky’s sensitivites, and steps were taken to get it to him ASAP.

The SID is Rock Shox no holds barred, weight loss at any cost kind of a fork. Well, wouldnt you know it, there are even a handful of XX versions out there as well. This one didn’t stay around long enough for me to get it in the photo booth, but rest assured, more are coming. That’s not to say that I didn’t get my paws on it for a closer look.

Visually, the fork is very similar to it’s sister the Reba, but with a few more refinements. The top caps are a nice shiny aluminum, the bushing bulges are a little more sculpted – hard to see in the photos, but are very evident when you hold a SID and a Reba side by side. Also the bushing journals are shallower.

There is a nice cable grabber that is a welcome update over the old groove and zip tie routine (about time), and there is a sag-o-meter printed right on the stanchion.



Mechanically, the forks are different too. The SID uses a new lighter updated damper over the standard motion control damper. Options will include, tapered or straight steerer tubes, a 15mm Maxle Lite, a World Cup model with a carbon steerer and crown. All in the name of loosing wight. This stock uncut straight 1,1/8″ steerer with lockout weighs in at 3.6 lbs, .2lbs lighter than a Reba XX with a tapered steerer tube.

I think the real weight savings will be realized with the lighter WC version, once it becomes available.