2008 RockShox SID at 24 hours of Moab
Mention “SID” to any cross country racer and chances are, they’ll know exactly what you’re taking about. Over the years, the SID fork has won many consecutive world championships and a plethora of world cups. The SID has a rich history in cross country racing and recently has been a popular fork amongst endurance racers.SRAM decided to pick beautiful Utah for the on-dirt launch of their new SID fork. And there is no better way to get a real-life taste of this cross-country race fork than to race the 24 hours of Moab.
![photo]()
Introducing The New SID Not only is RockShox celebrating the 10th year anniversary of the SID suspension fork, but this year also marks the first ground up redesign of ever popular SID. Essentially every single part of the SID has changed over what was on the market last year.
Over the years, most cross country racers have been picking their suspension forks based on weight. Many have been willing to compromise stiffness, travel and reliability over weight. When RockShox looked into redesigning the SID, they wanted to keep on offering the lightest performance product on the market but didn’t want riders to have to make any compromises! Well the new SID prevails – it offers increase stiffness, increase travel, robustness and low maintenance.
![photo]()
The new SID isn’t only geared towards cross country racers but is appropriate for riders that are looking for the best short travel fork they can buy. Not everyone has dedicated mechanics working on their bikes every weekend – so durability was another key goal of the new SID.
The Transformation Sander Rigney, product manager for the new SID gave us the run down of all the refinements that went into the new fork.
![photo]()
Dressed for success
Visually you can easily notice that the SID has a brand new chassis design. The upper aluminum tubes are 32mm and compared to a Reba upper crown/steerer assembly, the stanchions of the SID are much shorter in length. Even if the forks we rode didn’t have them, the production SID upper tubes will feature sag gradient graphics.
![photo]()
The shorter stanchions do a few things for the SID. First, shorter means less material is used – therefore it’s lighter. Second, it allows RockShox to use less oil inside the fork, also saving a few grams. Third, the air and spring damper shaft length are also shorter. These damper shafts are made of chrome steel, which is a bit heavier, but give great bump sensitivity and less friction. By reducing the length of the shafts, RockShox was able to save even more weight.
You will not find any carbon fiber on the crown and steerer of the new SID. Both are constructed out of aluminum. The crown design is fabricated out of AL-66 TV – this material is really strong and has higher yield strength. This is the same material that is use on their high end Truvativ cranks.
![photo]()
The lower castings had to be redesigned to accommodate the shorter upper tubes. The SID uses what RockShox calls a “hollow bottom”. The bottom out point of the fork has been elevated up inside the lowers, this means the bottom of the castings are hollow. To increase stiffness RockShox incorporated their Power Bulges into the SID lowers, so more material is used at the lower bushing.
![photo]()
Behind the arch you will find a pair of threaded holes made for a fender that can be fastened using regular rotor bolts.
![photo]()
The SID models that are disc brake only use post mount. I would like to point out that the SID World Cup will only be available as disc brake. As reinforcement, the SID world cup lower legs use carbon fiber in select areas – more precisely at the base of the arch and around the Power Bulge. The location of the carbon is too close to the v-brake boss and RockShox was concerned about what braking forces might do. They therefore decided to only offer the SID World Cup as a disc brake lower.
But don’t despair; the SID Team and Race will be available in either a disc only or V-brake lower – yay!
It’s what inside that really counts
All the internals of the SID is derived from RockShox’s successful Motion Control Damping system - similar to what you currently find in the Reba or Pike but shorter.
![photo]()
At the entry level, the SID Race will feature a Delrin Motion Control Damper spring tube. This Motion Control Damper has a single flow rebound circuit.
The SID Team and World Cup will feature a BlackBox Motion Control Damper with Ti spring tube. This is a future refinement of the current Motion Control Damper that has a new patented dual flow compression valve. It has independent high speed and low speed compression circuits. In addition it has a dual flow rebound system.
![photo]()
Crown adjust forks using the BlackBox MCD will feature a carbon fiber adjuster knob and the adjustment are detented.
All SID models are Dual Air but RockShox has done some slight modifications to the positive and negative volumes to give the fork a more linear spring rate. Just like all other RockShox Air forks, travel can reduced via All-Travel spacers. Travel can vary between 80 mm and 100 mm.
Meet the SID Family Like previously mentioned, the SID will be offered in three (3) tasty flavors; SID Race, SID Team and SID World Cup. Although we were not given any specifics, RockShox mentioned that there will be quite a few color options – up to 9 different ones.
![photo]()
Pricing hasn’t been determined yet – but expect to start seeing production SID’s around February of 2008.
Here is the rundown:
SID Race
• 1450 grams
• Disc or V-Brake
• Standard Motion Control System
SID Team
• 1450 grams
• Disc or V-Brake
• BlackBox Motion Control System
SID World Cup
• 1425 grams
• Disc Brake Only
• BlackBox Motion Control System
• Carbon Fiber Power Bulges
How does it ride? RockShox generally do 3-4 pilot runs of their product before they start production. This gives RockShox the chance to shake out all the bugs that the product might have but also gives their factory the opportunity to build the product multiple times in a production environment before it goes out to customers.
For the 24 hour race we got to ride their first factory pilot build SID Race. Other than decals that were not clear coated and a few little unnoticeable things that RockShox deems “pre-production” – this fork is as close as production as it will get.
It had been a while since the last time I rode a 100mm. I used to race XC competitively and rode a SID for those years. So needless to say, I was pretty excited to ride the new SID. The week prior to the event I broke my pinky knuckle, so I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to ride. I decided to make the trip anyway and give it a shot – glad I did!
Friday: Prep day/Pre-Ride
Friday we headed out to the 24 hour race venue to prep the bikes and dial in the suspension. Not only did we get to ride the new SID, but most bikes were also fitted with RockShox’s new Monarch 3.3.
For this race I rode a Gary Fisher Race Day Supercaliber. The bike was fully kitted with all the latest and greatest components from SRAM. Truvativ Noir Cranks, SRAM X0 triggers, SRAM cassette and Chain, Avid Ultimate disc brakes, Truvativ Holzfeller Flat Pedals, RockShox SID Race, RockShox Monarch 3.3, RockShox PushLoc, Truvativ Team Stem, Truvativ Holzfeller RiserBar – the bike was begging to go fast!!
![photo]()
Just like the Pike, the SID was a breeze to set up! I like my suspension to be really supple, so I used a tad more air in the negative chamber when compared to the positive chamber. Using the suggested air setting listed behind the air spring leg is a good starting point. The Monarch was also pretty easy to setup – I simply used the sag gradients on the shaft to set my bike up with about 30% sag – piece of cake. Other than that, 28mm wide bars – Check! Flat pedals – Check! 100mm fork – Check! I was ready to roll!
This was my first ever 24 hour race – so other than having heaps of FUN, I didn’t really know what to expect. The course was on an old jeep trail and was roughly 15-miles. It had some gnarly rocky downhills (which I loved) but also some super sandy climbs (which I didn’t like as much). Each lap had 1,360 feet of climbing, and offered some spectacular scenery.
As soon as I got to the first technical rocky section I was like “Where is my 6” bike!!”. Being on a full XC racing machine you had to take the go-around or pick your line through the slickrock. I picked the latter and was amazed how stiff the SID and precise the steering was! The fork might only have 100 mm of travel, but let me tell you, it’s QUALITY and USABLE travel. From that point on I didn’t flinch on any technical section, I simply sent it over all of them and was amazed how well the fork worked. I’m not a big fan of lockouts, so I didn’t get to use this feature much but did make a point of trying it out on a few occasion, including this long extended climb – it definitely made the climbing easier. The new RockShox PushLoc remote works very well – it has very light actuation.
Toward the end of the ride my knuckle was killing me, but good thing I was on the SID otherwise it might have been worse. Ergon had a booth so I paid Jeff a little – he was kind enough to hook me up with some of their GP1 grips.
![photo]()
Saturday: Race Day
On race day all I did is check the air pressure in my tires, other than that I didn’t do anything to the suspension – the bike worked flawlessly the previous day, so I left everything as is. I was the second rider on my team and was able to put in an early afternoon lap in. Again, the fork worked flawlessly. Having ridden the course the previous day, I was able to go a bit faster through the gnarly sections, but alas I wasn’t any faster on the sandy uphills – especially on flat pedals! Ha!
![photo]()
I also got to do a night lap which was the highlight of this race! Night riding is so much fun! Again, the fork saved me a few times and its precise steering helped me get out of trouble and avoid a close chat with Moab’s slickrock.
![photo]()
Conclusion My first 24 hour experience will be hard to beat! SRAM treated us like Kings & Queens. In addition we had a chance to ride some of the best performance products available today. I was part of the “SID VICIOUS” team and I honesty think we had the most FUN team out there. I just need to stop taking racing so seriously! 
![photo]()
Teammate Justin Lortez of What Mountain Bike Mag
Kelty supplied us with sleeping bags, tents and nice comfy camping chairs. Eric Schutt showed me this killer bag called the “Binto Hauler” – a gear bag with individual storage bins. Perfect for separating your gear, like gloves, jerseys, etc…
![photo]()
Light in Motion supplied us with enough lights to illuminate Moab and Gary Fisher supplied a few of us with bikes.
![photo]()
SRAM also hired Chef Don O’Machel who drove all the way from Chicago to keep us fueled and smiling. I never ate so well in my life! Racers were joking about how this is probably the only 24 hour race where you could potentially gain weight.
![photo]()
Last but not least, SRAM has some of the best (and nicest) mechanics in the business. They kept all our bikes running smooth and had the biggest smile on their faces while doing it. SRAM had 4 teams racing, which means 20+ riders - other than a broken chain, there were ZERO mechanicals or problems with their SID. Considering how rough parts of the course where, that’s amazing!! And to all the 24h racers that came to the SRAM trailer to have their biked worked on and didn't even have the courtesy to even say "thank you" - well I hope karma catches up to you! That's just not cool...
![photo]()
How much did I like the new SID? I like it so much that it had me shopping for a 80mm/100mm bike yesterday. Hey, you can never have too many bikes!
THANKS Wow – where do I begin? I’m pretty sure I’ll end up forgetting someone, for that I would like to apologize in advance.
Eric Schutt – MTB PR Extraordinaire
David Z/Dirk B/Marty K/Brian P/Benny C – For making it happen
Sander and Jeff – the masterminds behind the new SID
Teammates – you know who you are
Greg Herbold – Letting me chill in his personal RV and for being an all round cool guy!
Paul Kantor – Team SID Vicious Leader
Gary Fisher – for the bike
Light in Motion – for the lights
Kelty – for the Sleeping Bag
Chef Don and his assistant – succulent food!
Jeff Kerkove @ Ergon – for the grips
JD, Pat and all the SRAM Mechanics – you guys rule!
Baxter - best team mascot
Rodale - for the beer at the airport
Full 24 Hours Moab Gallery You can view all my photos by going to my 24 hours of Moab album HERE
Videos Here are a few random videos that I shot. Sorry, but I didn't have time to do any fancy editing 
Start of the 24 Hour Race
Kirt Voreis likes the course
Random Footage
Related Links www.sram.com
www.superlightintegrateddesign.com
www.grannygear.com
www.kelty.com
www.bikelights.com
www.fisherbikes.com
www.ergon-bike.com
Over the years, most cross country racers have been picking their suspension forks based on weight. Many have been willing to compromise stiffness, travel and reliability over weight. When RockShox looked into redesigning the SID, they wanted to keep on offering the lightest performance product on the market but didn’t want riders to have to make any compromises! Well the new SID prevails – it offers increase stiffness, increase travel, robustness and low maintenance.
The new SID isn’t only geared towards cross country racers but is appropriate for riders that are looking for the best short travel fork they can buy. Not everyone has dedicated mechanics working on their bikes every weekend – so durability was another key goal of the new SID.
Dressed for success
Visually you can easily notice that the SID has a brand new chassis design. The upper aluminum tubes are 32mm and compared to a Reba upper crown/steerer assembly, the stanchions of the SID are much shorter in length. Even if the forks we rode didn’t have them, the production SID upper tubes will feature sag gradient graphics.
The shorter stanchions do a few things for the SID. First, shorter means less material is used – therefore it’s lighter. Second, it allows RockShox to use less oil inside the fork, also saving a few grams. Third, the air and spring damper shaft length are also shorter. These damper shafts are made of chrome steel, which is a bit heavier, but give great bump sensitivity and less friction. By reducing the length of the shafts, RockShox was able to save even more weight.
You will not find any carbon fiber on the crown and steerer of the new SID. Both are constructed out of aluminum. The crown design is fabricated out of AL-66 TV – this material is really strong and has higher yield strength. This is the same material that is use on their high end Truvativ cranks.
The lower castings had to be redesigned to accommodate the shorter upper tubes. The SID uses what RockShox calls a “hollow bottom”. The bottom out point of the fork has been elevated up inside the lowers, this means the bottom of the castings are hollow. To increase stiffness RockShox incorporated their Power Bulges into the SID lowers, so more material is used at the lower bushing.
Behind the arch you will find a pair of threaded holes made for a fender that can be fastened using regular rotor bolts.
The SID models that are disc brake only use post mount. I would like to point out that the SID World Cup will only be available as disc brake. As reinforcement, the SID world cup lower legs use carbon fiber in select areas – more precisely at the base of the arch and around the Power Bulge. The location of the carbon is too close to the v-brake boss and RockShox was concerned about what braking forces might do. They therefore decided to only offer the SID World Cup as a disc brake lower.
But don’t despair; the SID Team and Race will be available in either a disc only or V-brake lower – yay!
It’s what inside that really counts
All the internals of the SID is derived from RockShox’s successful Motion Control Damping system - similar to what you currently find in the Reba or Pike but shorter.
At the entry level, the SID Race will feature a Delrin Motion Control Damper spring tube. This Motion Control Damper has a single flow rebound circuit.
The SID Team and World Cup will feature a BlackBox Motion Control Damper with Ti spring tube. This is a future refinement of the current Motion Control Damper that has a new patented dual flow compression valve. It has independent high speed and low speed compression circuits. In addition it has a dual flow rebound system.
Crown adjust forks using the BlackBox MCD will feature a carbon fiber adjuster knob and the adjustment are detented.
All SID models are Dual Air but RockShox has done some slight modifications to the positive and negative volumes to give the fork a more linear spring rate. Just like all other RockShox Air forks, travel can reduced via All-Travel spacers. Travel can vary between 80 mm and 100 mm.
Pricing hasn’t been determined yet – but expect to start seeing production SID’s around February of 2008.
Here is the rundown:
SID Race
• 1450 grams
• Disc or V-Brake
• Standard Motion Control System
SID Team
• 1450 grams
• Disc or V-Brake
• BlackBox Motion Control System
SID World Cup
• 1425 grams
• Disc Brake Only
• BlackBox Motion Control System
• Carbon Fiber Power Bulges
For the 24 hour race we got to ride their first factory pilot build SID Race. Other than decals that were not clear coated and a few little unnoticeable things that RockShox deems “pre-production” – this fork is as close as production as it will get.
It had been a while since the last time I rode a 100mm. I used to race XC competitively and rode a SID for those years. So needless to say, I was pretty excited to ride the new SID. The week prior to the event I broke my pinky knuckle, so I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to ride. I decided to make the trip anyway and give it a shot – glad I did!
Friday: Prep day/Pre-Ride
Friday we headed out to the 24 hour race venue to prep the bikes and dial in the suspension. Not only did we get to ride the new SID, but most bikes were also fitted with RockShox’s new Monarch 3.3.
For this race I rode a Gary Fisher Race Day Supercaliber. The bike was fully kitted with all the latest and greatest components from SRAM. Truvativ Noir Cranks, SRAM X0 triggers, SRAM cassette and Chain, Avid Ultimate disc brakes, Truvativ Holzfeller Flat Pedals, RockShox SID Race, RockShox Monarch 3.3, RockShox PushLoc, Truvativ Team Stem, Truvativ Holzfeller RiserBar – the bike was begging to go fast!!
Just like the Pike, the SID was a breeze to set up! I like my suspension to be really supple, so I used a tad more air in the negative chamber when compared to the positive chamber. Using the suggested air setting listed behind the air spring leg is a good starting point. The Monarch was also pretty easy to setup – I simply used the sag gradients on the shaft to set my bike up with about 30% sag – piece of cake. Other than that, 28mm wide bars – Check! Flat pedals – Check! 100mm fork – Check! I was ready to roll!
This was my first ever 24 hour race – so other than having heaps of FUN, I didn’t really know what to expect. The course was on an old jeep trail and was roughly 15-miles. It had some gnarly rocky downhills (which I loved) but also some super sandy climbs (which I didn’t like as much). Each lap had 1,360 feet of climbing, and offered some spectacular scenery.
As soon as I got to the first technical rocky section I was like “Where is my 6” bike!!”. Being on a full XC racing machine you had to take the go-around or pick your line through the slickrock. I picked the latter and was amazed how stiff the SID and precise the steering was! The fork might only have 100 mm of travel, but let me tell you, it’s QUALITY and USABLE travel. From that point on I didn’t flinch on any technical section, I simply sent it over all of them and was amazed how well the fork worked. I’m not a big fan of lockouts, so I didn’t get to use this feature much but did make a point of trying it out on a few occasion, including this long extended climb – it definitely made the climbing easier. The new RockShox PushLoc remote works very well – it has very light actuation.
Toward the end of the ride my knuckle was killing me, but good thing I was on the SID otherwise it might have been worse. Ergon had a booth so I paid Jeff a little – he was kind enough to hook me up with some of their GP1 grips.
Saturday: Race Day
On race day all I did is check the air pressure in my tires, other than that I didn’t do anything to the suspension – the bike worked flawlessly the previous day, so I left everything as is. I was the second rider on my team and was able to put in an early afternoon lap in. Again, the fork worked flawlessly. Having ridden the course the previous day, I was able to go a bit faster through the gnarly sections, but alas I wasn’t any faster on the sandy uphills – especially on flat pedals! Ha!
I also got to do a night lap which was the highlight of this race! Night riding is so much fun! Again, the fork saved me a few times and its precise steering helped me get out of trouble and avoid a close chat with Moab’s slickrock.
Kelty supplied us with sleeping bags, tents and nice comfy camping chairs. Eric Schutt showed me this killer bag called the “Binto Hauler” – a gear bag with individual storage bins. Perfect for separating your gear, like gloves, jerseys, etc…
Light in Motion supplied us with enough lights to illuminate Moab and Gary Fisher supplied a few of us with bikes.
SRAM also hired Chef Don O’Machel who drove all the way from Chicago to keep us fueled and smiling. I never ate so well in my life! Racers were joking about how this is probably the only 24 hour race where you could potentially gain weight.
Last but not least, SRAM has some of the best (and nicest) mechanics in the business. They kept all our bikes running smooth and had the biggest smile on their faces while doing it. SRAM had 4 teams racing, which means 20+ riders - other than a broken chain, there were ZERO mechanicals or problems with their SID. Considering how rough parts of the course where, that’s amazing!! And to all the 24h racers that came to the SRAM trailer to have their biked worked on and didn't even have the courtesy to even say "thank you" - well I hope karma catches up to you! That's just not cool...
How much did I like the new SID? I like it so much that it had me shopping for a 80mm/100mm bike yesterday. Hey, you can never have too many bikes!
Eric Schutt – MTB PR Extraordinaire
David Z/Dirk B/Marty K/Brian P/Benny C – For making it happen
Sander and Jeff – the masterminds behind the new SID
Teammates – you know who you are
Greg Herbold – Letting me chill in his personal RV and for being an all round cool guy!
Paul Kantor – Team SID Vicious Leader
Gary Fisher – for the bike
Light in Motion – for the lights
Kelty – for the Sleeping Bag
Chef Don and his assistant – succulent food!
Jeff Kerkove @ Ergon – for the grips
JD, Pat and all the SRAM Mechanics – you guys rule!
Baxter - best team mascot
Rodale - for the beer at the airport
Start of the 24 Hour Race
Kirt Voreis likes the course
Random Footage
www.superlightintegrateddesign.com
www.grannygear.com
www.kelty.com
www.bikelights.com
www.fisherbikes.com
www.ergon-bike.com
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