I have RC31s on my XC bike but am considering buying some simple, light 80mm forks for some comfort over long rides. I’ve noticed on the web that there are a few deals available on sids.
I remember from when they first came out there were endless complaints about their being high maintanance leaky and flexy. Have things improved or should I still leave them alone?

A number of shops do older models (winstanleys on 2005 sids) are there any years to avoid?

All SID’s are designed as race forks and do not contain very much oil, so they are light, this means that they need servicing regularly.

All pre 2009 SID’s are flexy as they have spindly legs. 2005 SID’s with the pure damper are the ones that leak/need even more servicing as the damper needs to be bled to work properly.

All 2009 SID’s are amazing, light stiff and smooth (Team model is the best, no useless carbon bits in the lowers and the same damping as the world cup, which is better than the race)

Been racing SIDS for a long time. Personally I never found them too flexy. They are a lightweight XC fork, and when teamed up with a Spesh Stumpjumper HT are a winning combination. They’d be my first choice for XC.

I’ve never had any issues with RockShox. I still run a pair of 2005 world cups (white ones with the carbon crown) on my training bike. They’ve been re-bushed once, and are still going strong.

high maintanance leaky and flexy

I’ve found them…
No more maintenance than any other fork.
Never had a leak.

SB

Thanks guys. I’ll do a thorough search once I’ve returned from Auz

What stratobiker said. I’ve used SIDs for years and never found them *that* flexy or high maintenance. They’re a lightweight XC race, in fact for many years they were THE definitive XC race fork. For most general purpose riding they’re fine, just don’t expect to be able to plough through a rock garden at 25mph or take 4ft drops in their stride cos they won’t.

From about 99 when they came out up til 07/08 there were only minor tweaks doen to them (which shows just how good they were) but the new 09 SIDs are totally different from the SIDs of the past. Still light but stiffer and beefed up.

Only ever ridden the first generation SIDS (and then only once).

They were shocking! I thought the headset was loose but no it was the legs rocking in the stantions.

That said I’m away to test an Anthem X1 at the weekend that has, yup, SIDS…

God, I hope they have improved. 😆

Davefarmer.. Where did you get that about the oil ? Sids have about the same volume of oil as Reba’s etc and such should be tweaked every 50 hours – just like a Reba,Pike etc

I changed from 07 Corsa SL WC to 08 SID and the difference in action is very noticeable – they’re tuneable for a start and pretty stiff, I’d probably say stiffer than the Corsa.
Oh, and being black they match the rest of my bike better.

theres some reba world cups on ebay that you could knock down to 85mm, bit beefier but still very light