RockShox SID Ultimate Carbon 29er fork | Beautiful And Fast

We let Jason loose on a RockShox SID Ultimate Carbon 29er fork. Will anyone be able to catch up with him to get it back?

I wonder how many riders have won races on bikes equipped with SID forks? Must be loads and loads. More than any other fork in history? It’s likely.

I’ve owned a few SIDs in the past and at one time at least, there weren’t too many alternative suspension forks that could match the light weight and performance of the SID. Early ones were pretty twangy but in those days most things were quite twangy. In recent years though, the RockShox SID has become really rather lovely indeed.

RockShox SID Ultimate Carbon 29er

The Ultimate Carbon is the latest, top-of-the-range, fabulously expensive, BEAUTIFUL blue and “I’m going to tear you a new a**e if you dare get into a race with me, pal” fork and represents the pinnacle of what RockShox can offer a cross-country/marathon mountain biker. That might be why it’s called ‘Ultimate’.

Technically, this one goes beyond ‘Ultimate’. This is the Ultimate Carbon – you can buy a slightly heavier and slightly cheaper Ultimate that doesn’t have a carbon crown/steerer assembly (that one is available in 120mm and 100mm travel, the carbon is 100mm-only), so for those that absolutely have to have the best then this is The One.

All the usual high-end RockShox stuff is there – inside the 32mm stanchions lies a Charger 2.1 RLC damper and DebonAir spring. There’s a remote lockout (which locks the fork SOLID, none of this ‘limited travel’ nonsense), BOOST spacing, Maxle Stealth 15mm thru-axle and just-enough-but-not-too-much adjustment so impatient folk like me can set the sag, set the rebound and ride off.

The SID is available in 42 and 51mm offsets and weighs just under 1.5kg with the steerer trimmed to 185mm. Light enough for you madam?

And that blue paint and shiny decals. And the naked carbon crown. Oh wow… just look at it.

The Ride

What’s it like to ride then? In short, it’s bloody fantastic.

Obviously it’s not a fork that’s going to take terribly kindly to being smashed into big stuff (if you want to do that then take a look at the recent STW review for the Lyrik Ultimate) but on moderately rough XC terrain it outperforms any SID that I’ve previously ridden.

I’ve been riding the SID as hard as I could at trail centres, in the local Scottish hills and at various several-hours-long races for the past few months and it’s handled every bump, poor line choice and knackered-body mistake. It’s so light that the front of the bike seems to be easier to lift and move around if needed but it’s still as stiff as a stiff thing when you’re braking hard or pushing it into a bend.

Smaller, repeated bumps are soaked up like they’re not there at all, reducing rider fatigue. The damping at the beginning of the stroke is exceptionally smooth but then ramps quite considerably in case you do anything too heroic or stupid. You can remove the Bottomless Tokens easy enough if you’re prefer to achieve full travel more easily or if you’re going to be riding around a field.

Overall

I’ve loved riding my bike with this fork fitted. It’s improved the ride quality, it’s nice and light and up to now it’s had enough control, damping quality, traction and composure to avoid bouncing me into a bush. Whether I’ve been taking part in an XC race or I’ve been blasting around the local trail centre with my baggy shorts on, the SID Ultimate has been fantastic and I’m not giving it back.

It’s improved my race bike, perhaps made me faster and more attractive and maybe most importantly, it looks awesome.

Review Info