RockShox

SID RCT3 Solo Air 26 120

The first SID rocked the mountain bike world with 63mm of travel. This SID RCT3 Solo Air 26, on the other hand, packs 120mm -- almost double what was considered ground breaking at one time. That's an impressive feat, but what's more remarkable is the dampening and chassis stiffness that RockShox is achieving with its latest offerings.

SIDs have always been aimed squarely at the XC race crowd, but to achieve race worthiness it borrows heavily from standards that are used for burlier forks. You'll find an aluminum tapered steerer and hollow forged crown, along with a thru-axle, and Power Bulges residing in this fork -- just like the RockShox's long-travel forks, but in a leaner package.

This SID uses RockShox's new RCT3 Motion Control DNA hydraulic damping. Three distinct settings allow you to quickly manipulate damping performance for trail conditions. Now you have open, threshold, and lock settings to choose from. Open allows the fork to swallow large hits, threshold offers pedaling efficiency with bump compliance, and lock provides the ultimate pedaling efficiency.

The stanchions are low-friction, anodized 32mm aluminum tubes with sag gradients to assist in finding the perfect preload settings. Another detail, mentioned earlier, that helps make the SID stiff is the PowerBulges around the lower bushings. These eliminate deformation of the cast-magnesium lowers, ensuring smooth action and less bushing and stanchion wear. Tying it all together is the 15mm Maxle Lite, an easy-to-use, quick release, thru-axle that boosts stiffness without adding any significant weight.

The SID RCT3 uses a Solo Air spring that is housed in the left leg, but don’t let its name make you think this is some friction laden air spring. The Solo Air design lets you add air to through a single Schrader valve, but it fills both positive and negative spring chambers simultaneously. A much easier setup for the plush, predictable ride RockShox's known for.

The RockShox SID RCT3 Solo Air 26 120mm has Black lowers and crown with a 1-1/8in to 1.5in tapered steerer. The lower legs have a post-style disc brake mount and are configured for a 15mm Maxle Lite thru-axle (included).