XC fork - "upgrade" from SID Select+

Tech Tech - What to Buy
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I recently upgraded from a slightly outdated short-travel trail bike to a 2024 BMC Fourstroke LT which came with a 120mm Rockshox SID Select+ (I believe it is the latest iteration of the SID) with a Charger Raceday 2 Damper. I love the bike but I feel slightly underwhelmed with the performance of the fork for trail riding. I’m not a particularly hard charger and tend to run XC-ish tyres but I do like the occasional more technical trail and am a bigger guy (on an XL frame, weigh around 90kg/200lb).

I feel the fork gets harsh on steeper or rougher trails I can’t find a good balance between support and sensitivity in spring rate setup. This is in comparison to the 2015-ish Pike A2 with a Charger RCT3 damper & DebonAir spring on my old bike. I have experimented with the old fork dropped to 130mm on this bike. I find I can more effectively charge through rough stuff and feel more confident and comfortable, and I don’t think it’s just because of the 10mm of extra travel. Unfortunately it’s not an ideal solution because it’s a non-boost fork.

Is there any modern XC fork that is going to get me close to this for trail riding? Ideally it would still have the 1500g-ish weight and firmer lockout of the SID, and I’m open to 120mm or 130mm travel options.

I’ll probably be aiming for a similar spec level replacement (Performance Elite/Select+). I am considering:

I guess the main question is can I really get substantially better performance out of an XC fork for trail riding, or do I just need to swap to a “trail” fork like the Pike and ignore the negligible weight increase?

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Hey Christiaan,

A fork like the RockShox SID is incredibly good, but some compromises are made to get the weight out of it. The balance between support and sensitivity may be helped with volume spacers, so that’s worth considering as a low-cost approach.

However, from what you describe, I’d suggest a trail fork (with reduced travel, if needed) with more sophisticated and adjustable damping.

Given you still mention weight, my first suggestion would be the new Fox 34 SL, just keep in mind that this still doesn’t have finite compression control (although that could, in theor,y be achieved with some custom tuning). If you’re happy to give up a little bit of weight, then the RockShox Pike is a great fork.

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I went through this, and ended up with a 34 SL. It’s great for all kinds of riding, a tiny amount of initial damper sucking noise is noticeable on repeated hits. It is 300 g lighter than a pike, but not discounted / more expensive as it’s a more modern release.

Before taking off the SID I tried an ultimate and newer select+, and borrowed a shockwiz to tune them. That was a process, it ended up being more damping and rebound compression than my original settings, and an extra token, but the ride feel was never there.

With the new SL, I’ve ridden a lot of bigger trails without blinking, no issues with tracking on 34mm legs vs the SID’s 35mm, as well as some short course races without needing any extra bobbing control. I’m happy with the set and forget settings without a remote.

In this case, the retail therapy paid off and I was able to ride without noticing any fork issues.

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