2018 SID RLC/WC damper service.

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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B R H
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:12 am

by B R H

The original damper for this fork failed (no lockout) after only a few months so I purchased a new damper to replace it. That damper is now about a year old and likely due for an oil change. The past few months the high speed compression damping has increased to the point where the fork is nearly rigid over any sharper obstacles at speed. This makes sense to me if the damper oil is thickening due to debris, age, evaporation, wear, whatever. My old FOX Float forks suffered the same issue if I didn't change the oil every year, although never as bad nor as quickly as this SID. The Fox forks I had were open bath with about 4 times more oil volume, so that probably explains why the SID performs so badly as the oil degrades.

I weigh about 165 lbs and run 4 clicks open rebound, 110 psi, and use the lockout a lot (singlespeed). This SID only has rebound, lockout, and low-speed compression adjustments (the latter of which never really seemed to do anything). Anyway, I've assumed the damper oil needs to be changed to fix the HSC issue and ordered a service/bleed kit from SRAM. The rebound seal head included in the kit looks very different. It's gray colored and feels like plastic instead of black aluminum like the others. Does anyone know if this is an upgrade or simply the wrong part?

Also, I noticed the Dig Valves are different on the two dampers I have. The original (failed lockout) damper Dig Valve is red anodized aluminum with larger holes that remain unrestricted by the rebound seal head. The current (failed HSC) damper Dig Valve is black anodized aluminum with smaller holes that get covered by the rebound seal head. Does anyone know what the story is with all these different parts and if they are interchangeable?

My understanding is that the original damper is supposed to be Charger 2 and that Charger 2.1 was never offered for this SID. I have the original boxes for both the fork and new damper and all the serial numbers. Everything SRAM published shows the new damper is indeed the correct "upgrade" for this fork, whatever that means. Despite this, I couldn't find any information at all on the SRAM/Rockshox website to help answer these questions or any way to communicate with SRAM other than through "dealers" (who know nothing and just send everything back to SRAM for repair).
Last edited by B R H on Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:51 am, edited 3 times in total.

B R H
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:12 am

by B R H

Delete.

by Weenie


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02GF74
Posts: 724
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:04 pm
Location: Sunny UK

by 02GF74

I think will struggle getting an answer.

I would suggest sending an email to tf tuning and regensuspension, 2 companies that I'm aware who service forks.

B R H
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:12 am

by B R H

Red is original
Black is "new" replacement damper
Grey sealhead is from new kit
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B R H
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:12 am

by B R H

02GF74 wrote:
Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:43 pm
I think will struggle getting an answer.

I would suggest sending an email to tf tuning and regensuspension, 2 companies that I'm aware who service forks.
I'm in the US so those aren't great options for me. The latter seems to no longer exist and TF Tuned prefers a phone call. It would be much easier if I could send them an e-mail with the photos. I may give TF Tuned a call if I don't find some answers soon. Thanks.

by Weenie


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B R H
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:12 am

by B R H

Adding info in case anyone else is interested. Rockshox claims the DIG valves perform identically and the red one is simply lighter. I don’t believe them. The weight savings here wouldn’t even be measurable. I think the red is simply a change made for Charger 2.1 and the original black is Charger 2. I’ve been using the red and can’t tell any difference anyway.

The gray colored seal head is only for RL level forks. It won’t even fit the RC damper - the threads are larger on the RC damper. In this case, the gray seal head is considerably heavier than the original so there is a weight savings if it actually fit.

The harshness I experienced after a few months may be partly due to the damper ingesting the heavier weight bath oil into the damper. Every time I service the fork, the bath oil from the damper side is gone. It’s not leaking and I’ve changed wipers a few times and have serviced the fork enough to be sure that’s the only remaining explanation for where the bath oil goes.

I’m currently testing using damper oil for bath oil to see if that helps extend the service intervals. I tried using more bath oil (up to 10 ml instead of the 5 ml specified) a few times and that only caused the damper bladder to become more distended (which led to the ingestion conclusion).

It seems like this fork just can’t take repeated high speed hits without changing the damper oil every few weeks! I bet that’s why the new version has the damper bleed port on top of the damper, externally accessible. Bleeding my damper with the port on the bottom and internal is a total pain and very difficult to purge all air resulting in no lockout.

Basically the 2018 model is a POS and this experience has me considering even trying the new Ultimate. My old Fox forks easily go 6 months without service and I’ve never noticed any change in performance during that time.

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