The 2009 version of the top cross-country fork form RockShox is the SID it comes it at a very respectable 1485g working on a Dual Air spring system and comes in a striking black or white design. They supply either 80mm or 100mm of travel which should be plenty for most cross country riders. They also offer an external rebound adjustment and a low speed compression lock.

Testing this fork out on the trails we noticed straight away how responsive it was into the corners there was none of the flex you get with cheaper forks even when cornering hard. The weight is low enough to make most XC riders drool slightly but its nice to see that this is not at the compromise of the functionality. Hitting some frozen rocky terrain the 100mm of travel soaked them up with no problems at all and we are sure the 80mm version would be plenty for most riders. We had the slightly heavier version that has the remote lockout but found this easy to use and gave us the ability to very easily tune it to the terrain on the fly. This is a great fork very comparable to the FOX offerings but if you seek out the deals coming in at a lower cost.

Anyone who has used Fox forks has come to know them as stiff and light but this all come at a price. The 2009 Fox racing shox 36 Van-RC2 comes in at around 2360 grams (or 5.21 pounds) but costs around $900. They have 160mm of coil sprung travel takes in all the bumps with ease. The compression damping is all adjustable to allow you to set it up just the way you want and they feature a 20mm stepped thru axel.

These forks are defiantly very stiff and feel really responsive out on the trails. We took a while to set them up and it made a real difference to the ride quality. Fox was living up to their reputation by supplying 3 springs for different rider weights not something most companies do. This fork is perfectly suited to single track but also at home if you want to fit in a few jumps. It’s a fantastic fork… as long as you can afford it!

These tyres are designed for general use and also aimed at XC cycling. The main thing that sets this tyre out form a lot of the others is the tread pattern continues right round to the side wall, Continental calls it an Endless Edge tread block design. But in real terms this extra tread gives better cornering and also helps on those slippery roots. There are wire ones that come in at 570g and 515g for the Kevlar version.

They come as 2.1inch wide but are closer to 2 which we prefer any way. On the road they are not the smoothest of tyres and have quite a high rolling resistance however they are off road tyres so what do you expect! Off road the extra tread on the sides gives great corning performance and on the rear gives impressive traction when climbing. They were good in the muddy sections but on dryer rocky rides they did not perform as well.

Over all these tyres are good in wet muddy conditions but don’t give the overall performance if you ride in lots of different conditions and on the road.

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