Sid race 2003 maintenance

[Jeep]

My 2003 sid race fork is behaving a bit weird. When I lock it, it sinks for about 1/2 inch when I put minimal weight on it before becoming locked. Other than that it seems to be working fine. Anybody knows why? It feels as if I would have to bleed something and I'd rather do it myself if it is not too complicated rather than paying 50$ to have it checked at the shop.

Thanks
J-P

[CountZero]

Most likely, your damper's internal floating piston has been depressurized. Did you test the pressure behind the right leg shrader valve? It's supposed to be set between 20psi and 60psi. Probably best to set it around 45psi.

If you've never changed the oil in the damper, you probably should at this time.

The fork's pretty easy to service, just follow the instructions here:
http://www.sram.com/_media/techdocs/03%20SID%20Service%20Guide.pdf

- Tom

[eloach]

If the bike has been hanging by the wheel for a while, place it in the normal position (wheels down) for 12-24 hours and see if that helps. A couple of manuals that came with assorted shocks I bought advised such.

[philvw]

If you are going to rebuild it, check these guys. (http://enduroforkseals.com/) Enduro gets great reviews everywhere, superior to any OE part. Check out their tech section and they have a pictorial for a '01 SID rebuild, might be close enough to yours to help.
I had been trying to figure out my old '02 Marzocchi for years, like how to even pressure it properly. (The manual is written in italian translated to english - no use). But with seals from enduro and their pictorial, I am rockin now! Way easy.

[CountZero]

Did you say you have a Race with lockout? I thought that only the Team and WC have an adjustable compression damper.

If you have compression adjustments, then my previous advice is wrong. It's more likely that you have an air pocket inside your damper.

Service of pure dampers isn't super hard. If you read the instructions carefully, you'll see that a shorcut is possible, and that you don't have to fully disassemble the fork.

[Jeep]

Thanks, for the great links. Now that I took a closer look at it I realized it is a SID TEAM not race. It seems to make a difference because there is no air pressure in the right leg in the team according to the service guide. Is it the same diagnosis?

J-P

[CountZero]

Jeep,

Yes, it's almost certainly an air pocket.

If you disassemble just the top of the right leg, you can pump out the old oil and replace it with new.

The pure damper depends upon having no air bubbles in the damper cartridge. Problem is that damper oil has air and water diffused in it, and over time in normal use the air and water separate from the oil. Also, no seal is perfect.

So, when you replace the fork oil, be sure to pump the rebound piston per the instructions, such that no air bubbles remain trapped behind the rebound piston.

To service that cartridge, you'll need a 24mm socket (as I recall), a syringe or turkey baster, and some damper oil.

That fork was designed using Honda Showa 5wt fork fluid. You can get it at any good motorcycle shop, like Coleman Powersports.

While you have the fork partially disassmbled, it's a good idea to inject some of the same 5wt oil into the air spring chamber (a tiny bit of oil) and the bushing oil bath (a lot).

In the summer, you can switch to 80wt automatic tranny fluid for both the air spring and bushings. It's better in every way.

The SID's a good fork. Keep in mind, though, that was intended (by design) to get regular service, especially with respect to bushing lubrication.