RockShox

SID RCT3 Solo Air 120 Fork - 27.5in

Not every off-road rider is keen on the trend of six-inch bikes. Even for low-travel fans, though, it's often easy to get lost in the story of slack and slacker geometries, forgetting that a solid four or five inches is often enough to handle everything but the droppiest steps and the biggest hits. If you're sticking to your XC guns, then RockShox's SID RCT3 Solo Air 120 Fork may be all the front end travel your 27.5in trail machine needs.

The SID's Solo Air spring features an easy-to-tune design with a single Schrader valve that controls air adjustment for both chambers. The feel of the spring is also customizable with RockShox's Bottomless Tokens, which alter the chamber's effective volume and compression curve to meet individual ramp-up preferences. While the Solo Air spring lets you adjust the fork for more trail-oriented terrain, the Power Bulges on the lower bushings ensure the SID is always ready to do what an XC bike is meant to do: hammer out a gap on the climbs. Power Bulge's reinforcement also extends to terrain, helping the fork track truer across root lattices and fast descents so you can maintain the gap you earned going up.

The fork's damper leg features the Motion Control DNA damping system, which fights off gravity with external rebound to reduce jarring and provide a controlled, smooth platform for navigation and attacking. The integrated Dual Flow technology boasts separate circuits for low- and high-speed compression as well as beginning- and end-stroke rebound damping for high-riding sensitivity over consecutive bumps and larger impacts. Pairing all this with a Rapid Recovery valve that rebounds quickly after full impacts means that the fork is always already prepped for the next hit.