I bought a 2019 Scott Spark RC 900 Team and from the get go it seemed to me that the front fork felt strange. As this was my first RS SID after riding a Fox 32SC for a few years, I thought that was just how the SID rode. After bringing my front fork for maintenance, the lower were replaced under warranty and fork was fully rebuilt by my lbs that specialize in fork maintenance. They are not Scott dealers and now they suspect the damper might not have been right from factory. So no warranty replacement for that and I’m stuck with a fork that doesn’t seem to have the traction (mid position on twinlock) working properly. Trying to find a RLT3 charger2 damper compatible with the twinlock in North America seems almost impossible so I’m thinking at just changing the whole fork for either a SID Ultimate or FOX 34SC. I’m still unsure how I’m going to be able to use the twinlock to work with the front fork now. The SID raceday damper has only 2 positions and I do not think I can get it to work with the twinlock. I’ve seen people rurnning the twistlock with the twinlock but I don’t think there’s enough bar real estate to make it work cleanly. Plus the SID as a 44mm fork offset instead of the factory 51mm so not sure how this would affect handling.
Second option is to buy the Fox 34SC that does offer a 3 positions damper, which I’m not sure would be compatible with the twinlock (although funny enough my twinlock is fox branded even though it was locking out the SID up front). Would the factory 3 positions fox damper play nice with the twinlock?
Any other options I’m not considering here? Even the lbs that sales Scott bikes seems clueless where I live about my damper issue or suitable fork replacement? I would sale my bike and cut my losses as I’m not liking this propriety Scott damper (same goes with syncros stuff) but there’s no bike to buy, new or used so I need to make this work.
Sorry for the long post, hope someone has had the same problem and found a suitable front fork replacement. Thanks all!
For the Fox route, you’ll need to find a 2022 34 XC fork, then add this damper:
820-18-407-KIT, Service Set: 2022 34 SC 120 Max FIT4, Remote, Black Ano, PTL, U-Cup, 3 Pos Adj, Cart Assy Complete
Also, you can just run a standard damper and give up the remote lockout for the fork, it will still actuate the shock with the remote. Just FYI. No easy solutions, sorry.
Very useful information thank you so much! I called Fox Canada earlier today and they weren’t able to provide a clear answer if it would work with my twinlock remote lever. Looks like with it might just work with the new 3 positions lockout on the 2022 fork.
The only downside is that you won’t be able to pick up anything on the cheap.
I bought my spare 120mm fork for the Spark (2018) shortly after they changed everything over to “push to unlock”. It was less than half price at the time.
Looking at bike pricing is depressing ATM. Back in 2018 I managed to get the Spark at 20% discount fresh off the boat.
I agree a brand new fork will cost me well over 900 USD and that’s if I can find one which will be challenging I’m sure. Still cheaper to replace a fork than a new bike which is also impossible to find. I was trying to get an Specialized Epic this year and next year and there’s simply nothing available and prices are crazy.
I suppose I did as I was able to order a 2022 Specialized Epic Evo (yet to arrive mind you) which do not have any brand-specific fork or shock. The other thing is that there doesn’t seem to be much customer support from Scott here in Canada and getting your hand on parts has proven to be almost impossible. Having said that, the fork I had on the Scott was still technically ok and the RockShox tech that worked on it seem to suggest I might have been fitted with a Fox specific cam (length of pull is critical to properly engage the 3 position lockout) on the fork which probably means it never worked well out of the box for me and I just never noticed. Again I believe Fox would have been the only aftermarket option but I suggest you give them a call as their do have really knowledgeable folks there.
“ The new SID SL will be an excellent upgrade for your Scott Spark!
In order to make the SID SL work with the Scott TwinLoc system, you will need to change the damper. Unfortunately, these dampers are tricky to get, as we do not sell them. You will want to reach out to your local Scott dealer to see if they can order a replacement damper for you. The damper for a SID SL Ultimate is part number 11.4018.104.023 (FORK DAMPER ASSEMBLY - REMOTE RACE DAY 3P (32MM) 80-100MM 29 (INCLUDES COMP AND REB KNOBS) - SID SL ULTIMATE C1 (2020) - SCOTT).”
Back in 2018 I managed to get the Spark at 20% discount fresh off the boat.