CCX - Front fork vibrating upon braking

[MJCfromCT]

Hi all - I have an issue with my new CCX. Since day 1 (~40 miles on the bike to-date), the front fork will vibrate pretty severely under front braking. I've tried removing and re-seating the front wheel, and looked for play in the headset, to no avail.

I have a video of the noise I'm hearing when this is happening:

Troubleshooting I've done:

1. I've tried to align the caliper by loosening the mounting bolts, squeezing the front brake, and re-tightening. Unfortunately that didn't do the trick. It eliminated a slight rub, but still vibrates upon braking.
2. I inspected the brake rotor, and it appears that the pads are sitting on the correct area of the disc (not running too far inboard). The rotor does not appear visibly warped.
3. I've pulled out the front pads and swapped around the inboard and outboard pad, no change in the pulsing feeling.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[BrianMura]

Hmm, I do have that warbling sound too. I have not investigated it in depth, but I thought it was the fenders. Since you have no fenders, I guess that can't be the cause! Wonder if it's something with the quick release skewer? Some play in the fork ?

 

[MJCfromCT]

Hi BrianMura,

I removed the front fender to troubleshoot this. The first thing I noticed was the front fender shaking upon braking. I've had the front wheel on and off a few times to troubleshoot, inspect the brake pads, etc.

Today I lightly sanded the pads and put a small bevel on the lead edge. I noticed a slight improvement. Definitely not perfect yet.

 

[Johnny]

Is your fork sitting properly on the wheel hub? I realized that with quick release wheels it is sometimes not centered properly and it makes disc brake adjustment a pain. Before tightening the quick release I usually jiggle it up and down by pushing on the handle bar to make sure that it seats centered.

 

[Justin Fischer]

Have you checked the distance of the brake rotor to pad while slowly spinning the wheel? I would make sure the gap between the two is the same for the entire revolution of the wheel. If there was a problem with the rotors/pads/wheel itself/wheel position, you should see the gap grow or shrink where it's out of alignment.

 

[MJCfromCT]

Hi Johnny, my thought is that yes, it is, but I'll try you method of putting weight on the handle bar while tightening the quick release. Thanks for the suggestion.

Justin - To date I've only checked to ensure there was a gap on both sides of the rotor. I did that when aligning the caliper. The rotor doesn't appear visibly warped when I have the wheel off and examined it closely, but the method you've described should give me a better idea for how true it is running. I'll add it to the list, thanks.

 

[Bryan Mcloughlin]

Hmm, I do have that warbling sound too. I have not investigated it in depth, but I thought it was the fenders. Since you have no fenders, I guess that can't be the cause! Wonder if it's something with the quick release skewer? Some play in the fork ?

I have the exact same noise!

 

[MJCfromCT]

Hi Bryan,

Sorry to hear you've got the same symptom. I'm at about 500 miles on my CCX and have just been living with it. It seems to be most pronounced for me under moderate braking. I'm able to hear it from both the front and rear depending on which brake i'm applying.

 

[iamjcl]

I have a Rip Current S - same exact vibration / noise in the brakes. Esp. the front one.

If I understand others' comments correctly, changing to organic material brake pads should help or possibly eliminate the noise.

Mine are really bad if they get wet - stopping power goes from fair to poor.

 

[Bryan Mcloughlin]

Hi Bryan,

Sorry to hear you've got the same symptom. I'm at about 500 miles on my CCX and have just been living with it. It seems to be most pronounced for me under moderate braking. I'm able to hear it from both the front and rear depending on which brake i'm applying.

Hey MJC- ya, I just turned over 1000 miles, only happens with my front brake, so I decided awhile ago to just forget about it and live with it. (Doesn’t seem to affect my braking ability.)