Yamaha warranty. Something to consider. "Frame made wrong"

[jabberwocky]

Jaberwocky, thanks for the links to the forks. Civante has the crown race taper machined directly into it. Those looked like the crown race is missing and instead would use a pressed on crown race that came with the headset ---IDK ???? The Richey one looked like it had a taper there but not machined. Those are also expensive. But I was wanting to change it to carbon anyway. I will follow up with those companies for explanation how adapt it.

Maybe Greydog will be first one to figure out carbon fork swap since he needs one too........(hint , hint)

Correct, most forks use a bottom race that is press fit onto the fork, which allows you to use different headsets. If the bearing-matching taper is actually built into the fork you may be SOL and need to wait on that warranty fork. Sorry. :/ I do think thats a dumb design if so. Its possible that an aftermarket fork with the right crown race might match and work but thats something that would take some in-person trial and error to figure out.

I am having the same issue with my Civante. The fork creaks like crazy. It started about 2 weeks after I bought it 2 years ago and I am getting tired of it.

Man, I'm wondering what they screwed up on the fork to make it creak and pop like that, if thats the source of the noise.

 

[Djangodog]

My wife’s Yamaha Cross Core developed a creaking sound when braking. I was able to isolate it to the steerer tube. I took it to our Yamaha ebike dealer and they confirmed that it was the steerer tube, (the steerer tube is an interference fit to the crown and if the fit is not adequate, it will move when the brakes are applied).

The dealer happened to have a spare blue fork that was replaced for paint that was damaged during shipping. They gave the fork to us and I repainted it satin black, (my wife likes it better than the stock green and there is no more creaking). They are still trying to get us a new, green fork, but at least she is back on the road. It has been sixteen days so far and I have not heard anything.

I hope that they get their act together. I like the Yamaha bikes, but they seem lacking in customer service after the sale.

Best of luck with yours.

 

[Greentween]

Yamaha replaced the bike with a different bike which makes the same exact headset noise... It was only quiet for first 20 miles, then the noise started showing up again... It gets worse as the miles go up.... Civante = Defective product!

 

[Greentween]

Without any help from Yamaha customer support to figure this out -- I fixed the creaking / snapping noise by replacing the fork with aftermarket one. If anyone else experiences similar noise from the headset, I will make a seperate post about swapping the fork.

The stock fork uses non replaceable crown race, The crown race is cast into the fork and then hand sanded to clean up. In other word the lower bearing mating surface on the crown race is not an accurate surface. This mismatch is what causes the rattle/creaking/snapping noise. Noise may be suppressed temporarily by over-tightening the the stem compression bolt. If over tightened what eventually happens is the star nut just loosens up in the steerer tube and the noise comes back.

Attached pictures shows the hand sanding scratches from forks manufacture and also the wear mark into the crown race caused from the lower bearing. The lower bearing is supposed to mate onto this taper evenly. In my case it is apparent the bearing was not sitting on the crown race evenly, and as such I believe it was shifting which caused the noise.

 

[Art Deco]

Good point. I was thinking of the electrical parts which have a three year warranty vs the 1-2 for most other bikes. Yamaha does 3 on the frame too which is lower than just about any of the conventional bike brands (but still better than the likes of Juiced, Rad et all).

Frame failures are rare enough that it's usually not a factor worth considering when buying a bike IMO... For established companies anyway

Hence the lifetime warranty on a really rare failure that's cheaper to cover with insurance .

 

[Djangodog]

Without any help from Yamaha customer support to figure this out -- I fixed the creaking / snapping noise by replacing the fork with aftermarket one. If anyone else experiences similar noise from the headset, I will make a seperate post about swapping the fork.

The stock fork uses non replaceable crown race, The crown race is cast into the fork and then hand sanded to clean up. In other word the lower bearing mating surface on the crown race is not an accurate surface. This mismatch is what causes the rattle/creaking/snapping noise. Noise may be suppressed temporarily by over-tightening the the stem compression bolt. If over tightened what eventually happens is the star nut just loosens up in the steerer tube and the noise comes back.

Attached pictures shows the hand sanding scratches from forks manufacture and also the wear mark into the crown race caused from the lower bearing. The lower bearing is supposed to mate onto this taper evenly. In my case it is apparent the bearing was not sitting on the crown race evenly, and as such I believe it was shifting which caused the noise.

What aftermarket fork did you go with?

 

[Bikebadger]

Civante/Wabash frame issues can be directed to Drew Englemann, the brand manager for e-bikes at Yamaha. Drew's email is [email protected]. His response time will be very slow.