Fork Juddering under braking

[Carbon Fiend]

Fork Shudder

Hi I seem to eternally suffer from fork shudder, I ride a Kuota Kross with Tektro brakes I have toed the pads loads of times and tightend the headset etc etc but sure as a bear ****s in the woods it everything will remedy the situation for a short period then bingo the shudder comes back. I do ride long distances on the bike (3- 5 hours off road) has this got anything to do with it???

 

[BrandonT]

I have a few 'Cross bikes and I have yet to find a carbon fork that doesnt shutter. I have tried alloy steer tubes, carbon steer tubes, different brakes, pads, headsets and rims.
Sorry but if there is an answer out there I havent found it.

 

[Emil in Wyoming]

Zero Gravity canti brakes are advertised as having a titanium bearing that eliminates shudder. Pricey but I'm considering putting them on my salsa.

 

[nobrakes]

You can sometimes minimize or eliminate fork shudder by adjusting the length of exposed front brake cable that is between the straddle cable and the housing stop. Depending on the bike, the action of the front brakes clamping onto the rims, and the front wheel moving back towards the downtube (from fork flex) causes the brakes to pulse on and off rapidly, causing the brake shudder you speak about. Lenghtening or shortening this part of the cable is a pretty sure way of tuning out the shudder. If your cable housing hanger is from the stem, try adding or removing stem spacers to see what direction you need to go. If you hanger is from the top headset, hangers are available with different drops. Every brand of cross bike has it's own cure, even the size you ride can be affected by the shudder differently. Hope this gets you headed in the right direction.

 

[Mike T.]

The maker of my custom cx frame (Marinoni, Montreal) explained that I would not have fork shudder if I fitted a mini-v brake on the front. I have a Trigon carbon fork (same fork as a Ritchey WCS).

I fitted a Tektro Mini-v (only $14) and so far, after about 6 months of riding the bike, zero shudder.

 

[Carbon Fiend]

thanx for all that see how I get on. Normal service has currently been restored but as 'normal service' is usually everything ok till I ride for more than an hour I'm not holding out much hope, will then try to remedies offered. My main fear though is does fork shudder wreck your fork as when it appears my head , as irrational as it sounds, says to me 'you are gonna break your fork'!!

 

[huttondh]

Few Things

So your problem isn't completely unheard of. There are a few simple things it could be. First you said you toed the crap out of your brakes...make sure that they are toed the right direction. I know I know, but you would be surprised what some people would do to try and fix stuff. Textro's tend to be noisy brakes in general so that is always fun.

Another NORMAL cause of this problem is a combinations between brake pads and rims. Try swapping brake pads to a different brand, or throw a new wheel in. If too much friction is causing the brakes to grab simply because the pad material isn't the best could also be the problem.

Finally try tightening the adjustment screws on the tension spring. Sometimes when you have them too tight they can be moody. The same for if they are too loose.

FInally check to make sure the cable is coming down from the housing stop straight. If it is try manipulating the stop so that the cable is pulling from either the left or right (in regard to how the cable is feeding down to the brake). If you do this you will have to adjust the tension, pad position, and or a bunch of other stuff to get the pads to hit evenly, but it will work.

If all else fails look at this as a reason to buy new brakes. Spooky, TRP and Kore all make very good products and are a heck of a piece to have if youre racing a lot. I would almost reccomend brake systems over many other components because they help when things get really tough.

 

[lyjg0404]

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[Vegan Dave]

Oops - just posted this in another thread, here's what i wrote:

Heya - i've found that a lower-mounting cable hanger does wonders for brake jitter, check out the photo for what i've found:

I've had zero jitter with this on two bikes (one had bad jittering prior), and know of several others who have had a lot of success with this setup.