I love my Whyte 29c BUT it is driving me nuts. Whenever I use the front brake the forks vibrate violently almost like I have ABS fitted. So far I have:
1. Cleaned the rotor and fitted new pads.
2. Fitted a new rotor and new pads
3. Fitted a new front brake (original was Avid Elixir 3 which I was glad to get rid of, replaced with Hope tech 3 X2) and new rotor.
4. Removed fork, re-seated headset.
5. Removed wheel (Whyte XC 209) , checked bearings.
6. Checked the forks (Rockshox Reba RL) for play.
None of the above has made any difference and the bike is pretty much un-ridable.
LBS couldn't think of anything else to check.
Any other ideas as to what the problem might be?
Any help very much appreciated.
Are the pads contacting the 'spider' of the rotors? I'm thinking 180mm brake mount adapter on a 185mm disc or something strange like that.
No contact with the rotor - it is 183mm with the correct Hope adapter.
Thanks for the reply.
If it is new rotor, pads and brake then you can rule them out.
I would look at fork again. My Foxs are just starting to wear and now judder a bit...
I had a similar issue with a bike of mine. Me and lbs could not work it out. Turned out it only did it on Tarmac. Off road was fine. I had quite a knobbly front tyre on at the time ,bontrager mud x .
It was just the tyre on Tarmac.
Yep I'd say if you are sure the brakes and headset are good. Then it's time to get the forks looked at. Take it to a good LBS and see what they say.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
I was coming to a similar conclusion - can't be the brake. Will get the forks looked at.
Perhaps the bushes on the brake side only? If you drop the lowers off you can pop one stanchion in at a time, and swap left lower, right stanchion to see whether that throws up anything. Perhaps before that, with the wheel and axle out, you can flex the lowers hard to see whether that tells you anything.
hey guys!
i am from greece,i have the same bike whyte 29 c 2013 and i have the same problem with you!
i think that the headset needs replacement..i tried to screw very tight the bolts of the stem and the top bolt on the cap and now the problem seems that has disappeared somehow.
in a couple of days i will send the fork for guarantee in the authorized dealer of rock shox in greece.hope that annoying noice and vibration will disappear! 🙂
If you can borrow a fork then it may isolate the problem.. worth a try ?
i tried to screw very tight the bolts of the stem and the top bolt on the cap and now the problem seems that has disappeared somehow.
I presume you are doing this 'right', rather than tightening clamp bolts to tighten headset up..?
I'm fairly certain one of the Mountain Biking magazines, MBR or MBUK had exactly the same issue with one of their test bikes and if I remember correctly it turned out to be a problem with the wheel bearings.
May be worth a bit of research in that direction.
Should have got back for an update - the only resolution for me was changing from QR to 15mm fork, instantly solved the problem.
you're right jersey.this is the best solution.
matt i'ved screw the right bolts just like the video! haha
