Fork Shudder

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Permalink Reply by cxchiva on September 22, 2008 at 8:44pm

I have read many forums on this problem as I faced the same thing last year. After taking in all the suggestions and saw that many people thought that particular forks or brakes are bad/faulty products. Someone pointed out that many individuals are quick to bad mouth a product when they haven't demonstrated mechanical knowhow. You have to spend time adjusting your brakes and get the toe-in correct. This may take more than several tries. Now when I apply my front brake as soon as the front of the pad hits the rim, there is a gap about 1.5-2.0mm at the rear of the rear of the pad. It works beautifully now.
Here is a video that might get you on the right path.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Adjusting-Cantilever-Brakes/

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Permalink Reply by SuperTick on September 22, 2008 at 8:59pm

The TRP's don't really offer any option for toe in. They are a post mounted pad with no pivot. I suppose I could do it the old school way and try and bend the brakes like you used to have to do on the old Mafacs.

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Permalink Reply by cxchiva on September 22, 2008 at 9:12pm

In that case maybe you might want to get some other brakes. I was thinking about those TRP's. I sure like the way they look. I ended up with these:

http://www.ebikestop.com/tektro_cr720_cantilever_brake_front_or_rea...

They are not the sought after high end brake but easy to adjust and have worked very well for me.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Mayhew on September 23, 2008 at 5:43am

The TRP's, like all Mafac knock-offs, can be toed with a wrench. Lovely, eh? Just bend them a bit. That's the top recommendation for fork shudder issues. I have them as well. Oddly, my carbon/al Ridley fork does not shudder, but the all carbon Ridley fork does.

BTW, on that same bike I have some really old Dia-Compe hi-profile brakes. They are adjustable both up and down and side to side. They also have a longer lever arm. Why on earth everyone copied Mafac and not these brakes is beyond me.

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Permalink Reply by LT-CX on September 24, 2008 at 12:07pm

Interesting thread, I thought maybe it was just me! :-) I have a pair of Euro-X's that on my Specialized S-Works Tricross worked w/o any sort of shuddering until I swapped wheels. So they were great with a pair of Mavic Kysrium Elites and not so great with my Mavic Kysrium SSC SL's. Tweaking them now, rims are clean and true .. no luck getting rid of the shudder as of yet.

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Permalink Reply by pretender on September 23, 2008 at 7:46am

I'm having crappy shudder issues on my new carbon fork, even with toe-in, and I'm going to give Tektro mini-Vs a shot.

Maybe try different pads.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Studnicki on September 23, 2008 at 9:19am

I've had similar problems with a Ritchey WCS cross fork. I've "de-tuned" the front brake slightly by cutting more water-evacuation slits in the pads. Most pads only come with a couple of these slits but you can add a whole lot more with an old hacksaw blade or the corner of a hand file. Seems to help.

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Permalink Reply by David Hutton on September 24, 2008 at 1:22pm

random question by toe in you guys are stating that the front of the brake (as in the leading end pointing in the direction you are going) is toed in correct? Meaning the front of the pad is hitting before the rear.

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Permalink Reply by cxchiva on September 24, 2008 at 2:27pm

correct

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Permalink Reply by AndyB on September 24, 2008 at 8:31pm

You either need to toe them in more, or grind off the back third of the pad. I had to do that with my Empella fork. It had a wicked shimmy, even after I did a LOT of toeing-in. I cut the pad so it was shorter, and it did the trick.

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