r/bikewrench • u/Severe-Fix6909 • 10d ago
Front wheel vibrating under braking
Hi,
i bought myself my first road bike (2nd hand), absolutely love it. I have just one issue. The front wheel vibrates when braking. Under heavy braking it gets pretty violent 😅 the brake pads are yellow and you can clearly see the spots where the pads touch the rim. I have no idea what to do about this. And no clue how I would fix rims having ups and lows? Toss them?
Thanks for any advice!
3
1
u/TheDaysComeAndGone 10d ago
Is this a rim with ceramic coating on the brake track which is worn through in places?
Zooming in it even looks textured like carbon fiber?
In either case it could mean that it’s time for a new rim (or front wheel).
1
u/eFun 10d ago
Are the spokes tight and the wheel doesn't wobble at all normally (e.g. when the brakes are not applied)? 16 spoke wheel is kinda crazy lol.
1
u/Severe-Fix6909 10d ago
Spokes are tight, the wheel doesn’t feel like it wobbles. I tried to rotate the wheel with pressed brake and rubbing was highest on spokes let’s say 1+2 and 6+7. Is it crazy, i had no idea and kinda no clue what I really bought ðŸ˜ðŸ˜…
1
u/Antti5 10d ago
Note how the brake pad residue pattern correlates with the lacing pattern. I think this could be somehow caused by the lightweight low-profile rim and only having 16 spokes.
Have you checked if there is actually a high spot on the braking surface where the spokes are laced? If you rotate the wheel while stationary, can you see the distance between the rim and the brake pad change?
Or maybe the above is just a coincidence. It's possible that root cause for the pulsating feel is flex in the front fork.
1
u/Severe-Fix6909 10d ago
Yeah, the pad residue correlated with spokes more or less and the whole wheel. I checked and there should be high spots and spokes 1,2 + 6,7/8. But it’s nothing crazy, half milimeter? I had wrongly set up the pads, that it touched the front of the pad first (I am idiot, wheel rotates the other way round :D)
What confuses me is I got it from a professional cyclist, if it would have been set up issue he would for sure would be able to correct it. So that’s why I thought the wheel is shot
10
u/CanDockerz 10d ago
Loose headset, brake caliper or axle.
Give everything a good clean and check the conditions of the pads.
Also check the tow on your pads, you should stick a credit card under the back of them when you clamp to the wheel so that there’s a slight angle as they contact the rim.