Front fork knocking

[kingfisher]

Ride more, worry less. If I disqualified from ownership / enjoyment every bike that I’ve had that has an inherent noise, I would have missed out on some great bikes. My FJ 09 was a noisy beast, and completely trouble free, as have been a number of other bikes.

Edited April 21, 2019 by kingfisher

[undecider]

Most bikes that aren't equipped with a high-end suspension have some sort of clunk in the front end when you work the suspension. Some have pointed out that the floating brake rotors are partly to blame, but I can feel a distinct clunk in a lot of bikes I sit on.

[RandyN]

I have found the source of knock/movement, at least on mine. Took the front end off today to ship out for Traxxion rebuild. While doing removal I thought I'd do a little more investigating. I had tried tightening head bearings, but that didn't do anything other than, when too tight, make the steering stiff. While front end was lifted off the ground was able to isolate where the problem is. The lower fork legs are moving in the upper aluminum tube. I could feel and see it moving around in the dust seal. The inner bushings have too much play in them allowing movement. Hoping that Traxxion will be able to fix this with thicker bushings.

[skipperT]

Makes sense. 

But does it actually NEED to be fixed? I’d call it a characteristic of the forks personally. 

Bueller?

-Skip

[RandyN]

First off, any unwanted movement in the the dust/oil seal could allow it to leak. Secondly, it's annoying to have that "clunk'. Third, I'm no expert on this, but I would think the looseness could induce problems such as head shake and wobble at speed.

[Varnak]

So anyone managed to solve the front suspension issue? There is indeed play between tha inner and outer forks in the GT models only ( bad batch?) and mine has gone in under warranty to replace the front forks.

I am wondering if this will solve the issue, did anyone else had this fixed?

[johnmark101]

Surprised to see this thread come back.  I ended up purchasing a new 2019 a year ago despite concerns with the forks.  It was not noticeable under normal riding, only at slow speeds over multiple bumps, like rail road tracks or something similar.

A couple months ago, after putting 10,000 miles on my bike I had Traxxion install their AK-20 fork cartridges and I also bought a Penske 8983 rear shock.  Now everything feels solid at all times.

[Clicknow]

I believe it could be that the brake pads are moving slightly backwards and forward and the clunk is heard as the pads hit the caliper, that's my thoughts anyway.

regards

[Wintersdark]

Definitely a bit of a necro thread

But yeah: My suspension makes no noises at all, it's completely silent.  However:

* The floating rotors are pretty clunky if I rock the bike forwards and back while holding the front brake.  No, it's not the steering head bearings, I check those pretty regularly - you can watch it happen as the rotors float.

* The front end in general is *loud* over bumps.  Definitely a thunk.  I'm not sure exactly what it is, though I suspect it's just the fairings and plastics.  This only happens when I hit a very solid bump, though, like railroad tracks or a pothole. 

But, no amount of vigor in bouncing the front suspension makes any noise at all. 

To any future viewers with front end noise: I would be very concerned about my forks in particular having play in them.  Much as with the steering head bearings, raise the front wheel off the ground (I use a jackstand under the H pipe on the headers while the bike is on the centerstand, but whatever works for you) and grab the front wheel at the base of the forks.  Try to rock it left and right, and forwards and backwards.  It should turn smoothly from stop to stop without catching anywhere, but should not move laterally or forwards and backwards at all.  If there's any slop in there, either there's something really wrong with your forks (unlikely, unless you've hit something, but probably pretty spendy to fix), or the steering head bearings are loose (probable, easy adjustment) or damaged (only likely if it's been loose for a long time).  However, while replacing steering head bearings is a fair amount of labour, it's not difficult and the parts are cheap.