Very wobbly front end question

[KLizotte]

@off2ride 33463 wrote:

Hi K,

Check your fork rake. Perhaps it got bent from your crash. A loose headset will rattle plus play will be present when you brake the front caliper while pushing the bike slightly forward. Check your tires/wheel/spokes for anything that looks abnormal. Good luck. Lemme know if you need more help on your Cdale.

Hey there and thanks for the advice. I was going out of town this wknd and in a hurry to get this fixed so I dropped it off at FreshBikes while enroute to PA (esp since my six months of free service is coming to an end). Curtis took a quick look and said my wheel is slightly bent (I shoulda guessed that), that my headset appears to be fine (pending further inspection), and that my fork can’t bend because it’s carbon (it would have broken otherwise so he says). He didn’t quite seem to believe my story of a poltergeist taking over when I go hand’s free. Anyway, I requested a fine tooth lookover whatever it costs so we’ll see what they find. Keeping my fingers crossed. I don’t want to have to worry about a death wobble while going down hill. There are also some shifting issues that needed to be looked at.

Apparently I am not as skilled as I thought at breaking my bike’s fall with my body. I hope it appreciates the sacrifice I made!

[thecyclingeconomist]

@KLizotte 33486 wrote:

Hey there and thanks for the advice. I was going out of town this wknd and in a hurry to get this fixed so I dropped it off at FreshBikes while enroute to PA (esp since my six months of free service is coming to an end). Curtis took a quick look and said my wheel is slightly bent (I shoulda guessed that), that my headset appears to be fine (pending further inspection), and that my fork can’t bend because it’s carbon (it would have broken otherwise so he says). He didn’t quite seem to believe my story of a poltergeist taking over when I go hand’s free. Anyway, I requested a fine tooth lookover whatever it costs so we’ll see what they find. Keeping my fingers crossed. I don’t want to have to worry about a death wobble while going down hill. There are also some shifting issues that needed to be looked at.

Apparently I am not as skilled as I thought at breaking my bike’s fall with my body. I hope it appreciates the sacrifice I made!

If your carbon fork has an alloy steer (which your bike model comes with normally), then it most certainly can get bent. No, the arms of the fork can’t, they would simply break, but the crown-junction with the steer tube can get bent. It’s why I (and now another) have mentioned it. Even a couple millimeters of tweaking at the steer can lead to a large change at the bottom (changing all the handling characteristics of the bike.) A simple way to check: swap out the fork with another, and go test ride it. If you dropped $1K+ at FreshBikes, they should be willing to at least let you do that.

When you say a “bent” wheel, do you simply mean it was out of true? It would have to be SERIOUSLY out of true, or have a severe flat spot to cause a wobble like you are saying. I would get a second opinion. As I stated above, I do NOT trust 95% of chain store mechanics. They are usually young and have never actually built a bike. Yes, they maybe up to snuff on the latest tech, and be able to compare SRAM Red with Dura-Ace in grams, but that doesn’t mean they understand the engineering within the bicycle. Most people don’t know (and I certainly didn’t until reading and being taught by a master mechanic) how a wheel even really works. Then, only after building from scratch dozens of wheels with a standard 3-cross weave did I ever venture into other modes of wheel building.

Your fork should be taken off the bike, and then the measurements compared with the factory specs. I feel very strongly that your bike shouldn’t have a speed-wobble. It’s too nice a bike, too new, and the geometry (from what I read on the spec sheet) is meant for predictable at-speed handling. The wheel base isn’t particularly short at all (which can lead to a wobble).

Please feel free to contact me via email if you would like to chat about this further. I hope that they fix this issue (or have already done so) at FreshBikes.

God bless and safe cycling!

[KLizotte]

Cyclingeconomist:

Hi, thanks for all of the advice and interest. I was told my bike wouldn’t be ready till Wed-ish and was rather shocked to see they are charging me $50 for a crash analysis (fair enough, I have no issue with that) and a $35 “discretionary fee” (WTF?!). Perhaps the $35 is for truing the wheel??? This was on the claim check I was given and no $ has changed hands yet.

Anyway, I hope and pray the mechanic actually takes it out for a bona fide ride around the parking lot and tries to go hands free. He will quickly see that a poltergeist takes over. Any reasonably experienced mechanic who sees the gyrations first hand should realize a thorough inspection is necessary. If I’ve still got a wobble when I get it back, I’ll ask for a fork swap out to see if that resolves the problem.

I was under the impression the wheel is slighly bent but we didn’t get into nomenclature distinctions so I’m not sure if it was truly bent or simply out of true. I eyeballed it at home and it only seemed the faintest out of true but I’m far from an expert.

I don’t consider FreshBikes to be a chain like Performance Bike and most of the bikes they sell are at the really high end (my purchase was definitely at the low end of their inventory); that said, I haven’t enough experience with them to know how good their mechanics are. Really keeping my fingers crossed.

[thecyclingeconomist]

@KLizotte 33703 wrote:

Cyclingeconomist:

I don’t consider FreshBikes to be a chain like Performance Bike and most of the bikes they sell are at the really high end (my purchase was definitely at the low end of their inventory); that said, I haven’t enough experience with them to know how good their mechanics are. Really keeping my fingers crossed.

If the owner isn’t the primary mechanic, or trained the primary mechanic, and they don’t do full-customs, then they are more likely to be more of a chain than not. If their primary line is a big-brand, then the shop doesn’t control and awful lot of the aspects of their store (and few do anymore).

That doesn’t mean that you won’t find a great mechanic (someone that’s been wrenching since steel was the only option), but the likelihood diminishes quickly. Within the brick-n-mortar bike business, mechanics don’t last if they are really good because the owner simply cannot pay them enough. So, what happens? They either leave the business, or they open their own shop. It’s what happened to me (and I am by no means the greatest mech at all.) I couldn’t hack working for $9 an hour, even though I truly loved the gig and the shop. We made our own line of steel-carbon custom road bikes. It was awesome to learn the craft from someone that really knew what they were doing (I didn’t build, simply because I am not a good enough welder to mess with the really high end tubesets that my boss was using; especially when he fillet-brazed most.)

I hope that Dirt or others on this board will read this and make some recommendations of shops where really good, knowledgeable mechanics can be found around here (and maybe it is FreshBikes… I hope!)

Best,

Justin

[eminva]

@thecyclingeconomist 33731 wrote:

If the owner isn’t the primary mechanic, or trained the primary mechanic, and they don’t do full-customs, then they are more likely to be more of a chain than not. If their primary line is a big-brand, then the shop doesn’t control and awful lot of the aspects of their store (and few do anymore).

That doesn’t mean that you won’t find a great mechanic (someone that’s been wrenching since steel was the only option), but the likelihood diminishes quickly. Within the brick-n-mortar bike business, mechanics don’t last if they are really good because the owner simply cannot pay them enough. So, what happens? They either leave the business, or they open their own shop. It’s what happened to me (and I am by no means the greatest mech at all.) I couldn’t hack working for $9 an hour, even though I truly loved the gig and the shop. We made our own line of steel-carbon custom road bikes. It was awesome to learn the craft from someone that really knew what they were doing (I didn’t build, simply because I am not a good enough welder to mess with the really high end tubesets that my boss was using; especially when he fillet-brazed most.)

I hope that Dirt or others on this board will read this and make some recommendations of shops where really good, knowledgeable mechanics can be found around here (and maybe it is FreshBikes… I hope!)

Best,

Justin

Thanks for this post, although it is scary to read, as someone who is in the same boat as KLizotte. I have a long commute and put high miles on my bike, but am no mechanic myself. This puts me at the mercy of bike shop mechanics. My judgment is limited by what I know. And the sad thing is, even I could identify problems with the work done by some LBSs.

I’m thinking of going to bike school for a weeklong course. Not that I could become as knowledgeable as you, but at least learn enough to do the basics myself and communicate more effectively with the mechanics if there is a problem that’s over my head.

I’ve noticed on this forum that when discussing LBSs, we offer general praise, or even specific praise (“X at Y shop helped me solve Z problem and saved me money too!”) but rarely have I seen any condemnation attached to a specific shop, nor have I seen anyone say a particular shop is better than any other. I always assumed it was a function of wanting to support all the local businesses as well as YMMV. But if anyone knows of a shop that fits all your criteria in the area, I’d be interested to know as well.

Thanks.

Liz

[Rod Smith]

I had a bike that would oscillate at a high frequency when I let go of the handlebars. I suspect the frame was askew. After five year of regular use the frame cracked at the top tube/head tube junction. I think it cracked because the tubes were mis-aligned, stressed and finally came undone.

[DaveK]

@eminva 33739 wrote:

I’ve noticed on this forum that when discussing LBSs, we offer general praise, or even specific praise (“X at Y shop helped me solve Z problem and saved me money too!”) but rarely have I seen any condemnation attached to a specific shop, nor have I seen anyone say a particular shop is better than any other. I always assumed it was a function of wanting to support all the local businesses as well as YMMV. But if anyone knows of a shop that fits all your criteria in the area, I’d be interested to know as well.

Thanks.

Liz

I think as a whole we’re reluctant to offer specific condemnations. I am, anyway, as I don’t want to poison a shop’s online reputation based on my one bad experience. I’d prefer to post about good experiences. If someone asks me though I will be honest…

In that vein, I’ve always had good luck with Freshbikes’ Ballston store and service. I’ve never bought a bike there but they take good care of me when I bring mine in for service.

[GuyContinental]

@DaveK 33741 wrote:

In that vein, I’ve always had good luck with Freshbikes’ Ballston store and service. I’ve never bought a bike there but they take good care of me when I bring mine in for service.

I can vouch for the depth of experience of many of those guys, when the owner (a former bike mechanic manager) started the store he pulled in basically every NoVa/DC bike guy I liked- all of them are still there. It’s a pretty good sign. Now, that shop can be hella busy and I’ve heard rumors of some cursory work on basic tune-ups so I suspect that they can get overwhelmed but the skills are absolutely there. Also, they are probably the best shop in the mid-atlantic for bizzaro Cannondale repairs.

[Tim Kelley]

FWIW, I’ll take my powertaps to Freshbikes but for most of my tuneup type stuff I go to Revolution because I have a great warranty there that covers a lot of stuff.

[Author]

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