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New Skyhawk! Need some help tuning!

2K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  dizwikedcbr 
#1 ·
Proud owner of a brand new Skyhawk! :):) God I love this bike. The color and how it rides are light years away from my 1996 Trek 930. The hydraulic brakes have AMAZING stopping power too, really blew me away.

Assembling it was very easy out of the box. Greased all the bolts, seatpost, lubed the chain, and had to spin the fork around. Also got some DK distortion pedals with it. The white doesn't go with the copper but I kind of like it, heh;)

Anyways, I have noticed the Front Brake makes a slight whisping noise when I am riding it. Is this normal?

Also, when I am in the highest front gear and highest rear gear I can hear the chain slightly slip every rotation of the pedals. It only occurs under heavy load and in these gears. Other than that it shifts fine from any other gear.

I haven't been able to find an adjustment guide on how to tune the front brakes or derailuers. Anyone point me in the right direction por favor?



 

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#2 ·
I have a Guardian, which uses the exact same Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic brakes, and observed the same sound you've described. The front brake will make that noise while riding until you get the caliper centered over the brake rotor. This can take a few tries and quite a bit of patience to get just right, but afterwards the brake rides silent. You will need to loosen the 2 bolts holding the brake caliper to the fork, and then squeeze & hold the brake lever to get it to move and center the brake caliper on the disc. Tighten the brake caliper bolts then release the brake handle. Spin the wheel and listen / look to see if there is any rubbing. This took me several tries with some manual adjustment, since the inner piston was moving before the outer piston. There is less than 1mm (0.039") clearance from the brake pads to the disc, so it is quite touchy. I will post pictures in a follow-up post.

There should be a "fine" adjustment for your derailleurs at each shifter, which could help get the skipping resolved. Your shifters have this knob right where the cable comes out of the shifter. The other option is to adjust your limit screws on the derailleur, if the fine adjustment knobs don't get it resolved. As a final option, you can adjust the cable clamp at the derailleur, but this tends to be much more time consuming if you've never attempted it before.

Also, if you are talking about skipping when the chain is on the largest ring up front and the largest sprocket in the back, it is actually not a good idea to use that combination of gears. The chain is pulled at too much of an angle and will have a much greater chance of breaking when pedalling hard... speaking from experience here, I've snapped four chains in this particular gear combination. Going from large in front to the middle to smallest sprockets in the back is fine, and all gears are ok to crank on when you are using your middle ring up front. For that reason, it is the recommended and most often used chainring for most of your riding. It is also best not to run from your smallest front ring to your smallest rear sprocket for the same reason- excessive bending of the chain as it comes off the rear cassette.
 
#4 ·
Thank you very very much G0at. After reading your post I got the front brake completely silent! After spending about 30 minutes on the rear it is still making a slight whisping noise. Like you said, patience is key. I am going to ride around a little bit and come back then try again.

As for the Derailleur, I completely understand what you are saying. I thought the same thing when I turned the bike over and went through the gears. I didn't even realize the rear Derailleur moved as much as it did to compensate for the front ring being changed. I mostly ride in the second cog upfront. I am going to ride around some more and then report my findings.

and yes Wildfifty...I love the color!
 
#5 ·
Glad you got the front brake centered up. And your bike color looks fantastic. Ordering a Skyhawk for my youngest son, he's going to love it!

Was having a hard time getting my camera to show the gap on both sides of the rotor in a single picture. Then my oldest called for a ride from the high school, then another ride to church group, now I need to make something for dinner, by the time we finish eating my oldest will need me to perform taxi duties again... no hope for a ride today, or even pictures of those brake pads until after 10pm. Will edit this post with brake pix when I get it together.
 
#6 ·
He will love it! I just rode about 10 miles to and from campus (I'm a student at a nearby university) and it performed wonderfully.

Only thing I am noticing is when I am in my highest gear (8) on my rear derailleur and the middle gear (2) on the front derailleur I can hear the front derailleur making a slight clanking noise. Especially under heavy load. It almost sounded like crunching so to alleviate this I would shift to 6 or 7. Any thoughts on this? I am watching some videos and reading guides on how to adjust my front derailleur and will try to adjust it tomorrow.
 
#7 ·
He will love it! I just rode about 10 miles to and from campus (I'm a student at a nearby university) and it performed wonderfully.

Only thing I am noticing is when I am in my highest gear (8) on my rear derailleur and the middle gear (2) on the front derailleur I can hear the front derailleur making a slight clanking noise. Especially under heavy load. It almost sounded like crunching so to alleviate this I would shift to 6 or 7. Any thoughts on this? I am watching some videos and reading guides on how to adjust my front derailleur and will try to adjust it tomorrow.
what videos are you watching? im planning to tune my derailleur this weekends
 
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