# Surly Crosscheck Fork Flex and Fork Options



## tribune (Jul 17, 2006)

I'm having some serious flex issues with my surly crosscheck fork and tektro brakes. I have the stock surly steel fork which is super comfy to ride, but when I brake moderate to hard the fork flexes backwards, then springs forward, and continues oscillating back and forth creating an unstable and unpredictable feeling to the front end. I can visually see the oscillation of the fork when braking.

I tried asking a mechanic at my LBS and he said its pretty much an issue with the fork because so much braking pressure is being applied. I'm about 205lbs plus gear so I'm not faulting Surly, but I need a better option. They also suggested toeing in the pads which I tried to no avail.

Do you guys think I should start searching for a new fork, if so, what are my options? Has anyone else had the oscillation I'm experiencing, if so, what was your solution? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Vegancx (Jan 22, 2004)

The most terrifying fork chatter I've ever had was on a steel fork. Any slight chatter from a light carbon fork pales in comparison. 

There's all sorts of options. 

I think the cheapest/easiest (well after trying to toe in the pads and trying a different pad compound) would be to try a mini v brake. Tektro makes the 926A which retails for about $12-25. 

If you aren't racing cyclocross in this bike, that will likely be your best option.


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## darkmother (Feb 18, 2009)

I would try changing your brakes/brake setup before swapping the fork. There are tons of threads on this subject, but what I have found to work on my bikes is:

1) use a mini V brake (tektro makes several inexpensive ones), or a V brake with a travel agent. No chatter and super easy setup. Good stopping power too.

2) Use a fork crown mounted cable hanger with your existing brake.

3) toe your brake pads a LOT. 

Any fork that I have used can be made to chatter depending on setup. Carbon, steel, aluminum-doesn't matter-They can all chatter like a jackhammer. Frames with steeper head angles are worse. Swapping the fork *may* help, but most of the time it just changes the frequency of the oscillation.


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## carlosflanders (Nov 23, 2008)

Changing the straddle cable height made a huge difference for me. I don't know if the tektros come with a choice of straddle cable length, but for the avid shortys on a crosscheck, going up an inch or two solved a lot of problems. Much better modulation, not so sticky. Might be able to figure something out with the tektros.


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## tribune (Jul 17, 2006)

Thanks for the responses everyone. What a great group of knowledgeable riders we have here. 

I have not been able to locate any other pads for these brakes than the ones they came with. I am going to revisit my cable straddle length, toe, and other adjustments on these brakes and give them a third shot. If that doesn't work I'll try the mini-V, and if that doesn't work, well, maybe it will be time to get a carbon fork...


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## cs1 (Sep 16, 2003)

tribune said:


> Thanks for the responses everyone. What a great group of knowledgeable riders we have here.
> 
> I have not been able to locate any other pads for these brakes than the ones they came with. I am going to revisit my cable straddle length, toe, and other adjustments on these brakes and give them a third shot. If that doesn't work I'll try the mini-V, and if that doesn't work, well, maybe it will be time to get a carbon fork...


Try a brake booster.


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## robcr125 (Jun 9, 2009)

I just purchased a "Ritchey WCS Comp" full carbon with canti bosses cyclocross fork. Jenson has them for $280 right now which is about one hundred dollars off. I chose this fork mainly for the weight reductions. I have heard that they track very well through the turns and dampen vibrations well. The rake is 45 degrees compared to the stock 44 degrees. My Cross Check is purely a racer so I chose the higher end fork. They also have a carbon fork with alloy steerer tube for roughly $200 dollars. I don't know if this would solve your problem (easiest approach would be pads w/ a different compound) but would add some "bling" and loose some weight.

I haven't installed the fork yet but will let you all know once I do.

FWIW, I used the stock fork with Avid Shorty 4's and rim wrangler pads. I had lots of noise but not much chatter. A huge amount of toe in cured this problem. I then switched to TRP EuroX brakes with stock pads and have more chatter with the steel fork. I am going to try a new compound pad soon.

Good luck


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## Thor (May 25, 2004)

Tribune - toe your pads correctly. The front of the pads should touch first, not the rear. If you have the toe reversed, you'll get some major shuddering from the fork. A longer straddle cable helps too.


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## zigurate (Mar 3, 2009)

robcr125 said:


> I just purchased a "Ritchey WCS Comp" full carbon with canti bosses cyclocross fork. Jenson has them for $280 right now which is about one hundred dollars off. I chose this fork mainly for the weight reductions. I have heard that they track very well through the turns and dampen vibrations well. The rake is 45 degrees compared to the stock 44 degrees. My Cross Check is purely a racer so I chose the higher end fork. They also have a carbon fork with alloy steerer tube for roughly $200 dollars. I don't know if this would solve your problem (easiest approach would be pads w/ a different compound) but would add some "bling" and loose some weight.
> 
> I haven't installed the fork yet but will let you all know once I do.
> 
> ...


Nice, after you try it out the Ritchey fork let us know how it went out.


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## ZenNMotion (May 28, 2004)

I have the Ritchey WCS fork with Tektro CR 720 brakes/kool stop pads on the long thinline stock shoes- got the red by mistake when I meant to get the salmon but they work fine. The Ritchey (WCS) fork is certainly not as stiff as any steel fork, especially the relatively heavy Surly fork, so don't expect that it will be- the shudder problem is not your fork, it never is (my opinion and I'm sticking to it). When I first set up the brakes I got major shudder- not surprising as I had set them up with too much power combined with new, long, sticky compound pads. I played first with straddle cable height and post length to get the right tradeoff of pad clearance/ brake power, then put in about 3mm of toe in and everything works great now. I can upload a photo of the setup- a pic is worth a thousand words and all that. The long V-brake type brake pads tend to need more toe-in than shorter pads. The Tektro CR 720 brakes can also use shorter non-cartridge Vbrake pads or even road pads- Kool Stop makes its Salmon compound for both. I'm tempted to try out road shoes once my pads wear out.


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## jrm (Dec 23, 2001)

*Im about your size*

[using a kona project II fork with full deore v-brakes on a soma double cross with no flex...


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## singlering (Feb 19, 2006)

*Milimeters not degrees.*

Milimeters not degrees.


robcr125 said:


> I just purchased a "Ritchey WCS Comp" full carbon with canti bosses cyclocross fork. Jenson has them for $280 right now which is about one hundred dollars off. I chose this fork mainly for the weight reductions. I have heard that they track very well through the turns and dampen vibrations well. The rake is 45 degrees compared to the stock 44 degrees. My Cross Check is purely a racer so I chose the higher end fork. They also have a carbon fork with alloy steerer tube for roughly $200 dollars. I don't know if this would solve your problem (easiest approach would be pads w/ a different compound) but would add some "bling" and loose some weight.
> 
> I haven't installed the fork yet but will let you all know once I do.
> 
> ...


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