[lbjester]

I remember reading a post on this in the old forums and I thought there was resolve to it (adjusting the front suspension?) the dealer fix seems to be missing from the post Old Post Well I thought once or twice I noticed the same thing. City driving low speeds, I thought maybe I was in to high of a gear and bike was about to stall but even when I pulled in the clutch it still shakes rather violently (and am in 3rd or second gear to boot), now it seems to do it usually my first or second stop after getting under was so I'm thinking it has something to do with a rust build up on the pads or rotors or something like that. I'm trying to put my finger on it for sure to determine exactly when it is happening. But it's not happening enough to be warped rotors because they are either warped or they aren't. It doesn’t do it consistently. I want to get the full story on the old post incase it keeps occurring so I can go to the stealership and get it looked at (karoshi?). Anyone else noticed this?

 

[ozfz6nguy]

Yeh mine does it occasionally, I have 4000 km's on the clock. I have tried cleaning (scrubbing, scouring) the discs, changing braking style but it still happens every now and again. In a couple of weeks I am getting the front suspension done and a decent set of brake pads, so I'll have to wait till then to see if that fixes it. I now also notice as the suspension reaches the end region of its travel I get a clicking noise as if the suspension is having trouble compressing or something, this happens a lot more often then the vibrating. Oh well, see what a suspension rebuild does to it (pregressive springs with valve and internal service).

 

[Karoshi]

Well,

lbjester, I had this problem for 3 times very severly when braking after long distance rides and braking from most of the time high speeds when coming of an offramp.
I've reported this to my dealer and they've changed the front suspension (in which way he didn't want to tell me) and i believe the also regrease the front axle. I know this isn't much of a help but i believe they've made it a little bit stiffer.

ozfznguy: That ticking can also be due to the fact that your braking caliper is fixed to the suspension with some rubbers in between. Therefor it can move just a little bit enough to hear that tick...

 

[roller]

I drive mainly through London and get the same problem mainly on low speed braking, it does not happen until about half an hours worth of driving and is intermittant.
I agree it cannot be the discs because it does not happen all the time

Be interested if some one does get a fix on this because it seems to get worse and can be quite violent at times

 

[ozfz6nguy]

This problem has the potential to be rather dangerous, who really wants to lose traction while braking especially in an emergency situation? It is surprising that there are actually a few of us who are experiencing this issue!! When Yamaha released the bike with fairly cheap components for the front brakes I guess they must realise that there may be issues. It would be dissapointing if this was a common occurence and people had to invest in better suspension/brakes due to this front end issue. A mate of mine is already turned off buying an FZ6 as he rode mine and experienced the vibrations, Instead he is going to get a super motard (single cylinder KTM = Vibrations!! lol).

All over I love this bike, in terms of rideability it dominates the 03 GSXR750 I had. The only issues I have with this bike is that it runs sooo lean and that the front end is very cheap and nasty (in terms of suspension and brakes). But I guess it is built to a price point.

Hopefully this issues is relatively cheap and easy to resolve.

 

[nimms]

this has me very concerned.
although i have never experienced this, im trying to understand whats taking place.

is the front end shaking, side to side(turning the bars) or up and down, sort of skipping the tire down the road?

i am assuming the vibration is in the front?

after application of the front brakes, perhaps while applying the rear brake as well?

is it an oscilation sort of slow, or is it a buzzy/hard vibration?

 

[rennsport]

Yeh mine does it occasionally, I have 4000 km's on the clock. I have tried cleaning (scrubbing, scouring) the discs, changing braking style but it still happens every now and again. In a couple of weeks I am getting the front suspension done and a decent set of brake pads, so I'll have to wait till then to see if that fixes it. I now also notice as the suspension reaches the end region of its travel I get a clicking noise as if the suspension is having trouble compressing or something, this happens a lot more often then the vibrating. Oh well, see what a suspension rebuild does to it (pregressive springs with valve and internal service).

Make sure you get sintered brake pads. They are a lot better than the standard fare...

 

[ozfz6nguy]

It is not a tank slapper situation, more of a vertical vibration. The vibrations come on hard and fast, it could be something else but it feels as if the front wheel is bouncing off the road causing a lot of shaking and reduced braking confidence.

And yes, it is usually while the rear brake is applied. In fact I find that while the front is shaking the back end feels very light and breezy (not quite a stoppie though). For me it doesnt happen all to often, maybe once every week or so I will really notice it. More often I just get a clicking noise as the suspension reaches the end of its travel under braking.

 

[virtualt]

It is not a tank slapper situation, more of a vertical vibration. The vibrations come on hard and fast, it could be something else but it feels as if the front wheel is bouncing off the road causing a lot of shaking and reduced braking confidence.

And yes, it is usually while the rear brake is applied. In fact I find that while the front is shaking the back end feels very light and breezy (not quite a stoppie though). For me it doesnt happen all to often, maybe once every week or so I will really notice it. More often I just get a clicking noise as the suspension reaches the end of its travel under braking.

Guys, it sounds like you got the bike that Jack built, on a Friday afternoon after a few pints.

I have had no such occurrences with my bike and it is ridden at all ends of the speed spectrum.

If it did happen, I would camp out at the dealers until they fixed it, I don't care if it takes a completely new front end, they wouldn't want my whinny ass in their store everyday.
As they say "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" start freaking squeaking guys and tell us when it's fixed.

Skippy

 

[ZeuSeason]

Guys, it sounds like you got the bike that Jack built, on a Friday afternoon after a few pints.

I have had no such occurrences with my bike and it is ridden at all ends of the speed spectrum.

If it did happen, I would camp out at the dealers until they fixed it, I don't care if it takes a completely new front end, they wouldn't want my whinny ass in their store everyday.
As they say "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" start freaking squeaking guys and tell us when it's fixed.

Skippy

Thats it. Make the dealer take care of it. They can do all of the investigating and fixing till it solves the problem.

 

[nimms]

i'd get service slips detailing: the problem, dates as it existed ,and the 'solution' the dealer applied. intemitent trouble as it sounds... i would get it documented as best you can. 12 months goes by quick. sounds like a dagerous problem. for personal saftey and your ride/investment.
ive never had it happen, but sounds like there a bit going around. enough for my concern anyhow.

 

[Jumping Jack]

I have the same problem: when the brakes get a little warmer the front starts shaking while braking. I use my FZ6 every day onto my work and back, sometimes on the race-track (TT-circuit at Assen, the Netherlands) and every time braking gets very frequent and important the bike gets shaky.
Before this one I owned 3 FZS600's and they had the same brakes as the FZ1: the brakes could be used at an unbelievable level. The FZ6 is a better bike but the brakes are a disaster when using them frequently and hard.

JJ

 

[mxtr1]

I also have this problem but already with cold brakes. Very annoying when driving to work in heavy traffic. It seems to me that running with lower tire pressure makes it less severe? Does anyone know if it only happens to Bridgestone tires?

 

[Jumping Jack]

On Dunlop tyres it was bad, on Bridgestone (BT012 front and BT020 rear) it's better but it's very annoying to ride a bike when you cannot trust the brakes to the limit.

[email protected]

 

[MikeC]

Anyone in the US experiencing this problem?

almost 5000 on mine and never experienced it - (Dunlops on mine)

 

[ozfz6nguy]

I called the service shop at my local dealer, as I am up for a service soon they told me to wait until then, see if it happens again and that they will look at it when I bring it in. He also mentioned that as he had heard nothing from Yamaha about a problem with the front end then it was probably nothing?? About the clicking noise while the front end dives under braking, he said it was normal and to not worry about it. hmmm dunno, maybe he just couldn't be bothered!! I will bring it all up at the next service, and hope the shaking doesnt happen in the meantime

 

[DLM]

I am in the US and have never had a problem. I would try letting a couple pounds of pressure out of the front tire and see if it gets better.

 

[ozfz6nguy]

I had the shaking happen again at a higher speed, I was coming off the freeway and into some traffic so had to wipe some speed off. As I was slowing down I was a bit hard on the back brake and I experienced the shaking, but it seemed as though the shaking was originating from the back wheel (which was slightly locked) skipping along the ground a bit making the front end feel as though it was shaking! I am a big bloke, and have my rear suspension set to 5, so I reduced it to 4, seems to ride a little smoother when I use too much rear brake now. I'll try the tyre pressure on the front wheel, see what happens. Cheers

 

[winelands]

I have not experienced this on my bike, but my technical explanation would be.

The front tyre, front fork, rear springs all act as springs (with damping) with different masses attached to them. Changing any item (like preset) may limit the complex oscillations that you are experiencing, for a particular scenario. But this will not solve the problem.

The (front) brake is still the primary culprit. The interaction (frequency and size of the chatter) is a function of the choice of spring and damper by Yamaha. What happens with the front brake is the following (very similar to a servo with gearbox with high stiction and low friction - result = limit cycles): The pads bite suddenly, providing more deceleration. The force from the mass decelerating (increased when the forks compress) is now enough the break the bite from the pads, and you get a slip with lower deceleration (decreased accelerating mass) and all is again normal. The brake pad speed decreases and the pads get a chance to bite again and so the process restarts. That explains why you are experiencing this only under hard braking. My conclusion is that a soft front end (my FZ6) requires very smooth (progressive) front brakes.

Solutions? I would first investigate getting better brake pads, or a flatter disk, or a rework of the front brakes (to eliminate the bite-behaviour). More damping might also shift the problem to provide a lower frequency of chatter, which might be OK. A stiffer fork spring will require a harder bite for the chatter to start).

Hope my 2c helps
Johann

 

[Karoshi]

I had it again today with COLD brakediscs...
After i did a block and did some moderate braking it went away again...
Let's wait and see...