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[oobflyer]

This was mentioned in other threads - thought I'd start a separate one dedicated to this issue, in case others are experiencing the same problems.

When I picked up my new bike a couple of months ago I noticed a vibration from the front wheel that occurs specifically while using the front brake and specifically while the bike is slowing down between 20 MPH and 5 MPH. Along with this vibration is a 'click' or a 'clunk' sound just before coming to a complete stop. I found information here on the forum about the steering head bolt/bearings - and confirmed it with a motorcycle mechanic friend of mine before taking the bike back to the dealership. The dealership tightened the steering head bolt and the 'clunk' sound is better (It still occurs on hard stops), but the vibration is still there exactly as before.

Meanwhile - I started using the rear brake more than before - to try to put less stress on the front brakes (less vibration). However, when I started using the rear brakes more aggressively I noticed a loud scraping sound while slowing down from about 5 MPH to a stop. I'm not sure if this is something new, or something I just didn't notice before. Could it be the new brake pads just not 'boken in' yet? OR could it have to do with the ABS system? I never had a bike with ABS before.

Incidentally - I've ridden all kinds of bikes during my 45 yrs of riding and I've never had these kinds of problems - it's puzzling and a bit frustrating.

In any case I've taken it back to the dealership twice now - no luck. I'm taking it back again this weekend for a third try. I'll post results here.

[Richard230]

A clicking or clunking sound or feeling when braking to a stop is caused by loose steering bearings in my experience.  I would say that your dealer still needs to further adjust the bearings to rid you of this noise.  Hopefully, his mechanic knows the proper way of adjusting the bearings.

ABS when activated will result in a rapid pulsing of the brake pedal/lever and can be a scary feeling when you experience it for the first time.  But I wouldn't call it a "vibration" more like a pulsing feeling at the lever and you don't hear a sound when this is happening.

A scraping noise could be caused by metallic brake pads that have not yet completely conformed to the brake disc. 

[Electric Cowboy]

If you slam on the front or rear you will feel the ABS.

Try slamming on the rear like you want to lock it up and slide the rear. Compare that feeling to what you had in the front.

[nigezero]

These sound very similar to what I experience in my 14 DS. I've been through a series of things; new pads, chamfering the edges, degreasing, re torquing the disk.. No change. I'm actually starting to think it's a caliper alignment issue on the front. It's only annoying and at low speed but makes a horrible noise. The rear sounds like a squeak. My next test is to fully disassemble the calipers clean and polish. As for the clonk, I tried isolating all body work and that helped a bit. It sounds like steering head bearings but they are tight. Perplexed.

[Doug S]

This will probably sound foolish but who knows? It might be helpful.

When my 2014 SR was new, over a year ago, it had a slight banging sound when I went over bumps. No big deal, and it didn't get any worse...until I hit a big bump hard one day. Then it did get worse, and continued getting worse afterwards. I finally discovered (lying on my back on the ground) that the lower end of the headlight bracket had two bolt holes in it, but no bolts! Also, no marks indicating bolts had ever been in them -- the finish was still pristine. Clearly they hadn't been installed at the factory. The bracket had some spring tension in it, which normally kept it quiet except over bumps, but the big bump obviously bent it slightly and it started knocking around.

So you've probably already done it, but be sure you've gone over everything on the front end thoroughly, and get a wrench on everything. If they can overlook mounting bolts in a headlight bracket, there's no telling what else might get overlooked.

[nigezero]

Great point and this was my suspicion too. Not in my case although I re-torqued everything to be sure.

[CScalpeL]

Along with this vibration is a 'click' or a 'clunk' sound just before coming to a complete stop. I found information here on the forum about the steering head bolt/bearings - and confirmed it with a motorcycle mechanic friend of mine before taking the bike back to the dealership. The dealership tightened the steering head bolt and the 'clunk' sound is better (It still occurs on hard stops), but the vibration is still there exactly as before.

Something I forgot to mention in my previous post about the front end vibration, I would get a 'clunk' sound similar to what you described but it would happen randomly during my rides (it was pretty scary, at first I thought it might have been the frame). Your problem sounds too similar to what I had for it to be coincidence... I had my mechanic further tighten the head bearings recently and it makes a huge difference in handling, let alone braking. Something that might help diagnose your problem, I was able to visualize movement within the neck of the bike while going slowly downhill over speed bumps - that reinforced the head bearing diagnosis for me and more importantly my mechanic. If tightening doesn't help, they should try replacing the bearings.

Good luck!

[Richard230]

Here are a couple of random comments: 

When I received my Zero from the factory, the steering head bearings were very tight and resulted in slow but stable steering.  They were much too tight from my bearing adjustment experience, so I bought a huge socket set and loosened the bearing tension by 1/4 turn.  While the steering was still too tight compared with other motorcycles, it seems to work well in practice and I have left it tensioned like that.  Now after about 6K miles the bearings have loosened up a bit and they now feel normal, plus my 2014 bike is much more stable going around bumpy turns than was my 2012 S. I do not get any clunking or vibration from my front end. So it would appear that the Zero design can accommodate a tighter than typical steering bearing preload.

Regarding clunking:  When the bike first came out the BMW F800GS (which has cheap non-adjustable Showa upside-down forks) crowd was complaining that there was a lot of clunking noise coming from the fork when riding over bumps.  Eventually, the noise was tracked down to some sort of plastic part in the forks that was making the noise. After the first model year complaints about the noise from new owners has gone away.  I assume that means that the offending plastic part in the forks has also gone away.   

[nigezero]

That's another good point; I spoke to a zero rep who said the internals in the DS forks do have a bit of propensity to clonk a bit, similar to your description.

[oobflyer]

I took the bike back to the dealership on Saturday. They checked the brakes (pads, rotor) and found nothing out of spec. The service manager apologized (again) and promised that they will fix it somehow - even if it means replacing the whole front end of the bike.

The clunk is back every time I stop.

ABS when activated will result in a rapid pulsing of the brake pedal/lever

I think I feel this - if I ride without gloves and lightly apply the front brakes I feel a high-frequency, subtle vibration. This is barely noticeable and doesn't bother me at all. But the vibration that I'm complaining about is more more significant - its literally shakes the front end of the bike back and forth once I slow down to about 20 MPH. This I cannot live with.
As far as the ABS being activated - I've never had a bike with ABS - is it activated each time you brake - or only when braking aggressively?

A scraping noise could be caused by metallic brake pads that have not yet completely conformed to the brake disc

This would explain the sound I hear from the rear brake. I asked this question of the service manager at the dealership - he seemed to feel that any "breaking-in" should already be done since I have over 1,000 miles on the bike, but I'll keep an eye on it to see if it diminishes with time.

Try slamming on the rear like you want to lock it up and slide the rear

I did test the rear ABS - it works - no lock-up of the rear wheel. But there is no vibration at all from the rear, just that scraping sound when the bike comes to a stop.

So, I'm back to waiting. The service manager promised to call Zero tomorrow and let me know what parts need to be ordered - when I have to bring the back, etc.

[Richard230]

If it is operating properly, the ABS system should not activate unless you really slam on the brakes to the point that the tire would skid without ABS.  Braking normally, you should not be aware of the ABS system.  When the ABS system activates you should feel a very rapid pulsing through the brake lever.  I can think of no explanation for the symptoms that you are experiencing when braking to a stop.   

If you ever find out what is causing your problem please let us know what it was and how it was repaired.

[JasonS]

... I noticed a vibration from the front wheel that occurs specifically while using the front brake and specifically while the bike is slowing down between 20 MPH and 5 MPH. Along with this vibration is a 'click' or a 'clunk' sound just before coming to a complete stop. I found information here on the forum about the steering head bolt/bearings - and confirmed it with a motorcycle mechanic friend of mine before taking the bike back to the dealership. The dealership tightened the steering head bolt and the 'clunk' sound is better (It still occurs on hard stops), but the vibration is still there exactly as before.

I just hit 1700 miles on my 2015 SR, and I've recently started experiencing the same issue.  I wasn't so quick to identify it as a steering head that needed tightening because it didn't exhibit any noticeable play when I locked the front brake and firmly rocked the bike fore and aft.  I inspected everything on the front end that I could think of, looking for a loose fastener or too much play, and never found it (I was highly suspicious of the brake because of what I write below).  After finding this thread, I decided to have a go at tightening the steering head a bit anyway.  $60 later in tools (I didn't happen to have a 1-5/8" wrench or socket handy, and there's not enough room to get a crescent wrench in there properly), I had it firmed up.  Still a tiny bit of clunking under braking/hitting bumps, but think I've improved it.  I'll ride it to work again tomorrow and see how it feels.  I may have to give it one more round of tightening.

One reason I was slow to diagnose it is that I too have squealing, pulsating, front brakes.  My dealer (170 miles away) beveled the pads when I first complained of this at my 600 mile service, but it came back within a few days.  And the pulsation... it's not in sync with wheel rotations - that is, it happens quicker than that - so I don't think it's simply a warped rotor.  Or if it is, it's found a creative way to warp.  It may be in sync with the rotor bolts.  I'm not sure about that, yet.

... I started using the rear brake more than before ... I noticed a loud scraping sound while slowing down from about 5 MPH to a stop.

I first noticed this recently - with earplugs and a helmet on, it sounded more like water sloshing around than a scrape.  Eventually, I noticed it was connected to the rear brake, which I often don't use much of (or sometime any of).  A test ride without anything interfering with my hearing revealed is was a kind of grindy/scrapy noise, but not like the crazy grinding sound you get when your pads are no longer pads, but pieces of steel. More use of the rear brake seemed to make it go away.  Maybe just a touch of rust build-up?  I assume it'll be back. 

Incidentally - I've ridden all kinds of bikes during my 45 yrs of riding and I've never had these kinds of problems - it's puzzling and a bit frustrating.

I don't have near that much saddle time, but I've probably done about 60k-70k miles in the last decade.  BMWs and Hondas, mostly.  No, almost entirely.  A touch of other peoples' Yamahas.  The Zero just lacks the great feel I get from the others.  I'm not saying the others were perfect, but they felt much better built.  This feels a bit like a beefed up mountain bike in comparison. Sure isn't priced like one.  Granted, Honda and BMW have as many decades of experience as Zero has years.  Still, I'm very frustrated, tempered by a touch of "I expected a bit of this by being an early adopter."

Has anyone who has had the squealing front brake (embarrassingly squealy, as another poster pointed out) found a permanent fix for it?

[MotoRyder]

Not having any experience with a Zero, my Monster 750 makes a scraping sound from the brakes when going slow and the brakes are not applied too hard.  As intended in the design, the disk pads ride on the rotor to some extent and some scraping action naturally occurs when the vehicle is moving.  When going slow enough, I can hear the scraping sound emanating from the wheels of my bike.  It's very possible that if it is a scraping sound with no or very light application of the brakes, it is just the sound of the disk pads riding on the disk and encountering natural scrapping; the material of the disk compound could also be metallic which would definitely cause a scrapping sound.

[Justin Andrews]

Squeaky rear brakes, on a motorbike? I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.

Joking aside, if you google around you'll see its a problem thats as common as muck, and can hit any bike at any time. Problem is you can hear the problem much more on electric bikes due to the lack of exhaust noise.

Even if you buy the best, the fecking feckers will still squeak if they feel like it ( http://www.thespeedtriple.com/forum/speed-triple-1050-05-10-11/10458-squeaky-brembos.html )

[teddillard]

Ah, for the old days of good old-fashioned asbestos.