Front wheel hop when braking - suspension arm bushes, or... ?? Any help?

I replaced brake pads and rotors on my 21 RTL with 25k miles last year and I seem to remember a slight wheel "hop" or vibration under heavy braking. I didn't make any other adjustments and the issue seems gone this year. Not sure what caused it or what corrected it. The wheel never hopped enough for the rubber to leave the pavement and you couldn't feel it in performance. I could only see it happening. Not any advice on the fix, but letting you know you're not crazy. Chris

I am going to post about my 2014 RT SE6 that I purchased 2 years ago with the same problem. When I would apply brakes at moderate to high speed, the Front right wheel would hop and shake the fender like crazy. I did as suggested in the group to replace the A arm bushings. No difference. So I determined it had warped rotors. Bought a set of EBC rotors and pads. Rode about 2,000 to 3,000 miles and it started doing it again. So I dial indicated the rotor, indexed it on the hub, and found that the hub had a few thousands of run out. Replacing the hub did not cure the problem. Then I checked the rotor with a micrometer and found it was unparallel by 4 thousands and had up to 6 thousands of runout. Contacted EBC and they sent me 2 new rotors and pads. Another 2 to 3 thousand miles and it started shaking again. Same problem after a few thousand miles. Finished last season that way. Did more research and determined that calipers were possibly sticking. That's when I located the caliper kits and rebuilt them. No pistons were sticking. Finally, over winter I purchased OEM rotors and pads. This season, the Brakes now work flawlessly, so far...

I'll add my bike to the list that have this problem. For me, it is when I brake hard starting at over 50 mph. Don't feel anything in the brake pedal, but boy do those front fenders shake!!! I'm just shy of 28k miles on my 2024 RT-Ltd so the bike is going in for the 28k service at the end of the week. I was hoping this would be a simple rotor/pad issue and that switching to EBC would solve the problem. Somewhat disappointed to read that Spyderjerry actually got a fix switching from EBC to OEM.

PDXRTL said:

I'll add my bike to the list that have this problem. For me, it is when I brake hard starting at over 50 mph. Don't feel anything in the brake pedal, but boy do those front fenders shake!!! I'm just shy of 28k miles on my 2024 RT-Ltd so the bike is going in for the 28k service at the end of the week. I was hoping this would be a simple rotor/pad issue and that switching to EBC would solve the problem. Somewhat disappointed to read that Spyderjerry actually got a fix switching from EBC to OEM.

Click to expand...

If you are able, mike the rotor around the whole diameter and see what you come up with.

I too have the front "wheel hop" issue on my 2022 Spyder RTL. Hard deceleration from 50 MPH or more initiates the hopping. We aways ride 2-up, and together we are about 425# (plus the gear and stuff in the trunks).
It's not ABS, but it is severe (and very startling the first time it happened).

I also noticed cupping of the front tires (OEM w/12k miles on the Spyder now). (All parts are still OEM on this machine)

I assume the cupping (and resulting vibration at speed) is normal for front tires that can't be rotated for more even wear. But, as others here, I'm puzzled by the wheel hop during high-speed, hard braking.

Maybe when I replace the front tires (soon), this will help the issue.

Any new developments on this?

I had a tiny little bit of this going on before I had the brakes replaced with EBC pads and rotors, had a fluid flush, and got new Vredestein tires. Baja Ron's shop did the work so I am not sure if they saw anything else and just corrected it while working on my bike, or if it was the brakes or tires. I had put it off to the crappy stock tires and never even thought to mention it.