Originally Posted by
SirMike1983
This does not sound normal, whether the rims are CR 18 or Westricks/Raleigh. Pull the front wheel, re-set the cone, and then re-set the wheel in the fork making sure everything is together correctly. The adjustable cone (with the flats) goes on the left/non-drive side of the bike for the reasons the previous poster mentioned. If necessary, open the cones and inspect the bearings. Inspect the tire and bead seating too.
Once you establish that it is not the wheel or tire, check the fork itself for alignment and the headset for adjustment.
I'd totally redo the front hub then, double check that you have the proper number of bearings and that they are the proper size and they are all good, clean, and installed the right way, lube the hell our of them with a good (I use marine) grease. And make sure the wheel sits in the forks true and isn't loose, check spoke tension/trueness. And make sure the front wheel stays put in the fork.
Could it be that your fork, wheel or both are out of alignment and the wheel is hanging up on the brakes when put under greater stresses? I say this because I know you're not going that fast on flats or up hill, and riding down hill you most likely (depending on your riding position) put more weight and stress on the front than you do while riding normally. Was there any rubbing or grinding sounds happening just before or as it was happening?
I typically go slowly on the down hills on my Superbe, but that's because I'm more concerned about burning out the old 6 volt lights. But when I didn't have the dyno, I had no problem going down hills fast and in Portland we've got some pretty good ones.