Rake Q & A

[Muleskinner]

My understanding is that the trail measurement nees to be between 2 and 6 inches. I have an excellent document that I've saved that explains rake & trail in detail. If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll send it back to you.

 

[jmhelm]

put a 6 degree rake kit on my yamaha roadstar. very stable at anything over 25 miles an hour. have not rversed thee rear tire on the front yet. planning on doing this soon.
am very happy with the outcome. much, much better than stock front end.

 

[JJTRIKER]

I think if you take out the extensions your front end will become heavy and hard to turn.
lots of time your are better off leaving things the way the mfg designed it. i have learned a lot in "bucking the system"...lol and went back to the way they designed it.

 

[skiwhiz]

Re: How much rake on a Trike

I have the ez steer It's like putting power steering on. without it the trike had a tendency to push the front tires foward until it caught and turned the trike. after istalling the raked 4.5 i believe ez steer no more trouble.

Where did You get it from?

 

[Nana]

Re: How much rake on a Trike

Where did You get it from?

The best deal going on rake kits is from forum owner Bazooka. See this thread: http://www.triketalk.com/forum/sale-wanted/2580-ez-steer-rake-kits-discount-tt-com-members.html

You can order instantly on his sponsor ad on the lower right side of this screen, but if you have any questions regarding the best degree of rake for your trike, give him a call @ 334-648-0157.

 

[Turbine Surgeon]

I just traded a trike with 4.5 degree and got a new one w/ 6 degree. It is a much easier trike to turn. A little bigger parking lot turn radius

 

[JG122]

for those who get raked trees... do you also get new (longer) forks, or get fork extenders ?

 

[Smoken'JOE]

Fork extenders or bigger front wheel.

 

[Nana]

for those who get raked trees... do you also get new (longer) forks, or get fork extenders ?

If you look at Bazooka's ad on the lower right of the screen, he includes free fork extensions with his rake kits. I don't know if that is standard with all rake kits or not.

 

[CyberVet65]

Well I got Zook's 6 degree kit for my 03 Gold Wing with the Lehman Trike kit. The quality of the kit is really impressive. I can't believe this trike didn't have a rake kit at all. It steered in curves like a dump truck. A whole lot of pushin' and pullin'. I finished the job this afternoon and it was warm enough to do a test run.

Wahoo! It is really like having power steering. I can steer curves with one hand! Very quick steering on the straights. Overall I can pat myself on the back for putting it together myself and with no hardware left over. I didn't strip out a single bolt or break the head off anything. Life just got a lot better.
Chet

 

[eded59]

Don't know if this is posted elsewhere but for anyone wanting to do there own calculations especially for the chopper guys this site is very useful...
RB Racing Rake and Trail Calculator

this one is more advanced if you want to play with tube length and wheel sizes
http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/advchoppercalc.html

 

[pigbike]

Mine won't make the degree symbol,,,shucks

 

[maestro319]

All of this real good, BUT,... I can't get one for my 1986 GL 1200, unless any of you guys have other ideas of where I can get one. Thanks. BTW, my trike ALSO steers like a dumptruck!!!

 

[Smoken'JOE]

Mine won't make the degree symbol,,,shucks

Here is how it's done within Microsoft Windows: hold down the ALT key and type 248 on the numeric pad, then release the ALT key.

If you have a Mac, hold down the Option key (usually labeled ALT as well) and type a zero.

 

[Droopy]

You can google rake and trail. Try to keep max trail of three inches. Six inches is a little heavy.

 

[bikerbillone]

Question, 5.5 degree rake, brings the bars back how much?

 

[richjan]

Does anyone know of a company building rake kits for Suzuki C-50's.

 

[Papa Zook]

for those who get raked trees... do you also get new (longer) forks, or get fork extenders ?

With my rake kits, yes fork extensions are included at no additional cost.

Question, 5.5 degree rake, brings the bars back how much?

Approximately 1-1.5 inches on the top or handlebar end.

Does anyone know of a company building rake kits for Suzuki C-50's.

Im not aware of any, but I wouldnt be suprised if someone is building these. Google it.

 

[Goldendragon]

4.5 degree rake on my 2005 K1200lt Hannigan Trike. Handles great and I've had no issues.

 

[pcombe]

Re: rake/trail

I'm far from an expert on rake, but I am truely loving the Frankenstein kit on my cross bones. I have a stock springer front end so it's hard for me to say what's right for your bike but I made absolutly no changes to the front end and the trike is great except for an occasional low speed (under 30 mph)wobble on bumpy roads. The slight part time wobble is not enough to make me rush out and spend big bucks on a raked front end. Grimm on the other hand rides a F stein Night Train and he has 7 degree trees and +4" tubes and he says he loves it that way. Here is a pic of both of our trikes... One extreme to another... Or variations on a theme... Hope this helps...

Pup

I have a question. I havent looked into it yet.
My friend has a springer on a lehman conversion. I was just looking at it and wondered if you can get a raked triple tree fo r the springer?
The bike is a might squirley at low speeds or on a bump.
Would tightinig the steering nut help in your opinon?

 

[Papa Zook]

Re: rake/trail

I have a question. I havent looked into it yet.
My friend has a springer on a lehman conversion. I was just looking at it and wondered if you can get a raked triple tree fo r the springer?
The bike is a might squirley at low speeds or on a bump.
Would tightinig the steering nut help in your opinon?

The trees are built as a part of the springer front end itself. This site explains rake and the springer front end.


Jeri's Springer Front End - Rake and Trail Explained

 

[pcombe]

:10:
I bought and installed a set of Hog Halter Inc. (HHI) raked tripple trees from bazzzooka.
There is one great thing about making a tripple tree purchase from zook, is that you can always find him. (he can't hide from you being the forum administrator) HAH HAH zook , serves you right!

They are solid and well made. Allot more solid than stock, and i liked the price compared to other tripple trees i looked at out there.

It was a bit of a job installing it on my 89 tour glide because there is so much involved in getting to them and putting the bike back together.

They came with 2" fork extensions so my bike sits level.

I like the way the center shaft tightens from the bottom with a 3/8 ratchet so i was able to torqe the preload on the bearings more easily.
There is a set screw to run in on the shaft on the lower tree and keep the shaft from loosining up and the top nut is torqed also for extra security.
The stock lock tabs work on the top nut.
The lower fork tripple trees stabilizer locks are an improvment over Harleys OEM system

The forks SCREW into the top tripple tree so there is no chance at missalighnment through the trees and no pinch clamps around your upper forks to come loose.
It is screwed in hand tight so no torque needed.

The bottom shaft is drilled and tapped so you can mount your original front brake manifold.
Hardware is included.

Check out the front air system on you bike. Mine is an old one and i had to convert it.
Many of the newer bikes don't have air on the front forks and the newer ones that do should be eaiser to hook up with a few parts, hoses etc. from the local hardware store.
to see the installation of the HHI tripple trees google-
pcombe/photobucket.

you can see what they look like.
For the shiney stuff nuts out there, they will trip your trigger, giving you something else to shine. You can't see it on my bike.

 

[rikcaud99]

I just finished a 2001 Road Star with a DNA rear end. Terrible wobble at low speeds, had the frame raked 3.5 degrees and added fork extentions to re-level the bike. Still wobbles at low speeds and hard to turn in corners. Front end is really heavy.
Can anyone help with this one?

 

[pcombe]

If you had an ounce of good sense festus, you will do what i tell for you once!


Go over to the right side of the page of sponsors and scroll down to the second to the bottom advertisment and click on the picture showing a set of triple trees.
that will take you directly to a place where you can find exactly what you need at a great price from someone you need not worry about ripping you off.

Pcombe- bought and installed them himself, and they are of much better quality than stock, and have some features that make them pretty nice to work with too.

The instructions were pretty straight forward, but I always advise to keep your motor manual handy for reference.

If you wish to see some pictures of the install, goggle- pcombe library/photobucket
Pauls went on a Harley tour glide but you will get the idea! Also see how he removed the old bottom neck race.



Mr. Dillon, Festus seems like a real nice fella, I hope he finds his way to the the triple tree advertisment!

I dont know Chester? there are allot of drummers trying to peddle their wares out there!