Rake

[silverstargliderider]

I am brand new to this and am having my first trike built. It is going to be a Motor Trike, the question is do I go with the Motor Trike Recommended 4 degree? I spoke to Zook and he is telling me that 5 degree is the way to go. I want to do what is going to give me the best steering for my 2013 Road Glide Custom. would appreciate your comments. Thank You ALL!

 

[Bikerbozo]

Zooks the man. I would trust what he says.

 

[Softail Trike]

I would highly recommend going with what Zook said & going with one of his kits!

Motor Trike & their dealers told me I didn't need a rake kit for our Heritage.....WRONG!!! I talked to Zook about it & he explained it all very well! I put the rake kit on & it made a world of difference!

We love the Motor Trike conversion...they did a great job for sure but their advice to us on a rake kit was way off!!

 

[Lucky]

ZOOK'S advice all the way.RIDE SAFE

 

[Gold Rush]

ZOOK has invested a lot of research into the different rake kits and their applications. I can't think of another person more knowledgeable. I've installed four of his kits in GL1800s and they are flawless!!

 

[silverstargliderider]

The dealer called me and said the order came back from Motor Trike with a 6 degree rake. Now I am really confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[FRR]

You will love the 6 degree rake. I had it installed on my Trike and love the way it handles.

 

[Gold Rush]

I'm surprised MotorTrike would put a six degree rake kit on a Road Glide conversion. That has got to be as short and narrow as my GL1800 Adventure conversion.

Before it gets installed I would recommend you ask some hard questions to the guys at Motor Trike. It may have something to do with less rake in the stock frame then in a GL1800. If so the six degree may be OK. Just to satisfy yourself it's worth the call...

 

[silverstargliderider]

what kind of trike do you have?

 

[silverstargliderider]

being that this will be my first trike, I don't have a lot of knowledge in regard to rake and how it effects each bike. I know that they are all somewhat different. at this point I am going to have to trust that they know what they are doing. I hope so! If I were to ask them questions I would not know what to ask, other than why a 6 instead of a 4.5 or 5.

 

[Softail Trike]

Well just for comparison purposes....Motor Trike told us not to put a rake kit on our Heritage Softail, it is 32 degrees from the factory. After much research & talking to Zook, we put one of his 6 degree rakes on & it is great!! I'm no rake expert at all but from what I can tell, the more rake you have, the easier it steers. I guess you could get to a point where that is a bad thing but I'm thinking you will be fine with 6 degrees.

Seems like I read somewhere that a total rake of 38 degrees (stock + kit) is what you shoot for. Again, that's just remembering from my research. I would give Zook a call or shoot him a pm.

 

[spiritdream]

I would ask Bazooka if he thinks there'll be a big difference between the 5 degree he recommended and the 6 degree the dealer is planning to install. One degree might not make much difference, but you'll want to be sure - steering is kind of important! You want it to steer easier, but you don't want the front end all over the place just because you hit a bump, either!

 

[Papa Zook]

Well just for comparison purposes....Motor Trike told us not to put a rake kit on our Heritage Softail, it is 32 degrees from the factory. After much research & talking to Zook, we put one of his 6 degree rakes on & it is great!! I'm no rake expert at all but from what I can tell, the more rake you have, the easier it steers. I guess you could get to a point where that is a bad thing but I'm thinking you will be fine with 6 degrees.

Seems like I read somewhere that a total rake of 38 degrees (stock + kit) is what you shoot for. Again, that's just remembering from my research. I would give Zook a call or shoot him a pm.

The Soft Tail has a completely different frame geometry than the FLH models therefore I sell the 6 degree rake for the Soft Tail VS the 5 degree for the FLH.

 

[silverstargliderider]

Thanks for all of the input, I will be talking to Motor Trike. I guess there has to come a time when we trust the experience of the manufacturer.