Do extended fork tubes cause death wobble?

[dallaskye]

I love the look of long tubes, like 6+ over. But I do some highway riding at 80MPH and I don’t know if installing those will give me death wobble or otherwise put me in an unsafe position. Worse maneuverability is fine, but I don’t want to fly off my bike on the highway.

The 2001 Sporty they’d go on is my first build so I’m learning things as I go

[Skjoll]

Nope, my +6 handle fine and give me extra clearance so I don't scrape my forward sets as easily.

[Sky]

Anytime you increase trail you also increase high-speed stability. Longer tubes with no other changes increases trail. So you will be less likely to get that wobble.
However low speed manuvers may become less nimble and "floppy".

[dallaskye]

thanks guys! probably will go ahead and do it now

[TriNortchopz]

Just don't go get a set of raked trees with a stock rake; then your trail may end up as negative...that's where stories of getting tossed in the ditch at higher speeds comes from...Allied use to sell their 10-10 Kit with +10" tubes and ten degree raked trees:


RAKE AND TRAIL
Rake and Trail 101
"These (raked) trees are typically available with 3, 5 and 7 degrees of rake and are intended to be used exclusively on modified frames that have neck rake angles in the range of 37 degrees and greater.

Unfortunately raked trees are relative cheap and some people have used them in a cost-cutting attempt to get the raked chopper look on an otherwise stock frame which can lead to disastrous consequences and the rider can end up with what is called 'negative trail' where the extended stem angle line is actually behind the extended vertical wheel axle point as shown in Figure 2.16."


"This is an extremely dangerous situation as the bike appears to be handling perfectly at low speeds typically encountered in city traffic but as the speed increases the cycle becomes more and more unstable but appears normal to the rider until some roadway irregularity sends the whole package into the ditch."

https://www.chopperhandbook.com/rake.htm

[Skjoll]

thanks guys! probably will go ahead and do it now

I'd advise staying away from Moto Iron fork tubes... both my original pair and their replacements had issues with quality and fit to the point I went back to the OEM tubes.