Raking Out Front End

[Paz]

My project for the holidays (easier to avoid family drama) is to chop the front end of my '08 FXDF for a greater angle of rake (I'm thinking 40-44 degrees) for more of a chopper look. My buddy who is helping doesn't think we need to do the math before hand, and just says to buy a longer front end and then we can make the front angle fit and buy triple trees to compensate.

This makes me nervous. I'd much rather plan the math now, buy the right parts to start, and make sure the rake and trail are good without any catastrophes. Anyone else out there take on this kind of project? I've read up on it online and seen the formula to make sure the rake and trail are good, but without knowing the front end length I can't do the math.

I'm still running a 130-/90-16 on the front with fender. Any feedback would be great. Thanks.

[vnygra]

You should either, cut the neck and re weld it or get trees with rake built in. NOT both. There probably is a way to figure out the angle if your cutting and re welding, but I would just figure out how much longer you want it to be, find that size tubes (don't need to buy a whole front end). Cut the neck starting at the bottom, but not all the way through, heat it up and bend it out to where it fits, and make a filler piece for the gap and re weld. Obviously with a center line and some sort of jig in the neck to hit center.

[bobscogin]

You should either, cut the neck and re weld it or get trees with rake built in. NOT both. .

Using both may be advantageous. If he wants to put 40º to 44º degrees of neck angle in the frame, he's going to end up with more than the "usual" amount of trail. Putting about 38º in the neck, and then using trees with 3º-5º of rake would give the visual results he wants and reduce the trail to a manageable level. Harley does that on some of their bikes.

Bob

[choppa]

Do a search on google or bing whatever, on correct trail. If you run a conventional fork you can dial it in using raked trees. My bike has a springer so I had to make new rockers to bring the trail in. I called one of the old school builders and did mine at 4.5 inches as he suggested. I am not sure if that is the best number for a standard fork though. 4-6 inches is what most recommend. My bike is 40 degree rake 4" out and 1" down. I had to cut 7" out of the fork length to run my wheel and ride height that I wanted. It is important to figure it out and make it right before you go riding that is for sure!

Notice my rockers here (the part that bolts from the forks to the wheel) Sorry but some people do not know what they are. With these factory rockers the front end would flop at low speeds. Very dangerous. You can also make it so it is loose at high speeds causing a wobble, not good either.


After new rockers it handles like it should. No more flop!

[worn]

You should either, cut the neck and re weld it or get trees with rake built in. NOT both. There probably is a way to figure out the angle if your cutting and re welding, but I would just figure out how much longer you want it to be, find that size tubes (don't need to buy a whole front end). Cut the neck starting at the bottom, but not all the way through, heat it up and bend it out to where it fits, and make a filler piece for the gap and re weld. Obviously with a center line and some sort of jig in the neck to hit center.

Raked trees by themselves can result in too little or even negative trail for a safe ride. You can rake the neck the 40 or 45 degrees you want but the handling will be much heavier than stock with the huge amount of trail you will end up.
If you want the look of 45 degrees of rake, rake your frame 40 degrees and use 5 degree raked triple trees to reduce the trail and provide lighter, but still stable handling.
Use the RB Race calculator - just punch in your numbers, move things around a bit until you get what you're after in ride height, trail, fork length etc.