Author Topic: Raked trees on high speed bikes.  (Read 1479 times)

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Offline WhizzbangK.C.

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Raked trees on high speed bikes.
« on: August 24, 2009, 01:20:53 AM »
This topic got started in the wanted section, and kind of took off there. I'm responsible for taking it off the topic of parts wanted, and for that I apologize, I'm pretty new to this board format and didn't realize what section the post was in.

I also apologize if the tone of my first post there was wrong. I didn't intend it to be and was trying to be helpful and generate discussion, if I offended that I shouldn't have I'm truly sorry. It's never my intention to start internet wars.

Anyway, on to the question:

I understand that some of the fastest bikes around are using raked triple trees. Now, it's been my understanding and my personal experience that the use of raked trees should be very carefully considered, taking into account the changes in geometry that they will create, wheel base, trail, etc. I understand the use of raked trees to decrease trail in radically chopped bikes, for example, to bring the trail figures back into the realm of normal and eliminate "flop". On my own street bike (77 Harley FXS) I run # degree raked trees and 4 inch over tubes giving me less than 2 inches of trail. This makes it handle to my liking, but I've got to stay on top of everything on the bike because if something gets just a little worn it will develop head shake at normal riding speeds. With everything up to snuff it doesn't start to shake till around 120, and I almost never ride it that fast anyway.

I've only been running LSR for a year now, and am currently running a very slow bike to learn the ropes and get started. That doesn't mean that I always will though. I'm in this to learn as much as I possibly can about all aspects of it, and this really intrigues me.

My question is this. What is the advantage for a very high speed bike to be using raked trees? What are the compromises that you have to live with in order to do this.

In the previous thread it was stated that they're only for the really fast bikes, and wouldn't work on slower machines. Why is that when the faster bikes have to pass through all the slower speeds twice on each run.
Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.  Douglas Adams