Rake

[aftica]

Good day. I am looking to chop a 78 wing into a softail bobber. I have read articles where the rake angle was changed from 31 to as much as 34 degrees. Does this help stabilize and steer the bike, and would this reduced the dreaded death wobble? Cheers for now.

[05c50]

Adding rake will make the bike a little less twitchy, but it also will make the bike feel slower to turn. Remember that you need to be careful of changing the trail too much. If you go too far, it will make the front tend to flop. As far as the "dreaded death wobble", I've never had a problem with that on either of my Gls.

.....Paul

[ericheath]

I did mine similar to HOTT’s Ol’ Sparky build, copied as close as I could on a 1000 frame. It is stable at speed, but does need a little more push going hard into a corner.

There have been other ways to rake them, but I think the way Ric did his shows the least externally which may be important for safety inspections if required.

[HOTT]

I think the keywords here are 'chop' and 'softail bobber'.
Every thing is a trade off. Will a V-Rod carve the Stelvio Pass like a Ninja?
Basic math= Longer is stable. Steeper is faster. (and then the other stuff)

Old Wings wobble. They've been wobblin' for 40yrs. Keep your hands on the bars !
Raking (and lowering) will help, but make U-turns more interesting. If there was only one
geometry solution things would be pretty boring.
"we don't care about no stinking flop.."

harley-custom-bobbercustom-harley-motorcycle.jpg

HOTT (no solutions just ideas)

[CYBORG]

I think the keywords here are 'chop' and 'softail bobber'.
Every thing is a trade off. Will a V-Rod carve the Stelvio Pass like a Ninja?
Basic math= Longer is stable. Steeper is faster. (and then the other stuff)

Old Wings wobble. They've been wobblin' for 40yrs. Keep your hands on the bars !
Raking (and lowering) will help, but make U-turns more interesting. If there was only one
geometry solution things would be pretty boring.
"we don't care about no stinking flop.."
harley-custom-bobbercustom-harley-motorcycle.jpg

HOTT (no solutions just ideas)

Absolutely correct. CYBORG is pulled in some, rather then stretched out just to make it turn in better. And it does

[dontwantapickle]

[dontwantapickle]

Why rake your frame?
The obvious answer is "Because you can",
But...........
I can't help to think that Honda engineers spent a lot of time and money on frame geometry, rake, trail, etc.
to make the bike operate as it should (and they know what they are doing).

I don't see how any one with a hacksaw and a wire welder can "make it better" than the factory.

"customize / personalize" - I always say go for it!

But again, I wouldn't expect any performance upgrade from the modification and I would expect to
see overall practically suffer as the bike is turned into a one trick pony.

[CYBORG]

The factory did not design the bike to be a "canyon carver". It works well when used as designed. But if one wants to push the design elements, changes have to be made. No one bike does everything well. We make changes to maximize the machine for the way we use it. That's why many of us have several bikes

[Rat]

Some here have been known to design and build a GL 1000 specifically to run the 'Tail of the Dragon' .... (rte 129) ....

But now he’s old and mostly rides a GL1200 (really fast) ....

But when he was a young'un he built raked out Harley Choppers

Gord (names withheld to protect those who drink Coke) Jones

PS ..... he created the 'Dragon' ....

[CYBORG]