I'm looking for someone that knows how raked triple trees are raked.

I've got a set of 5 deg raked trees that came on my WG along with +4" tubes and a lowering kit of sorts. I've pulled the lowering kit and since I need new tubes I was considering changing the geometry of the front end for better handling.

What I'm wondering is, are raked trees machined perp to the tubes, or are they perp to the stem?

 

Trees are raked two ways, Standard raked trees do nothing to the neck angle, but change the angle of the fork tubes. These are generally used when building bikes in conjuction with frame neck angles. These can change your trail and can adversly effect your handling, depending on your current neck angle and the tree you install. Ending up with too little trail can be very dangerous! Choose these carefully and know what your final trail will be. Specialty kits such as AME etc. are designed to change the angle of the neck pivot along with the tubes to maintain correct trail measurments. Do your homework there are lots of rake and trail calculators on the net.

 

Right...I have too little trail at the moment. When I bough my bike, the previous owner thought he'd try turn the Wide Glide into a chopper by installing the 5 deg raked trees and longer tubes. I'd like to correct the geometry so I'm debating on machining new trees or reworking the aftermarket ones that are on the bike.

Let me ask in a little different way. When assembled to the bike, are the trees perp to the stem? Or are the trees perp to the fork tubes?

 

Stock WideGlide trees are raked 2.5 degrees or thereabouts. They are raked at the stem.

If you want to go back to stock you should probably just buy stock trees. I'm sure you can find used ones on ebay for little of nothing.

 

If the fork tubes are not parallel to the triple tree stem (pivot angle), it will change your trail. Most standard raked trees will not keep the fork tubes parallel to the neck angle (triple tree stem) An AME type of kit, changes the angle of the triple tree pivot point, to keep it parallel with the fork tubes. Does the same thing as raking the neck on the frame without the down time and expence but does not look as nice as a good chop.

 

Thanks. That's where I figured the rake would be built in seeming that most trees utilize the pinch clamp method of holding the tubes. It would be pretty tough to machine the pinch clamps at an angle, let alone get get uniform clamping out of them.