I'm new to the forum and have a question concerning rake. Also, I'm not sure there is a general rule of thumb or a formula to generate an answer with a magical scientific number, but here goes (serious & knowledgable reponses appreciated here as my life cound dangle with the answers given here): My build is a custom softail 300 RSD frame built by a reputable aftermarket frame building company .... neck configuration is as follows: 5 1/2 up / 6 out / 40 degree neck. The manufacture recommends a 4 to 6 degree rake in the tree and use of 10" over fork. What would be ideal? less rake and shorter tubes / or more rake and longer tubes. Would a 7 degree rake work with the 10" over tubes. Just trying to get feel without having to deal with excessive mock up time. Thanks and looking forward to the "majority rules" opinions

 

This is one of the best calculators out there.....

http://rbracing-rsr.com/rakeandtrail.html

 

Why would you want to use something other than what the manufacturer recommends? The reason they say 4 to 6 is you need to change it depending on what size front tire you are running. Use a rake/trail calculator to figure out what rake trees you need.

http://www.scootersperformance.com/t...ake_trail.html

 

You need to follow the manufacturers directions on this or your going to build yourself your own personal Disney ride. Talk to the manufacturer and tell him what look your going for low and stretched out or high front and more of an old school chopper look. There are several online rake and trail calculators that you can use for free to check out the trail. This is something you need to make sure is right or it will cause all kinds of problems.

I found that with using the softail front end on my FXR I had to go from a 21 to a 16 inch front wheel to bring the trail into safe limits as the softail front end was a couple of inches longer than the stock one and I didn't want to rake the neck. Good luck on your project.

 

Thanks for the reply guys. I will be following the manufacture's recommendations on this, but for them to recommend a variation of 2 full degree's of rake seems like a lot to me. Tire size (height) is a consideration I haven't taken into account yet. I want the bike to sit as low as possible without run'in aground in turns. The wheel / tire combo will probably be 19" with a fat high profile tire on it - overall, probably very comparable 21" setup. I was unaware of a free on-line rake calculator, so that will be a great place to start. Thanks much for the advice.