Got a 2007 Road Star and recently picked up a set of Barons 6 degree raked triple tree's....aside from lowering the rear, I also understand that it would be really helpful to get longer fork tubes. Have OEM front rim/tyre....so do I need 2,3 or +4 fork extension's;
and...2. With whatever length fork tubes that works best, how much longer do front cables need to be (+2,3 or 4)?

Hope that all makes sense and appreciate any solid advice I can get as plan to overseas order required parts...

Cheers,

Soggy.

Ya could just go to 21''Tire and wheel with stock forks I like that low and long look '''just my 2 cents

Doc's got the best balanced front end I've ever seen, personally. Get his particulars as a guideline.

$0.02

you need about 4" longer tubes (again doc's is set up very nice though he owes me beer). However before you do anything you really need to understand rake and trail. Actually back in the day we did not run 21" on the front, we used 16". Why? well it helps with the whole rake and trail equation. Its all about getting balance between the bike want to running straight and wanting to turn. trust me when you build a bike with 10 degrees extra rake and use a 18" over springer you better get the right set up on it!

I think Doc also stretched his frame at the neck which from what I understand is necessary for a great handling rake. I don't think changing just the trees can accomplish that. Doc has pics of the work involved in what he did on his photo bucket or flicker? Not sure...but he does have pics of the work/process on his bike. I'm sure you'll hear from him anytime now.




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Soggy:

I'm running the same Barons 6-degree raked tree. But, I didn't extent the fork tubes as the lowering effect of 6-degrees is minor. But, you're correct. If you lower the rear a bit, the ride is better. But, I'm betting you wouldn't notice it very much.

I'd say try it first before you spend the $$ on extensions and cables, etc.. You might be surprised...

Good luck!



Rich

TampaSVT wrote:
Soggy:

I'm running the same Barons 6-degree raked tree. But, I didn't extent the fork tubes as the lowering effect of 6-degrees is minor. But, you're correct. If you lower the rear a bit, the ride is better. But, I'm betting you wouldn't notice it very much.

I'd say try it first before you spend the $$ on extensions and cables, etc.. You might be surprised...

Good luck!



Rich




Rich....are you still handling great in the turns? I wanted to get the 6° trees myself untill I was told I'd have to stretch the frame to make it right. If not...I'm going to go ahead and get the trees...although I think I read that now theyre raked at 7° instead of 6?

hrdbrgn wrote:
TampaSVT wrote:

Rich....are you still handling great in the turns? I wanted to get the 6° trees myself untill I was told I'd have to stretch the frame to make it right. If not...I'm going to go ahead and get the trees...although I think I read that now theyre raked at 7° instead of 6?

I did apes and the raked front at about the same time. So, I know I gave up a good deal of handling. But, I couldn't tell you if it was the apes or the rake.

Typically, rake just makes it a bit harder to do a sharp turn. But, 6-degrees really isn't that much as compared to a chopper.

I guess you have to ask yourself a few questions:
1. Why am I adding the rake? In my case, I wanted to lower the look both front and rear. Lowered springs and rake did the front for me.
2. Can I offset the added rake by lowering the rear? In my case, yep. All the way to the ground...
3. How much handling am I willing to give up? Since I do no mountain twisties, I really didn't worry about it. I don't have to drive the bike to work and I don't travel on it.

Hope that helps ya.


Rich

I have 6 degrees in the trees on a stock neck.

With a stock rear end the front is about 2" lower at the front floorboard bolt with 6 degree trees. Handling is a bit nervous at highway speed due to the decrease in trail.

There are multiple ways to 'fix' this (get trail back to stock) ..

1. Rake the neck about 8 degrees. You will need longer forks or drop the rear to level out the bike. This will bring you back to OEM trail. [Rake in trees decrease trail, rake in neck increases trail]

2, Raise front end. You will need +2 to get back to about stock height. I have +4 on mine and the trail is similar to stock but the front end is higher than level.

3. Lower the rear end to level out the bike.

You can also do combinations of above. In the end, you can adjust the rear and front to get it to the height you want but more importantly you want to make right corrections so that the trail is close to OEM.

Any raked front end will give you a much wider turning radius! Kinda a pain in the ass.

Doc

Here is a little information if you want to get real technical about it and do the calculations.



Trail, or caster, is the horizontal distance from where the steering axis intersects the ground to where the front wheel touches the ground. The measurement is considered positive if the front wheel ground contact point is behind (towards the rear of the bike) the steering axis intersection with the ground.

Trail is often cited as an important determinant of motorcycle handling characteristics.

Trail is a function of head angle, fork offset or rake, and wheel size. Their relationship can be described by this formula:






where wheel radius, is the head angle measured clock-wise from the horizontal and is the fork offset or rake. Trail can be increased by increasing the wheel size, decreasing or slackening the head angle, or decreasing the fork rake or offset. Trail decreases as head angle increases (becomes steeper), as fork offset increases, or as wheel diameter decreases.

Motorcyclists tend to speak of trail in relation to rake angle. The larger the rake angle the larger the trail. Note that, on a bicycle, as rake angle increases, head angle decreases.