I cannot speak to trikes or sidecar rigs but for a solo bike I recently had a great lesson in the degree of rake. I own a 2016 Indian Dark Horse Chief. I was at the dealer getting service and was having a conversation with the manager there about being on the fence as to getting the stage 2 cam change. He told me to jump on one they had sitting there with the cams installed and take it out. It also had apes which I had also considered but sitting on one with them installed I concluded I did not like them. So I fired it up and we took off. We went for nice ride which included a series of nice curves and besides appreciating the additional power I noticed this bike handled way better than mine. I thought these apes make the bike handle so much better. We stopped and he asked what I thought. I told him that I loved the increase in power but the apes were the **** when it came to handling. He informed me that it probably was not the bars but that I was riding a Springfield model that has 4 degrees less rake. My Chief has a 29 degree rake and the Springfield in 25. Absolute world of difference.

 

SO.....for a later model ('16 or '18) stock Tri-Glide has anyone changed the rake, and if so how much and how much easier did it reduce steering effort?

My friend just moved to TN and with bad shoulders and back issues and due to the curvy roads he's asking me about changing the rake on his '16 T/G.
If it makes that much of a difference I might consider having my '18 redone also.

My question is, why doesn't H-D rake these machines to handle better from the factory?
And does the rake have such a negative effect on handling and stability that it would not be advisable to do this to a stock machine?

 

They are raked in the tree more than two wheeled touring bike.

 

I would assume so but has anyone ever gone beyond that point in order to make the trike steer easier?