Hey I am considering throwing some longer fork tubes on, and keeping the stock rake, to get that real old school look. I wondered if anyone had some good pics, and any good tech advice.

 

Here's some pics, different styles, etc

https://www.kustomcycles.com/bikes/i...hp?id=66&pic=3

Check your trail after just sticking longer tubes on the bike...

Perse has a decent tool.

 

If yer goin' after that "old school" look, then yer not gonna go more than 2 or 4 inches over stock. And that wasn't for looks so much as a little extra ground clearance. We used to laugh at the rookies putting 8 over tubes on, lookin' like a preying mantis, and handlin' like a squirrel-bike. 2 or 4 over will work very well, without compromising the handling too much.

 

Back in the 1970's when we were doing the "stock rake, extended tube" thing we found out very quickly that if you went more than 4 inches over the handling sucked. You also had the problem of the uneven ground clearance front to rear, extended stands, etc....

 

Here's one for ya.

[IMG]local://upfiles/14436/07AD5EA077194F74A45EE2FEC00A2BD0.jpg[/IMG]

 

Ok the look I want is the un even old school look. Where the front is higher than the rear. I was personally thinking 6in is what I would go with, but You may talk me into 4.

What is it about the longer forks that kills the handling? I ran a trail calculator and fork length didn't change the trail... http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/rakeandtrail.html
which from what I understand may be wrong, due to the added rearward lean of the bike would slightly increase the rake.

As far as the pics go... I am looking for stock frames, stock rake, and long tubes...

 

It's not a matter of the 'trail dimension', but more of a matter of shifting the center of gravity and of weight transfer.

It's kind of like some of these cars you see on the street. I'm sure everyone has seen an example where a guy has added helper springs in the rear so the back end of the vehicle is jacked up 6 to 10 inches higher than the front.

The car will handle pretty well in a straight line, but performance in tight curves, etc., is hurt. And normally you would need to beef up the front end to handle the additional stress on the front end components.

The same is true of a bike that is jacked up in the front. You will probably need to some work on the rear suspension of the bike to handle the additional weight transfer stress, and the higher center of gravity in the front won't help with high speed performance on other than straight line roads.

 

Thanks OldFenderGuy! It will probably end up being a winter project, as I don't have the time right now to work on it. I think I'll do some jacking and measuring to see if I'm gonna go with 4in or 6in.

I live in Indiana so the twisties are by no means an issue. I am used to dealing with the crap handling of my lifted Jeep, so I am sure I will quickly get used to any changes with this.

I have people telling me all the time that my bike looks old school already, so I thought I would take up a notch. Thanks again!