So, for what it's worth, and anybody that's interested, we swapped out the trees on my wife's trike this morning (sportster conversion). Here's our experience, and I welcome comments from anybody with more expertise than I.....When we bought the trike, I rode it home and noticed the steering was really stiff. I knew it'd be a problem for her if we spent any time on twisty/turnies anywhere, so I started educating myself about rake and trail. What I learned was, bikes should have a trail of about 4"-6", and trikes should have a trail of about 3"-5". So I did all the measuring, plugged in the numbers, and according to my calculations the trike had a trail of 4.66". I figured that should be about right as I'm thinking as a sportster, the trail should be on the low end so it would handle a little crisper. It also made sense because as a trike, it put the trail at the upper end, which should mean it would be sluggish and stiff, which it was. OK, so then comes the fun part, figuring out how much rake to add to get it to steer a little easier without turning it into a BMX or a high speed Weeble. So more research..... Long story short, I decided on 3 degree trees as they would give the trike a calculated trail of 2.88". Five degree trees would have figured to a 1.71" trail, and I thought that might be pushing the envelope just a bit. Well, the trees got here yesterday, and this morning my wife and I got started. She was with me the whole time and I couldn't have done it without her. She didn't do any wrench turning, but an extra set of hands and eyes were a definite plus. It took just under three hours start to finish, but could easily be done in under two if I had to do it again. So what are the results? I was really surprised when I first got on it. When I left the driveway, it was almost a little squirrelly, not nearly as self correcting at curb speeds as it had been. But it straightened out as soon as I put some gas to it. It's definitely easier to steer, but still stiff enough to keep it from going into sharper turns too fast. We went for a ride this evening and she says it's much better than it was. I think I'm happy, and more importantly, she's happy, so I'm thinking that's all that really matters. Now for a ride on the Parkway........but that's for another day.........

 

have you ever heard of a "paragraph"?
p.s. there is an edit option,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Thanks for your contribution to the thread. You've been a big help.

 

I've done a lot of raking myself. I found a tail in the yard once that was about 14 inches. Looked like fox.

Huh? Oh.
Nevermind.

 

 

Wow, harsh responses to a guy just trying to make a helpful post!
By the way, thanks for taking the time to write about your experience.

 

Nicely done!

 

Some people just have a need to be a *****...

 

Thanks for sharing OP. It's an interesting topic, and seemingly very subtle changes can drastically change handling characteristics. Glad it worked out for you.