There are so many variables - I would try w/o the rake, then rake if you need to. I did a sidecar on a Road King and it wasn't terrible, but it was pretty heavy. Had I kept the sidecar on, I would have raked her out.

 

If you have a sidecar on a bagger, but occaisonally remove the hack, will raked trees present any problems when riding solo?

 

Beemervet ... the research I've done on rake trees, before installing mine, rake trees are designed to be used with trikes and sidecars ... they are not recommended for solo bikes. Many, many, many years ago the Motor Company offered adjustable trees that could be raked if you added a sidecar, and returned to stock when it was removed.

Others may have different thoughts about this, but I believe raked trees should not be used on solo bikes.

 

Raked = Power steering. using 2 fingers

Non Raked= No power steering. You have to muscle it around

 

Glad to see this thread being viewed ... I hope it has been of help to at least one. I'm still enjoying the rake trees and the trike. My opinion about installing rake trees has not changed ... they really do make a difference ... at all speeds.

 

just a bump

 

All serious trike and sidecar riders put on leading link front ends. Well, everyone I know that put mileage on their rigs do.

 

a bump to the top

 

Running "Champions EZ steer" raked trees on both my bikes that have 3 wheels. Both also have a 1" (trike) and 1 1/2"(sidecar) added to stock fork height. This leveled bike and sidecar ( these mods really helped on the sidecar rig along with proper alignment). Sidecar rig has 37000+ mi., Trike bought Aug. 2016 now has 7500 more miles on it (winter came early and hard in Montana)this year. I have ridden sidecar rigs without the raked trees , but they took way more effort to steer and seemed to want to lift the hack wheel quicker(but that may have just been me). Handling on Tri-Glides seem about the same but steering way lighter with the raked trees. (Just "my experiences") . Always interested in others experiences on handling issues.(interesting thread!)

 

I installed raked wide glide tree's lowerd forks and a 21" front wheel on my sporty and it rides fantastic alot better , feel more stable and smoother ,now i want to do a wide tire conversion to a 180 rear tire but its time to ride ill do it in winter time!oh ya thinking of building a trike,i would say rake it!!
Also looks better,i read somewhere something about sportster trees when they age they tend to be pushed back a little so raking in this case may put u back to stock or when it was new,mine raked at 3.running a soft tail wheel and a fender ,i made some alumium spacers