Hi, my name is Tom from england i have just purchased a new 2007 softail custom, i wish to put a new extended front end on over the winter, my problem is which length fork tubes ie, 2 4 6 8 inch over stock etc,to match to 7 degree rake triple trees purchased from pro-one and to keep the right trail. many thanks TOM.

 

Tom,

Go to Perse's website, the have a great rake and trail program that is easy, just put in the measurements and it will guide you the rest of the way.

 

Cheers shooter,printed the conversion tables off,problem is i do not get motor till nov to get the required measurments,perse says to keep trail between 3.5-5 inch i got the standard rake and trail for the softail custom from the moco which is 32degrees rake 147mm trail which is approx 5.75 inch so looks like h.d. are out of the optimum parameters.{ its all getting a bit complicated my head aches} TOM England.

 

The rule of thumb is NOT to use raked trees on a stock frame, especially 7 degree trees. You'll end up with too little or even negative trail. If you don't want to actually rake the neck of the frame, there are raked cups that'll get you 3 degrees. Then get some 3 degree trees (which gives a total rake over stock of 6 degrees), and look at 6 inch over tubes, and you'll probably be OK in the trail department. Run the numbers to be sure - a high speed death wobble ain't fun!

Or there are some kits that are designed to give you the rake without cutting the frame, and with good trail figures. These kits include trees, fork tubes, and everything else you'll need.

Bottom line is raked trees are used to correct the trail on raked frames, and should seldom be used on unraked frames.

 

I have a question along these lines - if one was to use 3* cups and 3* raked trees, would it be possible to keep the stock fork length ( and not drag the front of the frame on the ground)? Also, any idea what the wheelbase would stretch out to? Thanks for the info.

 

That's a total of 6 degrees over, and I would not expect to use stock length tubes with that much rake. You should be able to plug the dimensions in one of the rake/trail calculators and then scale a drawing to see what it looked like.

 

Cheers,for the info on raked trees i think i will leave well alone. curiuos to know what are cups we may call them something else in UK.also is there a site where i can see the kits you talked about .TOM UK.