Rake Job

[GSJimbo]

Want to put a rake job on my drag bike, how many degrees and got any Ideas on doing this job??

[GER144]

Hey Jimbo, I have my Katana dragbike raked at about 38 degrees. A buddy of mine in Calgary does a perfect job on front end raking. He machines up a whole new steering neck, then cuts off half the original neck at an angle, lays the new neck in place and welds everything up. He has a special jig for doing this so everything is absolutely perfectly straight. I was amazed at the difference in how stable the bike was at speed. I've been 153+mph in the 1/4 mile, and it tracks straight as an arrow.

[katman]

Hey Ger,

I have been 149 on my stock kat on busted up Ontario highways...stable as a rock.

[massakins]

I'm guessing there is a different amount of fork damping, travel and preload in these two cases as well as front wheels, tire size, etc.

38 degrees seems to be about normal for most bracket bikes and street/strip setups that have successfull rakes. 40 degrees seems to be at the extreme end of it.

I've seen many that were cut/bent/rewelded as well as had new necks installed. The success seems to be more due to quality of execution than design. A good welder is critical here, especially one that understands what you're doing.

Don't get cheap on this. If you can't dp it right yourself be sure to pay for quality.

Many things are less critical in the event of failure but rake jobs and wheelie bars are not to be experimented with. My 2? worth.

[LarryT]

My 2 cents and it costs about 2 cent to do 38-40 degrees I have done a few by cutting a small wedge out of the frame in front of thr tank mount,cut the plate at the bottom of the neck . then pull it back and weld no clearance problem with the tank though it is close