Bikes with their forks raked at more than around 30 degrees tend to be a bit wobbly at very low speeds. There are other factors in the design that come into play as well, but the Triumph twins are very well done in that respect. All else being equal, rake angles from around 26 to 30 degrees make a bike easier to manage at very low speeds, but not terribly stable at speed. 31 to 35 degrees make a bike hard to manage very slow, but they ride almost like they have an autopilot above 15 mph. Way back when, extreme choppers had up to 50 - 60 degrees of rake. It was a lot of fun watching those guys paddlefoot their bikes up to about 35 MPH and then miss turns because their bikes were too stable at speed and had to be coerced into turning.


Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python