Framebuilders - Question re. fork rake and headtube angle

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mander
05-28-07, 10:42 AM
Given that adding rake to a fork will decrease trail and therefore cause the bike to steer quicker, why do a lot of bikes with slack head tubes have forks with big swoopy rakes? More generally, instead of using fork rake why not just tighten up the head tube and install a fork with no rake at all? Does offsetting ht angle with increased rake have some desirable side effect?

Scooper
05-28-07, 11:28 AM
Given that adding rake to a fork will decrease trail and therefore cause the bike to steer quicker, why do a lot of bikes with slack head tubes have forks with big swoopy rakes? More generally, instead of using fork rake why not just tighten up the head tube and install a fork with no rake at all? Does offsetting ht angle with increased rake have some desirable side effect?
Dave Moulton has a couple of articles on his blog that may help. One discusses the HISTORY (http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/trail-fork-rake-and-little-bit-of.html) of fork rake and trail, while the other is about HEAD TUBE ANGLES AND STEERING (http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/head-angles-and-steering.html).
mander
05-28-07, 12:42 PM
Awesome links! Thanks scooper.