Lurker's V-twin build

I must admit to not being aware of the importance of trail and rake until it was brought up in this thread. Lurker has since remedied it, but i have been wondering what would be the likely outcome of Lurker hadnt fixed it?

Im not trying to dispute whats been said but ive seen custom bikes chopped, with as far as i know, little thought put into rake and trail. I realise these bikes probably arent ridden hard or often.

I guess my question is if Lurker hadnt fixed it would his bike be outright dangerous or just have certain bad traits, for example a disc brake will outbrake a drum brake and therefore safer, but if youre aware of the extra braking distance required a drum brake setup is fine.

As i said im not trying to dispute, more so trying to understand.
 
harry, I read somewhere that not enough trail can cause speed wobble. After reading that I did a search on youtube for "motorcycle speed wobble", after watching one video I immediately started to figure out how to correct my trail issue. As for those custom bike I am assuming that you mean bicycle, if that's the case most of those bikes look almost imposable to ride regardless of the trail and rake. As I understand it trail only really come in to effect at 25+mph I highly doubt a custom chopper bicycle would ever reach that speed.

Also here is a up date on my progress. I finished the head tube and installed the gusset behind it; the gusset is 1/4" thick. Please pardon my ugly mig welds I still need to do some clean up.
 

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Sorry i should have been more clear, i was referring to custom motorcycles. Ive seen people cut near the headtube..... and i know OCC arent the best people to learn from, but i recall watching an episode of American Chopper, and they cut the headtube and moved it with little regard (i cant recall the reason they had to move it). Once again i know OCC arent a good example as they would rarely be ridden, but i have seen it done by better builders.
 
Harry, long before you could order a custom premade frame for a motorcycle guys were cutting and raking frames by cutting a V-notch in the top and bottom just behind the neck, heating up the remaining section and by placing a bar through the neck for leverage they would pull the neck back at the top, weld it together and add a filler in the bottom notch. This was done so you could run extended forks without lifting the front of the frame way up. Years ago I did this to Triumph's when we chopped them and ran long front ends
 
Like the gusset between back bone and down tube, that will add alot of strength to the works,the bike is begining to resemble an Exselcior,
What color are you going to paint it when all is said and done?
 
Whozawhat said:
Harry, long before you could order a custom premade frame for a motorcycle guys were cutting and raking frames by cutting a V-notch in the top and bottom just behind the neck, heating up the remaining section and by placing a bar through the neck for leverage they would pull the neck back at the top, weld it together and add a filler in the bottom notch. This was done so you could run extended forks without lifting the front of the frame way up. Years ago I did this to Triumph's when we chopped them and ran long front ends
Click to expand...

Yeah thats what i was getting at, you just worded it better then i could :-)
 
Theres no mistaking that VTwin sound. Nice work Lurker, betcha cant get that smile off your face. Sounds AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks guys,
It sounds even better than I expected, and the power.... wow its kinda scary. My roommate told me he was sitting at his computer and when I started the bike the whole house shook. That made my day.
 
WoW !

Very nice, Lurker!!!

Reminds me of the old 45's I had back when... and it's probably got more power! lol

Will you register it for hiway using some old mc frame?
'New construction' would probably require fancy turn sigs and epa compliance.

Best
rc
 
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