Raking out...

[gothtec]

I was clearing some of my old pictures off the computer when I came accross some home made raked out yokes.

How would you go about making these? As I would like to get a little rake on the rat, but the pictures didn't tell the whole story.

[devon-tony]

drill the holes wonky!!

nah sorry seriuosly best bet is wait for rob or someone to reply, hes pretty clever at these thinngs

[trikerdrew]

this covers it from www.cb750choppers.com

Pursuant to the many requests we have received on the web site concerning a proper chop & rake job, I offer you the following techniques that we have used successfully on three of the bikes you see on the site.

Dan’s 77 is a 12" over stock – Russ’ 73 is a 6" over stock - Mikes CB550 which is a 10" over stock. Both Russ’ and Dan’s are stock Honda frames, with the tail section lowered and the down tubes stretched. The procedures are as follows and will work on any frame with down tubes (or down tube – see Steves 650 savage).

1. Lower the rear where you think you would like it. Don’t be afraid – go ahead, take off those shocks. On Russ’ 750 and mikes 550, we removed the coil over springs from the stock rear shocks and J-B welded them in the squashed position, basically turning them into struts. Dan still wanted suspension in the rear, so he installed a pair of shock lowers to the swing arm (available from JC Whitney). As you can see from the photo, it was still too high. So, we tossed the lowering kit and 2" from the shock stem, re-threaded it and then removed 2" from the coil over springs and re-assembled the shocks. They look 100% cooler. Another option for the rear section is the weld on or bolt on rear section. I have seen a few bikes with this type of set up and it looked great. You can purchase the rear section (originally designed for Harleys) from JP Cycles 1-800-397-4844 or Triumph tail sections from British Cycle supply 1-902-542-7478 (Canada). Ahhh, But Santa, I have a HONDA – how will these parts work? Well how determined are you? It sometimes takes a little engineering, but trust me, they work.

Well, now that you have gotten your hind end on and sitting how you like it…. Lets rake the front….

2. The next step is to order longer fork tubes. Tubes are available from Forks by Frank (1-847-475-1003) for under 200.00 / pair and they are very good quality and very good looking… Also, we have lines on other parts like fork tubes, coffin tanks, Z bars and numerous other items that can aid in the mutilation process. E:mail Russ for more info on parts that you are looking for. Or contact Ed Allyn at Allyn Air Co. (914-679-2051) (Tell him I said to call...)

3. Install the long fork tubes on your freshly lowered stock frame. Holy Cow Martha – That there bikes a pointed strait up in the air! - no kidding? Now it is time to get out the sawsall.

4. Cut the down tubes. Actually, I have used a sawsall and pipe cutter both, and the pipe cutter leaves a much more accurate cut. Which looks better and makes it easier to weld on. Oh yeah, take your exhaust pipes off first, then cut the frame. I like to make the cuts about an inch below the guseting that molds the down tubes to the headstock. CUT IT! Go on - its very permanent, but it probably won’t kill you!?! Now, THIS IS IMPORTANT! There is nothing in the world more irritating (except maybe my ex-wife) than an improper rake job, and I have seen hundreds of them so PAY ATTENTION!

5. Now that the exhaust is gone and the tubes are cut, get one or two of your favorite fat people to sit on the bike. Now do this on a flat level surface (like a garage floor). Get a 4x4 and put it under the motor to keep it from going all the way to the floor. As the engine begins to sink to the floor, your head stock starts moving up and out at the same time. Don’t let the fat dudes push it too far! You will need to push the motor down until the bottom frame tubes are once again parallel to the floor. DON’T OVER DO IT because it looks stupid. Don’t under-do it either because that is really ugly! "TIP" look at the Honda logo on the alternator cover and on the point's cover. The logo should be perfectly parallel to the surface that you are working on. Just like it used to be when Honda manufactured it. - One more time folks - all logos, and engine frame cradle tubing must be parallel to the surface your parked on. Now, before the fat guys get off the bike---- measure the new gap in your down tubes! Write it down somewhere! OK fat dudes, off the bike and pull the motor out…. With the motor out of the way and no fat guys on the back of the bike, the gap in the tubes closed up some huh? Not to worry – you wrote down how many inches the gap was right? Good. Now, for the sake of cosmetics, get out the pipe cutter again. Take a piece of tape and put it on both of your down tubes just below the cut and label them left and right. Just below the front motor mounts, right before the down tubes bend to go under the motor, cut the rest of the down tubes out. Holy Cow Batman! Someone has just destroyed my bike!!! Just Kidding!….. Now, it’s time to measure the two pieces you just cut out and make sure you ADD the amount of the original gap that I told you to write down. (you did write it down didn’t you). Make your new down tubes this length. That is --- Left down tube + GAP = new left down tube -- right down tube + GAP = new right down tube. Oh by the way, go to the pipe store and pick up some down tube pipes as close as you can find to the stock diameter. Also pick up a foot worth of sleeve pipe to slide INSIDE of the new down tubes at the joint weld area.

Right about now you notice that your newly manufactured down tubes are never going to fit inside the opening you have created. Don’t panic! Get out your favorite hydraulic jack and some pieces of lumber and put it all in the engine cavity. Jack the frame back open to accept your new down tubes. You will notice that your new tubes will need to be ground at an angle so as to touch the frame tubes where they meet, so you will have a nice complete area to weld on all the way around. Take your four inside sleeves (one top and one bottom for each side) and slide them into the new tubes and set the tubes in place. Tack the tubes in with your handy dandy welder. Now you can toss the jack. Listen, this is important! IF YOU CAN'T WELD, FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN! Your life depends on it! Oh yeah, if you were thinking about not sleeving the tubes to the frame internally – think again. The frame tubing is so thin, it is prone to burning through, so just do it right and sleep better at night. I have butt-welded these together before, but it does make me nervous. The internal sleeve helps add body to an otherwise "semi-scary" modification. Oh yeah, now you can grind it, bondo it, paint it and slap it back together. The end results will be very exciting!.

Hope you enjoy…

John Houston

[Blackjack]

Ummm...

No it doesn't, that's how you stretch the downtubes, not how you make raked yokes!

Still a sensible way to add a little rake though and probably the easiest way to do it too.

Thing is, with a down tube stretch, or raking the headstock, you increase the trail.

Trying to achieve the same effect by raking the yokes, shortens the trail and can make it a negative value.

So randomly selected rakes in yokes have the potential to make the bike dangerous, or even unridable.

You want to kick the front out a little, and make the bike sit a little lower, stretch the downtubes.

[gothtec]

>>>You want to kick the front out a little, and make the bike sit a little lower, stretch the downtubes.>>>

Yeah that what I want, just kick out the front and keep the forks (I like the design). Just to get the bike to sit lower. I'm already going to replace the rear shocks with shorter ones (when They need replacing).

I didn't want to chop the frame (wanted to keep original), but if thats the easiest, I have one of the 100% magazines that does a good job of going through it.

Its just these pictures of yokes that I have that look interesting.

Thanks for the replies.

[trikerdrew]

If you ain't keen on chopping your frame could get another off ebay.

Blackjack raises a good point about trail.Sounds dead tech but he covered it in an article I think.

Can't find it so it is at work.Here is a yanks idea of it
http://www.chopperhandbook.com/neatstuff/rakeandtrail.htm

Yokes are bl##dy expensive.That or I'm just a tight git!

Drew

[noizy git]

Yes Blackjack raised a very good point about trail, the less trail you have the less stable your bike becomes particularly at speed. Reduced trail can be a good thing on a sports bike where you might want it turn in quicker but when it becomes negative trail it makes the front end want to turn onto full lock all the time.As you can imagine this is definitely NOT a good thing and I know of one guy who was very lucky to survive learning this lesson the hard way :eek: