Front End Rake

[skeet]

If the rake more on the 2007 to the earlier bike? Has that made any difference in handling? A sales person told me the 06-08 handled better due to an increase in the rake? And it was a woman telling me this...

Skeet

Still searching...

[ringadingh]

According to Kawis brochures back then they did change the rake a bit to make the low speed handling better.I havn't riddin a newer Nomad so I can't say as to how much better it is over the pre 06's.

[macmac]

I had a 01 and have a 06. The 06 handles a bit better at less than a walk... On the other hand it isn't rock steady at 65 mph like the 1500 is. It's close though.

At walk speed my '04 is wandering at every little bump. At 100 MPH it's a brick. I'll suffer the wander myself, even though I ride stop & go every day.

[dantama]

The change was made in the 05 1600's, and continue through the 08's.

I went from a 99 to an 05 and could feel the difference at low speeds like others are saying. But both bikes were great at low speeds.

I test rode a Honda VTX 1800 when I had my 99, I couldn't believe how awkward the VTX was at parking lot speeds compared to the Nomad.

So no matter which one you have, it's better than a lot of other bikes out there.

[siderider]

Now this is a subjecty that I know about. I ride a sidecar rig and it is attached to a 2003 classic 1500. I wanted it to steer a little easier and the trail is the problem. I checked and measured it ten times and came up witha figure of just about 5 inches. Now trail ios what makes a bike stable at speed or easy to steer at a walk.

I also have a 99 Nomad and the tables list it at the same 32 Degree rake as the classic, but it has a trail figure of about 6.5 inches. I have checked every web site I could and the trail figure is diffwerant from site to site and also year to year and yet the neck angle on the frame is always 32 degrees. I think the difference must be in typos or else the trees are raked from the factory?

I measured the NOmad and the classic and since the both have the same size tire (16 inch) and the same frame rake (32 degreees) you would assume that the trail would be indentical but it is not and I measured ten times ten times without a clue as to why. I gues I will have to take the trees out or off the Nad to measure when I do the fork springs.

kawasakis web site lists the nomads trail at 7.2 inches (which is a lot) 16 inch tires have different heights depending on the tire size. The 2008 ridgeback chopper from bigdog has 39 deg. frame rake + 3 deg. of tree rake and lists the trail at 4.35 inches.



Here's a calculator: http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/advchoppercalc.html

Here's a good article on the subject: http://www.performanceoiltechnology...._and_trail.htm