Question on fork height vs handling

[wanaride]

Would someone kindly explain the relationship between fork height in the triple clamp and handling/headshake?

The higher the fork in the triple clamp...the lower the front end height...what does this do to the handling characteristics?

Let's presume that the forks are sprung correctly and that a steering damper is NOT on the bike.

Thanks!

 

[trailryder]

this is what us old school bmx'ers refer to as "rake and trail". In a nutshell if you slide the fork tubes down as far as they will go(fork caps even with top of triple clamp) you will raise the front end.This makes the bike slower turning and more stable at higher speeds with less possible headshake. Sliding the fork tubes up into the triple clamps(fork caps hit bottom of handlebar) will make a quicker turning bike ,lower front end, and possiblly more head shake. I'm guessing the stock position from the factory is the best comprimise.(sp) In the tight northeastern woods I tend to quicken the steering a bit....;. headshake can be caused by a bunch of other things too. hope this helps

 

[Rhodester]

I have my forks (not the caps) virtually flush with the tops of the triple clamp. I have no head shake and the bike turns great. It is however a little squirrelly over gnarly ground at very high speed. That would indicate to me that the head angle is about as steep as it can get without head shake. BTW, I run 3mm of preload with XR400 type springs.