Standard Road Bike Fork Rake

Things move fast in the world of bicycle engineering and the fork offset conversation has grown tremendously over the past few years.

Standard road bike fork rake.

The product of the head tube angle and the fork rake is the trail. Bicycle forks usually have an offset or rake not to be confused with a different use of the word rake in the motorcycle world that places the fork ends forward of the steering axis this is achieved by curving the blades forward angling straight blades forward or. To understand fork rake imagine a straight line continuing from the centre of the fork s steerer tube all the way to the ground. The fork offset is the perpendicular distance from the steering axis to the center of the front wheel.

Let s talk about trail to understand the rest. It is the difference between the fork rake or offset and the steering axis. The combination of head angle fork rake and trail has a significant impact on the handling of the bike. The amount that the fork is offset from this imaginary line is known as fork rake in road bikes or fork offset in mountain.

In bicycles fork offset is also called fork rake. A 2007 nevada classic 750 with a rake of 27 5 fork offset. Fork rake comparison for 57cm bikes. Offset length width steerer tube length and steerer tube diameter.

This is what really influences how a bike will react to rider input. So most shallow angle bikes have plenty of fork offset to compensate. Trail is a key determining factor for how a bike handles. Where people get confused is with the inverse relationship between rake and trail.

Generally less rake will shorten the wheelbase and result in more nervous handling a characteristic often sought by race riders battling. Cane creek offers their forks in the two standard offsets 44mm and 51mm. Generally speaking with a proper fork rake to yield a trail from 55 to 60 mm of trail the head angles in this range are fairly stable at high speeds. Touring forks 45 52mm road forks 40 45mm cx forks 45mm.

It is unhelpful however to consider the angle of the headtube in isolation. Fork rake or fork offset is a key factor in the handling of a bike. Fork rake and offset. Fork offset or rake is a key aspect of how to alter a bikes handling.

Head tube angles range from 71 5 degrees to 74 5 degrees. Forks have several key dimensions which include. Fork rake offset and trail. As rake increases trail.

Road racing bicycle forks have an offset of 40 50 mm 1 6 2 0 in. Mrp s long travel 27 5 inch forks go down to 39mm and also come in a 44mm offset.