New to forum and riding.. Rake on a 2001 RSV with triwing conversion

[ffmedic3444]

Hello all I purchased a 2001 RSV Trike. It is my first bike/trike. I road dirt bikes as a kid but never street bikes. The guys at fire department go on trips and I figured I would join them. So heres my question... The front end wobbles at low speeds clears up around 25mph. At any rate I have read and researched through forum and theres a lot of information tire pressures reverse the tire rotation rake it out 6 degrees. I would appreciate any guidance. Thank you in advance

 

Jesse

[Freebird]

First thing I would check would be the current tire. Run your hand along the outer part of the tread and see if it is cupped. Then I would check the steering head bearings and make sure they are not loose.

[Kybigmac]

Most all of the trikes I have ridden do that to some extent. But that being said,worn or cupped front tires can cause this,also loose steering head bearings . Steering head bearings need to be tighter than on 2 wheelers . There's another forum called 'Trike Talk' that I am on a lot ,you might benefit from checking that site out!

Good luck with your new trike and enjoy the ride.

[ffmedic3444]

Thank you very much for the info and I joined the trike forum as well. I will check tire and start there. I honestly dont know how old the tires are I know the trike sat for several years per previous owner.

[cecdoo]

I have the RSV with the hannigan kit, it will shake its head at low speeds on uneven roads or if I hit a bump, but it doesnt shake all the time at low speeds. Tire pressure seems to be pretty important on trikes, and steering head bearing tightness. Contact Carbon1, Larry is his name and he is pretty sharp on trikes.

 

Craig

[ffmedic3444]

I have the RSV with the hannigan kit, it will shake its head at low speeds on uneven roads or if I hit a bump, but it doesnt shake all the time at low speeds. Tire pressure seems to be pretty important on trikes, and steering head bearing tightness. Contact Carbon1, Larry is his name and he is pretty sharp on trikes.

 

Craig

 

Thanks Craig I will most certainly contact him. I am in FL on gulf coast near Ft Myers I am looking for a mechanic as well.

 

Jesse

[snyper316]

Thank you very much for the info and I joined the trike forum as well. I will check tire and start there. I honestly dont know how old the tires are I know the trike sat for several years per previous owner.

 

You should look on the outside walls of your tires, there will be an oval with date code. IE (0914) the first two is the week and the last two digits are the year. So 9 weeks would be roughly march of 2014...

[ffmedic3444]

Thanks Snyper316 I am checking pressures and dates as we speak. Thanks for the information.

 

Jesse

[bongobobny]

Yup, front tires on a trike wear out very quickly unless you ALWAYS travel in a straight line! Because a trike does not lean, every time you turn the front tire skids sideways long with turning the bike's direction, so they cup very easily! Also, oscillation is a common inherent issue with any trike! Ideally, if you could find a car tire to fit on the front it would cure a lot of the handling issues as what you need is a flat profile tire rather than a round profile when looking at it from the front. Unfortunately, finding the right size is impossible! You cold check into sidecar tires but once again finding the right size is very difficult without changing to a different rim size.

 

Now, what we usually do is find a REAR tire in the appropriate size and mount them backwards (because of the thrust characteristics on the cords of a front tire vs a rear) so that the tire will wear a longer time, but even then the cupping becomes an issue. On my trike, a front tire lasted about one season before it was worn out, and with a rear tire I got 2 seasons out of it, and it still had plenty of tread but it had to be replaced because of cupping.

 

Right now I am considering finding an 18" Stratoliner rim which is a direct bolt on and try to find an appropriate flat profile tire...

[kantornado]

I own a 2007 Venture with a triwing conversion and a 4.5 degree Hannigan easy steer. 6 degree is to much I was told by the experts. I do love this Hannigan and it steers like it has power steering.

I would really like to find a car tire to mount on the front. When I ordered from Hannigan they told me it was a 6 degree but the installer checked it and it is a 4.5 degree he called them and they

said it must of been labeled wrong. This would be a useless post without pics so here are 2. I run 40 psi front and 25 psi rear and it is excellent. If your front tire gets low it will shake or wobble

at low speeds. 2 wheeled bike will do the same if front tire gets low.

Edited January 21, 2018 by kantornado