Rake kits

Being new to a full-blown trike I've got a question to you trike owners or anyone for that matter. How can I tell if our new to us 2005 Goldwing GL1800 with Monarch II trike has a rake kit? First of all, it has been a trike since it had 1 mile on it according to the title. It's not hard to steer, but then I didn't think our red bike with the Tow Pac Insta-trike kit on it was either. Just seems like it takes a little more push-pull in a hard corner than I was expecting. I hear/read all these reports that a rake kit makes it like power steering. Are they blowing smoke or? Is there a measurement I can take to tell if the front end is raked?

alwims said:

Being new to a full-blown trike I've got a question to you trike owners or anyone for that matter. How can I tell if our new to us 2005 Goldwing GL1800 with Monarch II trike has a rake kit? First of all, it has been a trike since it had 1 mile on it according to the title. It's not hard to steer, but then I didn't think our red bike with the Tow Pac Insta-trike kit on it was either. Just seems like it takes a little more push-pull in a hard corner than I was expecting. I hear/read all these reports that a rake kit makes it like power steering. Are they blowing smoke or? Is there a measurement I can take to tell if the front end is raked?

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Alwims, Lehman used a 3 degree until around 2005. Then they went to a 4 or 5 degree. The standard OEM tree is painted black and the lower tree is cast steel. Most aftermarket trees, raked or otherwise, are aluminum and mostly unpainted. Use a magnet on the lower tree....

Lee H. Mann said:

Alwims, Lehman used a 3 degree until around 2005. Then they went to a 4 or 5 degree. The standard OEM tree is painted black and the lower tree is cast steel. Most aftermarket trees, raked or otherwise, are aluminum and mostly unpainted. Use a magnet on the lower tree....

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Thanks so much. The lady I got it from found the paperwork where they purchased it and it's got a 5 degree rake kit on it. I rode my 08 with the Tow Pac kit just to compare and the 05 Lehman is a bit easier to steer. BTW Lee, do you all have the Monarch II letters that glue on the lower right of the trunk? This is a "barn Find" and some of the letters have fallen off and disappeared. I've attached a few pics of it all cleaned up.

Nice barn find .. try flea bay for the letters

alwims said:

Thanks so much. The lady I got it from found the paperwork where they purchased it and it's got a 5 degree rake kit on it. I rode my 08 with the Tow Pac kit just to compare and the 05 Lehman is a bit easier to steer. BTW Lee, do you all have the Monarch II letters that glue on the lower right of the trunk? This is a "barn Find" and some of the letters have fallen off and disappeared. I've attached a few pics of it all cleaned up.

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I will look in the morning......

alwims said:

Thanks so much. The lady I got it from found the paperwork where they purchased it and it's got a 5 degree rake kit on it. I rode my 08 with the Tow Pac kit just to compare and the 05 Lehman is a bit easier to steer. BTW Lee, do you all have the Monarch II letters that glue on the lower right of the trunk? This is a "barn Find" and some of the letters have fallen off and disappeared. I've attached a few pics of it all cleaned up.

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I looked and no find !!!!!!!

You can call Champion/Lehman, they use the same. Tell them you have a 2015 Monarch II, because they don't support any Lehman parts before 2014.

Looking at the pictures, it doesn't appear to have an E-Z Steer on it.

Alwims …

... Nice Trike! …

... but what color are the triple trees? Painted or bare aluminum?

Lee H. Mann said:

Looking at the pictures, it doesn't appear to have an E-Z Steer on it.

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I thought same, those fork tubes do look very steep, like OEM. Front fender/tire is tucked way back into cowl. Don't see much space between lower cowl and front tire. Five (5) degrees would show more space, surely the PO didn't pay for ... and then not receive the 5 degree setup? Rare I'm sure, but it could be?Just as an example, below pics: Red is my trike, a 1500 with stockfront end. Blue is a friends trike, also a 1500 in same parking lot in 2004, but his had a 6 degree EZSteer kit. You can see what a rake kit does. Compare tire / fender to lower cowl. This was back in 2004 before I ordered & added a 6 degree EZSteer kit to mine, after riding his in that parking lot.

Sorry, I just got back to this thread. Not getting notices of replies for some reason. I'll check all the questions in the morning.