Champion EZSteer or Trike Shop Rake?

1.5 degree :shrug:

The difference will be in the degree of ease of steering. The 3 will be easer to steer than stock, and the 4.5 will be even easer than the 3. It has to do with the distance that the front tire is moved forward to obtain the difference in trail from stock which in turn reduces the effort to physically turn the wheel while it is moving at different speeds. The more the rake (greater trail) the easer it is to steer to a point. Handling to some with a 4.5 seems twitchy and overly sensitive, but with time they get use to it, and don't notice it. I think that the 4.5 is the most common. There are up to 6 degree steering kits available. Those are mostly used on the longer Trike Kits like the Trike Shop.

As George said, it depends on how easy you want to make your steering. Since I have a disability that limits my arm strength to about a 7 yr. olds, I needed all the help I can get. My choice was the 5.5 degree kit, never had less so to me the steering is "normal". If you had less and went to this you would probably say, "Man that's twitchy". But if you start riding a trike with a kit in it before you ever ride without one, the steering effort is your "norm" so you never know different. I say go with what most others with your kit have on.

My installer put on a champion 4.5 on my trike shop. I like it just fine.

KJ5IX said:

1.5 degree :shrug:

The difference will be in the degree of ease of steering. The 3 will be easer to steer than stock, and the 4.5 will be even easer than the 3. It has to do with the distance that the front tire is moved forward to obtain the difference in trail from stock which in turn reduces the effort to physically turn the wheel while it is moving at different speeds. The more the rake (greater trail) the easer it is to steer to a point. Handling to some with a 4.5 seems twitchy and overly sensitive, but with time they get use to it, and don't notice it. I think that the 4.5 is the most common. There are up to 6 degree steering kits available. Those are mostly used on the longer Trike Kits like the Trike Shop.

Click to expand...

Not a big deal...but I think you got it backwards George.
It gets a little confusing when you are working with trikes.
The rake is actually calculated using the angle of the steering neck....
And increasing the angle of the steering neck will result in increasing trail.
But to change the trail for a trike...you don't want to cut and weld the neck on the frame.
So, they use a shortcut that is called a raked triple tree.
When it's done this way... increasing the angle of the fork tubes actually decreases the trail.
The less trail you have , the easier it is to steer... but the less stable it is at speed.
Your stock wing has close to 4 inches of trail while the modified trike triple trees shorten that trail to about 2 inches.

Go with at least the 4.5 degree!!!

I rode 12K without EZ Steer and then went with a 4.5 degree and rode another 18K. Makes a lot of difference...mine is not "twitchy or whatever"....steers very well. I bought my triple tree from Motor Trike. I heard they get them from Champion....no matter....it works!!

I have the Champion EZ Steer....great in curves and slow speed turns. I had a valkyrie trike without additonal rake...good for the muscle building

"rake"

I had the 3 degree on a Trike Shop and now a 4+ degree on Trike Shop. (new bike) If I did not know it, I probably could not tell the difference. Honest! They are spendy but a must have.

My friend has the Trike Shop rake and is unable to lock the handlebars. I don't know if this is the norm, but would be enough to say yes to the Champion E-Z Steer.

Rake

I went from OEM to Champion 4 1/2 to Trikeshop 5 1/2. Also added Champion fork extenders, progressive springs and short preload sleaves. I did theses things one at a time and will not remove any of them. This combination works great for me on my Hannigan.

When I got my Trike Shop done late 2007, the price page did not list the 5.5 kit. I got 3 degree. I thought it steered a little hard when I got it but I'm used to it now. Probably would have went with 5.5 but no plans to change as of now.