This term is incorrect and often misunderstood in the motorcycle industry. Properly speaking this is “Head Angle” or “Neck Angle”. It is the angle that the steering stem of the triple trees goes thru the frame. Our special tooling can provide any steering head angle from 30 to 70 degrees.

Effect on handling: Generally speaking the steeper the head angle (lower number) or more that the head is vertical the faster the handling is on the bike. A HD softail funs a 30-degree head angle. For an excellent handling and looking bike we have found that 35 degrees of head angle works well. 

As head angles increase to 38 degrees and up many people end up with an ill handling bike due to incorrect trail and at low speeds the wheel will want to flop over. This can be corrected with degreed triple trees and should be calculated before ordering a frame to end up with the best handling motorcycle possible. Many things change the trail on a motorcycle, head angle, triple tree offset, fork length, wheel diameter and tire size. 

On a motorcycle as you increase the trail above 7” the bike will be stable at low speeds,  the tire will not want to flop over but at high speeds the bike will want to stand vertical and not want to lean over, it will give you the feeling that the handle bars are rock hard and resist turning.

As the tail becomes less than 2” the bike will feel just the opposite of the above scenario. The front tire will want to flop over at low speeds and the handlebars will feel lighter and the bike will be more maneuverable at higher speeds.

Our bikes are set up in what we call the sweet spot and produce an excellent handling motorcycle.