Sportster Racing 27° Deraking Kit, Quik Turn Gen ll
A racing product designed for short dirt tracks and twisty roads
- Fits 1988-2022 Sportsters with 39mm forks
- Will not fit rubber frames after 2003 with narrow ID necks
Some later model Sportsters round 2002 may have heads IDs that are smaller than the early frames. If the ID of your head is noticeably less than 1.74” and the OD of the head is less than 2¼”, this kit won’t fit.
This kit is designed for stock trees or those of the same thickness. Kit includes:
- Fork concentric cups, one top & one bottom
- Neck bearings and races, two
- New fork stem, one
Machined from high carbon steel and plated for corrosion resistance. High quality bearings and races, too.
My original QuikTurn kit was 545 bucks. This Gen ll kit is a smarter design and sells for $345 and requires no welding to install.
The Sportster Racing QuikTurn-Gen ll 27° DeRaking kit is a product for those who race Hooligan Sportsters on dirt tracks. It works supremely well on short tracks. It can benefit road riders who enjoy very curvy roads. The kit won’t necessarily benefit a regular street bike except in slow parking lot cornering.
Sportsters are big, heavy motorcycles with a long 30° fork angle designed for stable road riding. The weight of the chassis and stock fork angle are designed to self-straighten in cornering. An attempt to put a stock Sportster on a short track will reveal a bike that pushes high into corners. Slow, awkward and difficult handling is the result. You shouldn’t bother racing with a stock front end--it’s that bad.
A steeper fork angle allows the motorcycle to “fall” into race corners for quicker and easier turning. A bike with a steeper fork does handle bumps and ruts well. I would be very cautious about extreme high speeds with an altered front end steeper than 26.5°. Do what you can to maintain an angle at or above 26.5° angle. 25° is the absolute maximum alteration. See the handling chart (below) that plots fork angles with different variables.
Drop, chop and squirt
If you have prior short track experience and have mastered “sliding” into corners, this kit will be a happy addition to your ability to countersteer. This means steering to the right as you turn left with a spinning rear wheel.
As you enter a corner, lean the bike down to the inside, chop the throttle and quickly apply power. The back end moves out to the right as it loses traction because the rear tire patch is reduced and the front end is loaded. You steer right so the bike doesn’t spin around in a circle and pitch you into the ether. This whole business of sliding into and part way through a corner allows you to redirect the bike faster than a competitor who drives all the way around a corner before accelerating in corners 2 & 4 with an unaltered frame. Your drive and acceleration distance will be longer than his and you will beat him to the next corner all other factors being equal. If you don’t know how to ‘slide’ you will be able to learn it with this kit and experiment during pre-race practice. (As you become comfortable with sliding, the drop/chop/squirt thing will turn into one smooth motion.)
There are vendors out there offering insanely priced “trick” triple trees. Don’t buy ‘em. These products only move the fork assembly forward or rearward from the steering head but maintain the same stock fork angle. Pro teams use these trees on long tracks but they are not needed for short tracks under a half mile. Again, these trees do not make steering easier or faster. The only way quicker steering can be achieved is to alter the fork angle. This kit will help you win against stock Sportsters.
Installation steps
- Install stem into your lower tree. This photo is the bottom stem end, Secure stem into tree. Align cut-out so it matches the steering head lock position. A nice feature should you need to secure your bike when you go for a hamburger.
Stem has machined cut out for fork lock
Stem bottom with ¼-20 threads
Stem top accepts stock bolt and washer
- Slobber the bearings and races and set on a clean rag near your work area
- Clean the steering head bottom thoroughly. Test fit the snugness of your bottom concentric cup in the steering head. It is machined for a press fit. If the bottom cup is sloppy, you’ll need to drill a 3/16” hole through the steering head and part way into cup to lock the two together with a 3/16” roll pin. The roll pin must be deep enough to create strength from banging of the steering stops on your lower tree. Don’t drill into the bearing area. Not good! Position so the fat steering stop tab is straight forward. Install cup in tree.
Top of bottom cup shown - Slide bearing down the stem with the wide lip down
- Top concentric cup, install in top of steering head. Look for a small dot on this part.
Align the dot dead forward - Insert the bottom tree with stem and lower bearing up through holes in both concentric cups.
- Install the upper bearing, lip up in cup.
- Install top tree and loosely affix washer and stem nut.
- Install forks with axle (with or without wheel) and secure everything. High strength (red) threadlocker is a good idea.
Removing the kit
Remove trees. You’ll notice a hole in the lower cup. Use a cylindrical drift, insert in hole to encourage the top cup to move up and out.
The variables of altering frame geometry
You will have moved your fork angle back 3° with this kit. This is general information derived from accepted flat track knowledge. The results of any changes are on you and you become responsible for any outcome, good/bad or safe/dangerous. You know racing is a dangerous activity because you do it and have observed (or have heard about) negative happenstances. The Quick turn kit moves fork rake back approximately 3°.
1. Stock Sportster 2000 OEM
Wheelbase 60”
Stock shocks 11-7/8”
Rake 29.6°
Great road stability. Awful on the track
2. Sportster w/ 15” shocks
Wheelbase 60”
New Shocks 15”
Rake 28°
Fine for street. A tiny advantage on the track
3. Sportster w/ 15” shocks & 1” dropped trees
Wheelbase 59”
Shocks 15”
Rake 27°
Now you're getting closer to the magic 26.5° or 25°
4. Sportster w/ 15” shocks & 27° Quick Steer Kit
Wheelbase 59”
Shocks 15”
Rake 25.5°
Ideal for FT racing. Slightly reduced streetability. Remember under 25° has the potential for high speed wobbles. Not particularly safe on street or long tracks.