scorpion recumbent trike

Why not the Catrike? That's what I ended up buying. Consistently high
ratings from the bent world. Their CaTrike TRAIL Model at about 31lbs and
US$ 2000 or so could be shipped easily. I got the CaTrike ROAD model. I know
what you mean about justifying the costs etc. I test road two wheel bents
and the trikes. I knew right away that I had found my new bike. Anybody who
tries one will "get it".

"Erik Sandblom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:op.tnul87xczubk0m@toshiba...

Quoted message said:

Hello

A few days ago I had my first ride on a recumbent, and I'm in love. It was
snowy and slippy, so I didn't try the two-wheeler, only the three-wheeler.
Me and the trike got on very well, and I flew down the street at unsafe
speed right off the bat. Fortunately nothing happened, and I soon realised
how easily I was corrupted in the comfy embrace of this seductive wonder.

I liked the Scorpion's low seat, 26cm from the ground, and the fact that
you don't need to balance, and the superior comfort compared to an
upright.

I'm no longer trying to justify the cost, I just want one. Problem is,
which one? The only commercially available recumbents for hundreds of km
are the HP Velotechnik Scorpion and StreetMachine. From articles in
VeloVision, the ICE trikes are essentially equivalent, so it's not worth a
trip abroad to try one.

I'll try the two-wheeled StreetMachine once the roads are dry, but I
suspect I'll end up getting the Scorpion. It doesn't matter to me that a
bike would be faster, I doubt it would be as much fun. If I had a long
commute I might appreciate saving some time, but I don't, so I won't.

Then there's the issue of getting it in and out of the basement. I need to
measure that carefully. Perhaps tilting the trike on edge?

I'm essentially looking for a pat on the back. If at some point I find
something I like better then the Scorpion, I'm betting it's a common
enough trike that I could recoup a fair bit of the investment.

Aiolos has a folding recumbent which might be practical on trains, I might
consider that in the future (there are none here to try out). The folding
trikes seem too bulky for anything but a car trunk, but a folding
recumbent bike might be small enough to interest me.

Erik Sandblom
--
Oil is for sissies

If you don't already know, there's a lot of very useful info on 'Bentrider
Online (http://www.bentrideronline.com/)

HTH

I tried the Trice and the Scorpion at the york rally. Both are loads
of fun. I did demonstrate just how easy it is to roll the Scorpion
though..

twice..

Some people never learn.

...d

Erik Sandblom said:

I'm no longer trying to justify the cost, I just want one. Problem is,
which one? The only commercially available recumbents for hundreds of km
are the HP Velotechnik Scorpion and StreetMachine. From articles in
VeloVision, the ICE trikes are essentially equivalent, so it's not worth
a trip abroad to try one.

Ideally you should try everything, but of course that's not possible.
Even if you live in NL in easy reach of many it's impossible to try
everything as you'd spend too *much* time testing! But if you've tried
what you can get and you're happy with it then that puts you ahead of
the game.

Quoted message said:

I'll try the two-wheeled StreetMachine once the roads are dry, but I
suspect I'll end up getting the Scorpion. It doesn't matter to me that a
bike would be faster, I doubt it would be as much fun. If I had a long
commute I might appreciate saving some time, but I don't, so I won't.

The Streetmachine is not a particularly quick bike (though the narrower
track will get it through traffic much more easily), and if you get a
lot of snow and ice a trike will have clear advantages. However, don't
assume that a bike is less fun up front of trying the bike. Personally,
I'm somewhat bemused by the "trikes are more fun" angle: I've ridden a
few and they were great but I've not seen any reason of "more fun" to
gain an extra wheel so far. The only way to be sure is try both.

Quoted message said:

Then there's the issue of getting it in and out of the basement. I need
to measure that carefully. Perhaps tilting the trike on edge?

Note that the Scorpion is now available in a folding model called the
fx. That might make life easier. You'll need to account for dimensions
and lugging it for a Streetmachine too, they're not the easiest bikes to
cart around in your hands.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Erik Sandblom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:op.tnul87xczubk0m@toshiba...

Quoted message said:

Hello

A few days ago I had my first ride on a recumbent, and I'm in love. It was
snowy and slippy, so I didn't try the two-wheeler, only the three-wheeler.
Me and the trike got on very well, and I flew down the street at unsafe
speed right off the bat. Fortunately nothing happened, and I soon realised
how easily I was corrupted in the comfy embrace of this seductive wonder.

I liked the Scorpion's low seat, 26cm from the ground, and the fact that
you don't need to balance, and the superior comfort compared to an
upright.

I'm no longer trying to justify the cost, I just want one. Problem is,
which one? The only commercially available recumbents for hundreds of km
are the HP Velotechnik Scorpion and StreetMachine. From articles in
VeloVision, the ICE trikes are essentially equivalent, so it's not worth a
trip abroad to try one.

A couple of major differences between the Trice and the Scorp are the wider
mesh seat on the Trice vs the adjustable hardshell bodylink Scorp seat, and
the rear suspension bits. The Scorp uses, I believe a DNM coil/shock (in my
experience the DNMs are made from rotting cheese and are supplied as stock
to help people avoid passing out from sticker shock. The upgrade DT Swiss is
quite sweet at somewhere around $400 USD. The Trice uses different
durometers of polyurethane blocks which act as a damped spring (had some
similar on my old Proflex suspended MTB). You can customize the ride by
selecting one of three different blocks for a fairly low cost, and never be
bothered by owning and using a shock pump (will pump >250psi...~17bar).

The Trice uses perfectly serviceable drum brakes and the Scorp used
perfectly serviceable cable operated disc brakes. Both builder have a list
of optional equipment the is designed to cause a wallet hemorhage.

Quoted message said:

I'll try the two-wheeled StreetMachine once the roads are dry, but I
suspect I'll end up getting the Scorpion. It doesn't matter to me that a
bike would be faster, I doubt it would be as much fun. If I had a long
commute I might appreciate saving some time, but I don't, so I won't.

Then there's the issue of getting it in and out of the basement. I need to
measure that carefully. Perhaps tilting the trike on edge?

While there is a version of the Scorpion that folds there is a narrow track
Trice called the QNT which is about 13cm narrower than the regular Trice Q,
which is IIRC about the same as a Scorp.

Quoted message said:

I'm essentially looking for a pat on the back. If at some point I find
something I like better then the Scorpion, I'm betting it's a common
enough trike that I could recoup a fair bit of the investment.

Aiolos has a folding recumbent which might be practical on trains, I might
consider that in the future (there are none here to try out). The folding
trikes seem too bulky for anything but a car trunk, but a folding
recumbent bike might be small enough to interest me.

Erik Sandblom
--
Oil is for sissies

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Den 2007-02-16 17:13:14 skrev Peter Clinch <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Erik Sandblom said:

I'll try the two-wheeled StreetMachine once the roads are dry, but I
suspect I'll end up getting the Scorpion. It doesn't matter to me that
a bike would be faster, I doubt it would be as much fun. If I had a
long commute I might appreciate saving some time, but I don't, so I
won't.

The Streetmachine is not a particularly quick bike (though the narrower
track will get it through traffic much more easily), and if you get a
lot of snow and ice a trike will have clear advantages. However, don't
assume that a bike is less fun up front of trying the bike. Personally,
I'm somewhat bemused by the "trikes are more fun" angle: I've ridden a
few and they were great but I've not seen any reason of "more fun" to
gain an extra wheel so far. The only way to be sure is try both.

Quoted message said:

Then there's the issue of getting it in and out of the basement. I need
to measure that carefully. Perhaps tilting the trike on edge?

Note that the Scorpion is now available in a folding model called the
fx. That might make life easier. You'll need to account for dimensions
and lugging it for a Streetmachine too, they're not the easiest bikes to
cart around in your hands.

I was quite taken by how low the Scorpion was. It gave a lot of road feel,
and I really liked that. So the SpeedMachine might be better for me to try
than the StreetMachine, since it is lower. I'm also not too keen on the
folding Scorpion for the same reason, 26cm vs 35cm high, and it's still
really bulky when folded.

The Aiolos Trilite trike folds to 85x49x34 cm which is pretty good, so
that might be worth the higher seat, 30cm. Might be worth going to Berlin
to try that out, if it can be fitted with a rack.
http://www.aiolos.de/speedlite.htm

Erik Sandblom
--
Oil is for sissies

Grolch said:

Why not the Catrike? That's what I ended up buying. Consistently high
ratings from the bent world. Their CaTrike TRAIL Model at about 31lbs
and US$ 2000 or so could be shipped easily. I got the CaTrike ROAD
model. I know what you mean about justifying the costs etc. I test road
two wheel bents and the trikes. I knew right away that I had found my
new bike. Anybody who tries one will "get it".

We do the Trail in the U.K. for £1095.

Three wheels good, two wheels ok

www.catrike.co.uk

"Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2007021618255116807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk...

Quoted message said:

On 2007-02-16 16:05:15 +0000, "Grolch" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Why not the Catrike? That's what I ended up buying. Consistently high
ratings from the bent world. Their CaTrike TRAIL Model at about 31lbs and
US$ 2000 or so could be shipped easily. I got the CaTrike ROAD model. I
know what you mean about justifying the costs etc. I test road two wheel
bents and the trikes. I knew right away that I had found my new bike.
Anybody who tries one will "get it".

We do the Trail in the U.K. for £1095.

That's actually a pretty good price if it's $2000 in the states. Shipping,
duty and VAT will make the US one significantly more expensive.

cheers,
clive

Clive George said:

"Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2007021618255116807-SPAMTRAPian@trikesandstuffDOTcoDOTuk...

Quoted message said:

Grolch said:

Why not the Catrike? That's what I ended up buying. Consistently high
ratings from the bent world. Their CaTrike TRAIL Model at about 31lbs
and US$ 2000 or so could be shipped easily. I got the CaTrike ROAD
model. I know what you mean about justifying the costs etc. I test road
two wheel bents and the trikes. I knew right away that I had found my
new bike. Anybody who tries one will "get it".

We do the Trail in the U.K. for £1095.

That's actually a pretty good price if it's $2000 in the states.
Shipping, duty and VAT will make the US one significantly more
expensive.

cheers,
clive

It is $1750 in the U.S., I try to keep the prices sensible rather than
doing the old trick
of just changing the currency symbol.
--
Three wheels good, two wheels ok

www.catrike.co.uk

gotbent said:

A couple of major differences between the Trice and the Scorp are the wider
mesh seat on the Trice

Tricen Q and T are now both available with a hardshell or mesh seat.

Quoted message said:

the rear suspension bits. The Scorp uses, I believe a DNM coil/shock (in my
experience the DNMs are made from rotting cheese and are supplied as stock
to help people avoid passing out from sticker shock.

I think that's what's on my Streetmachine. It's kept me nice and
comfy for the least few years and shows no signs of dying at all,
not bad for "rotting cheese"! There's nothing much to go wrong
with it either. Not very Bling! I'll grant you, but hey ho.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Erik Sandblom said:

I was quite taken by how low the Scorpion was. It gave a lot of road
feel, and I really liked that. So the SpeedMachine might be better for
me to try than the StreetMachine, since it is lower.

Yes, and now it's available with better touring options than used
to be the case it'll do most of the same jobs. Last one I tried
was the underseat steering one, and it worked very nicely even if
it won't be quite so quick and maybe loses a little in the looks
department.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

gotbent said:

A couple of major differences between the Trice and the Scorp are the
wider mesh seat on the Trice

Tricen Q and T are now both available with a hardshell or mesh seat.

Quoted message said:

the rear suspension bits. The Scorp uses, I believe a DNM coil/shock (in
my experience the DNMs are made from rotting cheese and are supplied as
stock to help people avoid passing out from sticker shock.

I think that's what's on my Streetmachine. It's kept me nice and comfy
for the least few years and shows no signs of dying at all, not bad for
"rotting cheese"! There's nothing much to go wrong with it either. Not
very Bling! I'll grant you, but hey ho.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

I think your Mr. Larrington recently reported over on BROL land that the
cheese made DNM on his Speedmachine went titsup, as did the DMN on my
Speedmachine, and mine was equipped with the more expensive model. One day
mine decided to reject air molecules and no longer provided any damping,
which the spring bit dearly needs in order to act in a suspensionish manner.
I wish yours well,and hope that you can keep it out of the way of voles and
such.

When I inquired at a local mountain bike speciality dealer, where suspension
gear isn't a rarity as it is to most cycling dealers, about the possibility
of obtaining some sort of rebuild kit for my bit of cheese, I was met with a
derisive question about what kind of KMart bike I had.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

gotbent said:

I think your Mr. Larrington recently reported over on BROL land that the
cheese made DNM on his Speedmachine went titsup, as did the DMN on my
Speedmachine, and mine was equipped with the more expensive model. One day
mine decided to reject air molecules and no longer provided any damping,
which the spring bit dearly needs in order to act in a suspensionish manner.
I wish yours well,and hope that you can keep it out of the way of voles and
such.

When I inquired at a local mountain bike speciality dealer, where suspension
gear isn't a rarity as it is to most cycling dealers, about the possibility
of obtaining some sort of rebuild kit for my bit of cheese, I was met with a
derisive question about what kind of KMart bike I had.

DNM DV22 is 'inexpensive', available in the shorter length that HPV
uses on its bikes / trikes, BUT IMHO the quality is, a best,
'variable'. The one on my Mistral makes lavatorial flushing noises in
use, but still has damping, whereas the one on my Grasshopper gave up
any serious damping after ~500 miles and had to be replaced with a
nicely engineered DT Swiss (no longer made, but still affordable at
ChainReaction, last time I looked). A demo Mistral I tried also had a
very lightly damped DV22.

Erik Sandblom said:

Then there's the issue of getting it in and out of the basement. I need to
measure that carefully. Perhaps tilting the trike on edge?

Definitely need to watch this one. I have just acquired a Trice 'S'
to see if I prefer it for touring / commuting compared with an HPV
Grasshopper. My garage side door is on the narrow side, and because
of a large step down, any of my bikes get carried in / out. The bikes
get carried in the horizontal position, with just a wiggle with the
handlebars to get them in, but but the Trice goes in angled towards
the vertical - rear wheel uppermost - just. Generally I think you'd
find a SWB 20/20 OSS 'bent easiest, due to the smaller width. But if
a trike 'floats your boat' then you might find it worth the struggle -
happy hunting!

In news:[email hidden],
gotbent <[email hidden]> tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:

Quoted message said:

I think your Mr. Larrington recently reported over on BROL land that
the cheese made DNM on his Speedmachine went titsup, as did the DMN
on my Speedmachine, and mine was equipped with the more expensive
model. One day mine decided to reject air molecules and no longer
provided any damping, which the spring bit dearly needs in order to
act in a suspensionish manner. I wish yours well,and hope that you
can keep it out of the way of voles and such.

My first DNM lasted a good few years, the second seemed to be almost as bad
as the first from new. Like many people, I went to the Nice People at Chain
Reaction and got the DT Swiss:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9733

The difference is astonishing.

The other nice thing about the Scorpion is that it's available with a
Schmidt hub dynamo.

--
Dave Larrington
<http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk>
Funsize Mars bars? What could possibly be MORE fun about eating
LESS chocolate?

Den 2007-02-19 13:55:04 skrev Dave Larrington
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

The other nice thing about the Scorpion is that it's available with a
Schmidt hub dynamo.

Me and my wallet have also noticed that. The extra cost amounts to a sixth
of the base price of the trike. What is it about hubs that makes people
pay silly money for them? Why don't they sell a cheaper hub dynamo? I read
somewhere that any dynamo makes less resistance than an incline of 1 to
1000 or something like that. Unnoticeable.

On my hack bike, I have Reelights and a sidewall dynamo with integrated
light. It's a cheap and reliable combination, bright enough for unlit
paths, no cables, no batteries. The Reelights are silent and require no
batteries. The drag with two magnets per wheel is unnoticeable, even when
spinning the wheels with the bike upsidedown.

Erik Sandblom

--
Oil is for sissies

"Erik Sandblom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:op.tnz4auxmzubk0m@toshiba...

Quoted message said:

Me and my wallet have also noticed that. The extra cost amounts to a sixth
of the base price of the trike. What is it about hubs that makes people
pay silly money for them? Why don't they sell a cheaper hub dynamo?

You mean why don't they sell the shimano one? Because those people willing
to fork out for the scorpion are more likely to want the posh one?

Quoted message said:

I read somewhere that any dynamo makes less resistance than an incline of
1 to 1000 or something like that. Unnoticeable.

I'd say sidewaill dynamos are rather worse than hub ones.

Quoted message said:

On my hack bike, I have Reelights and a sidewall dynamo with integrated
light. It's a cheap and reliable combination, bright enough for unlit
paths, no cables, no batteries. The Reelights are silent and require no
batteries. The drag with two magnets per wheel is unnoticeable, even when
spinning the wheels with the bike upsidedown.

I've probably got a rather better back light than you with my wired dynamo
system - cheap (homebrew) and as reliable as the dynamo (ie very with a hub,
less so with a sidewall).

cheers,
clive

Erik Sandblom said:

Den 2007-02-19 13:55:04 skrev Dave Larrington
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

The other nice thing about the Scorpion is that it's available with a
Schmidt hub dynamo.

Me and my wallet have also noticed that. The extra cost amounts to a sixth
of the base price of the trike. What is it about hubs that makes people
pay silly money for them? Why don't they sell a cheaper hub dynamo? I read
somewhere that any dynamo makes less resistance than an incline of 1 to
1000 or something like that. Unnoticeable.

Schmidt has constructed the SON XSM for HP Velotechnik exclusively. It
is IMO the only dynohub for this axletype. As a small batch it will cost
more. Schmidt is a company that will built special hub-models. Shimano
et. al. only produces for a mass market. The SON is the best hub
available and nearly life time (your life) service free.

Quoted message said:

On my hack bike, I have Reelights and a sidewall dynamo with integrated
light. It's a cheap and reliable combination, bright enough for unlit
paths, no cables, no batteries. The Reelights are silent and require no
batteries. The drag with two magnets per wheel is unnoticeable, even when
spinning the wheels with the bike upsidedown.

No one forces you to buy a SON. 🙂

Kristian, with DH3N70
--
GNUpg: C52868B0

Clive George said:

You mean why don't they sell the shimano one? Because those people
willing to fork out for the scorpion are more likely to want the posh one?

No: Shimano don't do a hub (a) specifically for small wheels or, more
importantly, (b) a hub specifically for one sided wheel supports like
you get on a trike's pair.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/