HP Velotechnik has announced a changeup to the Scorpion model line of suspension recumbent tricycles. After twelve (12) years in production, the original Scorpion model will be retired.

For 2017, the Scorpion model is getting a redesign to have a 26" drivetrain, and is targetted at the "comfort race-trike" market -- people who want to go fast, but prefer not to have the bone-jarring effects of non-suspension trikes.

HP Velotechnik has designed its No-Squat suspension to minimize pogo and energy losses due to pedalling activation of the rear suspension.

Large drivewheels give recumbent trikes good handling characteristics and efficiency. The original Scorpion model was the first recumbent trike produced by HP Velotechnik and its design principles have flowed into every HP recumbent trike produced.

However, the 20" drivewheel has held it back in an older recumbent era. The new Scorpion uses a 26" drivewheel, but toes the line of the original Scorpion's non-folding philosophy. Although foldability is useful for many situations, many recumbent trike owners refrain from folding their trikes if they don't have to, simply due to the extra steps and the possibility of added wear and tear on the trike. In addition, hinges and foldability add cost and weight, so eliminating that keeps the design simpler provided that the folding capability is not needed.

A preliminary look suggests that there might be enough room in the rear fork to accommodate a larger 700c racing wheel, but this is not yet confirmed.

The new Scorpion should be available by the end of 2016 in a metallic blue or grey color though HP offers custom color upgrades for most RAL colors.

A full range of options including a variety of electric-assists will be available for the newly redesigned Scorpion.

Kyle Bryant rallied the Ataxians and their supporters at the 7th Annual Ride Ataxia NorCal. Riders, families, and friends gathered in picturesque Winters, California for the 4 June 2016 event. Kyle led the 25-mile ride on a stock-issue hyper yellow Catrike 700 recumbent trike with Iron-Woman Rachael on a modified HP Velotechnik Gekko recumbent.

Teams Kiela, Megan, Sean, Barney, ZOWIE, Riley, Lia, Tayggli, Lyndsay, MMCA, Horizon, Ash, Blue Skies, MAIN 40, Rupeloton, Buford& Co., Roadies for Kyle, Luke's League, Brown & Caldwell, It's Not Supposed to be Easy, Sophia's Flying Pandas, were there and a stunning $80,700 was raised in a few short hours.

After the 3-course Riders' Feast, Kyle announced promising clinical studies which are the fruits of the labors and fund-raising of the Friedrich's Ataxia Research Foundation.

The first of the new recumbent bike models from Bacchetta have started percolating into the market.

Code-named "Adroit", Bacchetta changed key parameters in the design of Giro ATT-20, Giro ATT-26, and ATT-700 recumbent bicycle models.

• Frame dimensions now allow a larger range of rider sizes to fit each recumbent bike model. These changes include moving the cable stops forward so the seat can slide closer to the bottom bracket, and also changing the bottom bracket distance from the head-tube and the front wheel.
• Innovative new dropout system allows 130mm spacing of road wheels or 135mm spacing of mountain bike / 29'er wheels to be used on these recumbent bikes.

The new dropouts mean that there is an incompatibility of replacement derailleur hangers between older Bacchetta bikes and newer recumbents. However, with the new dropout system, riders can use ultra-high-tech carbon-fiber wheel technologies available for the fastest road bikes, or opt for heavy-duty 135mm mountain bike / touring bike wheel technology for better durability -- without having to change the frame once everything has been dialed in.

Most of the well-refined Bacchetta recumbent design features have been untouched:

• the seat clamping mechanism is the same
• components seem largely equivalent
• brazeons for brakes still allow caliper and disc brakes
• Bacchetta signature EuroMesh and Recurve seats still have the same positioning and almost equivalent rider positioning
• Giro ATT recumbent bicycle models keep the B-pivot that allows the handlebar to pivot out of the way for the rider to get on and off the bike.

Advantages of the new system are that models from 2016 forward fit more people better and let Bacchetta recumbent bike riders choose the best drive-wheel dimensions to suit their riding style.

Foldability of recumbent trikes is an important feature. It helps many people with transporting and storing their trikes.

ICE pioneered the compact flat-twist (CFT) design which angles the hinge at 45 degrees so the rear section of the trike twists sideways during the fold and lands flatly in the plane of the cruciform of the trike.

This allows big-wheeled trikes to fold even tighter than some of the smaller-wheeled varieties.

The Achilles heel in the CFT design is at the flex-point in the chaintubes where the chain doubles back and twists all at the same time. There is a lot of force on those flex points, and, eventually, we see some of these trikes in the shop for replacement of the flexible connector.

Replacing the flexible connector requires labor, a special part, and some effort removing the chain from the chaintubes and then putting it back. An air compressor comes in quite handy, as well. All of these factors may not be present when you are sitting on the side of the road with a broken chain-tube.

We found that with some creative use of four zip-ties, we were able to recouple the chaintubes with a flexible mechanism and no need for special tubes, nor a lot of time.

We simply put an anchor on the chain-tube on each side of the break, then connected the anchor with two opposing zipties criss-crossing in a helical pattern across the flex-joint.

The zipties we used are white and will not weather as well as black ones. We used them because they show the technique readily.

It's not every day that we have the opportunity to measure the weights of different systems. Usually, everything is so intertwined with everything else, that it's hard to pin down exact weight differences of comparable items and components.

Recently, though, we had the opportunity to measure two comparable 500W 26" wheels with very different motor systems by Bionx and GoSwiss, so we chucked them up on the doctor's scale.

The Bionx motor has a huge diameter. Instead of the conventional large-hub system with a conventional spoke flange, Bionx has made the motor into a large disc that sits inside the spokes of the wheel and the spokes are a newer-style straight-pull variety that travel parallel to the motor case. This motor is very thin, but shows a large profile from the side. It looks quite large.

The GoSwiss motor hub uses conventional J-bend spokes with conventional flanges. The sideways diameter of the motor is much smaller than the Bionx, but the motor is much wider.

Given that both motors consume 500W, it might be reasonable to assume that if they use the same technology, then the internal windings would probably have a very similar weight. If anything, it appears visually that the larger diameter Bionx motor would weigh more.

We were quite surprised to find that the Bionx wheel was significantly lighter than the GoSwiss.

Our shop scale is a well-calibrated doctor's scale. It has a resolution of about 1-2 ounce (or about 50g). The wheels were measured with no tire, tube, or cassette.

The Bionx wheel weighed 5lb-4oz or 2380g. The GoSwiss wheel weighed 6lb-8oz or 2950g.

This is a very simple rough comparison of a single characteristic and does not measure comparable power output, acceleration, nor efficiency of the motors. It also does not include batteries, racks, or other auxiliary equipment.

It is also true that a mere 1+ pound of difference in a single component of a system that will have an overall weight in the 60lb range is relatively minor and insignificant.

[NOTE: This just an interesting fact about a measurable characteristic. We install and use both of these systems and find both to be quite impressive technologically.]