Cycling UK Forum

Currently looking. See Wanted section

Whatcha looking for? You missed an Uber budget mistral on yacf, there are a couple metabikes selling on bhpc and I think there’s a lab going on this forum or yacf.

I did have my carbon Schlitter (about £1500ish) on the whole bikes for sale but the advert vanished recently after I reduced the price.

I'll reply via the wanted section

Also on yacf is an m5 highracer. (might be carbon).
Guy, the for sales appear to vanish after a while - your for sale post doesn't appear in your user posts. Might be worth re-listing (and also on bhpc).

belgiangoth wrote:Whatcha looking for? You missed an Uber budget mistral on yacf, there are a couple metabikes selling on bhpc and I think there’s a lab going on this forum or yacf.

Thanks for the heads-up. There is a very reasonably priced Mistral on eBay at the moment. Couldn’t find much positive said about them though. And it doesn’t appear to have much adjustability built in. MetaBikes I’m not sure about as a first bent. Would need to try one out first I guess

GuyY wrote:I did have my carbon Schlitter (about £1500ish) on the whole bikes for sale but the advert vanished recently after I reduced the price.

I'll reply via the wanted section

Interesting

belgiangoth wrote:Also on yacf is an m5 highracer. (might be carbon).
Guy, the for sales appear to vanish after a while - your for sale post doesn't appear in your user posts. Might be worth re-listing (and also on bhpc).

Thanks. I’ll have a peep

Not sure the M5 would be the best bet for a first ladback bike due to chain/wheel interface. Maybe look at what's on offer second hand and contact DTek/Laidbackbikes re a Fuego.

Hmmm! Wonder if I should sell my SMGT that I've not used for a year. Currently covered up in the loft. I got it on a whim because I fancied trying something new. Added a new seat pad from Netherlands and a mid rack. Solid tourer.

Partly not given up on it, partly like to see it being ridden by someone if not me. Torn over selling, but would that be anything like what you'd look at? 3x9 gears, extendable boom. Currently fits me at 6'5" but not changed anything from when it was used by a 6'1" tall owner other than boom out a bit.

Bilbosmeggins wrote:There is a very reasonably priced Mistral on eBay at the moment. Couldn’t find much positive said about them though. And it doesn’t appear to have much adjustability built in. MetaBikes I’m not sure about as a first bent. Would need to try one out first I guess

A Mistral was my first 'bent. Both boom length, seat angle and handlebar position (height / length) are adjustable. The one on e-bay is only 1 x 8 transmission, with no font mech post on the boom, so tricky to increase gear range (which would be necessary to get up any significant hills) unless a Schlumpf (cost more than the bike) or 3 spd rear hub employed.

I quite liked it, but replaced it with a S/H Grasshopper (which I still have). The following comparison (posted wayback on BROL) may help?

Mistral vs Grasshopper - A tale of two OSS SWB's (Long)

Background:

Mistral was bought new in 2005 and has done about 1250 miles. It was the first recumbent that I bought: many of the miles were a learning experience! The Grasshopper was bought recently as an ex-demo model with very few miles (but a few scratches), and I have now done about 250 miles on it.

Specs:

Mistral: Base bike with 30mm travel HL Zoom 190 front forks, SRAM 18-spd transmission (39/60T front, 11/34 rear) with X.0 twist shifters, Avid BB Road disc brakes, Vredestein 1.3" S-Lick tyres.

Grasshopper: Base bike with 50mm travel Spinner Grind2 front forks, SRAM Dual-Drive (46T front, 8spd 11-32 rear) with X5.0 shifters, Avid SD5 rim brakes, Schwalbe 1.35" Marathon slick tyres.

Both bikes weighed about 17.5kg before I started adding rack bags, lights etc.. They have similar seat heights (~520mm from the ground to the lowest upper surface of the seat foam), but the bottom bracket on the Grasshopper is, at 67cm, some 6cm higher than that on the Mistral. Talking of seats, they both have a similar range of back recline angles (~10degrees, about a mean of 35), but that's all you can adjust on the Mistral, whereas the Grasshopper uses HPV's renowned bodylink seat with separately adjustable squab, backrest and seat length. If you like fiddling with things, this seat's for you, although it does creak at times (shouldn't lift the bike by it, perhaps, but it's something I do a lot with the Mistral and its aluminium seat doesn't complain....). Personally I find the Mistral a bit easier on my neck muscles, due to the pronounced upward 'flip' at the top of the seat - nothing that some extra foam wouldn't fix on the 'Hopper though.

Although both are OSS, the Mistral is very definitely 'hamster' whereas the standard 'Hopper is definitely 'tweaner'. Personally, I am more 'hampster', so have replaced the 'Hopper's bars with some Terracycle 38cm, 35 degree bars, which are much more to my liking, placing my hands in the wind shadow of my legs, although they are still wider than the Mistral's.

Style and Engineering:

Both bikes use a 60mm o.d. aluminium main frame tube but, to my eyes, the Mistral is a more elegant looking bike, with its curvy main tube, enclosed cables and integrated seat simplicity. The 'Hopper is more 'functional, and probably built to handle heavier loads for longer. For example, the rear suspension pivots are both of larger diameter and further apart (100mm vs 60mm on the Mistral). Not that I'm saying that the Mistral is weak, just less substantial! Both suspensions offer a lot of rear travel using DNM DV-22 coil-over shocks: Mistral 35/110mm front/rear, 'hopper 50/110mm - my Marin MTB only has 100mm rear travel - these are both quite plush and handle speed bumps at speed with ease!

The Mistral has a very nice adjustable tiller, which to my mind is superior functionally to the Terracycle one on the 'Hopper, which won't allow the handlebars to go low enough for my liking, although it is better engineered. It also has a neat tab on the front boom for mounting a front light, whereas the 'Hopper has some attachment points on the front derailleur tube - for the moment I have mounted an old stem and a bit of handlebar for the front lights (definitely over engineered).

Ride Experience:

These comments are based on longest rides of ~75 miles with the Mistral and ~50 miles with the 'Hopper. My immediate impressions when I first rode the 'Hopper were: coo this Dual - Drive shift is fast (well, compared with shifting from the 39T to the 60T front on the Mistral it would be, wouldn't it) and 'blimey it's noisy. The noise thing is really interesting (as a noise control engineer): it seems like the 'Hopper has less damping in its construction, and more efficient noise radiating surfaces - in particular the seat base - so that any input, be it chain, gear or road, is quite noticeable. For example: if I spin a pedal with my hand whist standing over the bike, the noise source seems to be from the area of the seat base. Whilst riding on a rough road, if I sit up (lift my upper back off the seat - which will reduce the damping of the seat vibration) the road noise increases subjectively. Likewise any road imperfections are quite noticeable audibly. Naturally I'd be interested if any other 'Hopper owners have noticed this trait, or am I just fussy? (I must confess that when riding my MTB I find the rustling sound from my baggy shorts to be irritating, so maybe it's me!)

The Dual-Drive itself makes a few whirrs and clicks, but I can live with that in exchange for its sheer utility: I can pull away on the flat in up to 5th gear, which makes rapid, unplanned stops less of a pain. The over-run clicking does tend to spoil the free-wheeling experience though: the Mistral's virtually silent Deore rear hub just leaves air turbulence as the main downhill noise. Which brings me to the other differentiator: the brakes. Unfair comparison, I know, but for power and controllability give me an Avid front disc brake anytime: 'nuf said?

Gear shifts on the rear derailleur are smoother and quicker with the 9-speed X.0 shifters on the Mistral; the 'Hopper's 8-speed X5.0 is more clunky, but works fine. In practice you have 15 gears on the Mistral (as the capacity of the rear derailleur limits you to the 6 lower gears with the 39T ring) and all 24 on the 'Hopper. The overall range is a little wider on the 'Hopper, but I've never felt lost yet on the Mistral. Some slight chain rub occurred on the side of the Mistral's 60T wheel when the 39T was in play (a definite plus point for the 'Hopper's Dual-Drive), but a bit of tweaking with the chain tube hanger minimised this.

Low speed manoeuvring is less fraught on the 'Hopper, due to it's higher bottom bracket, but otherwise I've not really noticed any major ride experience differences - hardly surprising as they are both 406 SWB's with a similar wheelbase and overall weight - both offer a fun ride. I can't say that I've noticed any major speed differences over my 9 mile commute, though the higher bottom bracket of the 'Hopper should offer some aero advantages.

So, which will I keep? Heart says Mistral (it's red, damn it!); logical mind says Grasshopper (Vorsprung durch Technik) - this could take a while......

Thanks Squeaker. Funnily enough, I had already read that account a few days ago. I’ve been doing a lot of reading up lately, lol. Cheers for the additional info regarding that eBay example. I’d pretty much ruled it out anyway, but now you’ve left me in no doubt.

I have a Schlumpf MD on my velomobile so am already aware of the insane cost. Great bit of kit though

If you are 6'1" then a Metabikes should be straight forward to ride. There's a very wide range of adjustment on the seat. But it's a very rigid frame with no suspension but will take wider tyres. It's one of the top climbers. I had the 20/26 version,

Talk to Kevin at Dtek, he runs 1/2 day taster sessions.

NUKe wrote:Talk to Kevin at Dtek, he runs 1/2 day taster sessions.

When you can get hold of him that is!

Spoke with Kevin at D-tek. Due to circumstances, that is another bike for another day. Meantime, I’ve bagged a Speedmachine, so the search is over. Just need to learn to ride it now