Pictures of your recumbent

[hercule]

Can you ride the unicycle? I have one and periodically try to learn but last time I whacked my knee really hard and have kept a healthy distance from it since!

[Stradageek]

Can you ride the unicycle? I have one and periodically try to learn but last time I whacked my knee really hard and have kept a healthy distance from it since!

At best I've managed about 400m before falling off, haven't mastered 'free-launching' or 'pendulum-ing'.

It's a really odd skill, the more you think about it the harder it is. You're basically continuously falling forward but riding fast enough to stay upright. If I see a bump in the road and think 'must prepare for this' I fall off when I hit it. If I don't see the bump, I somehow unconsciously compensate and stay on. So I just disengage my brain and go for it.

I wore shin guards until I'd mastered stopping cleanly whilst catching the unicycle, just remember stopping=controlled falling off. I fall forwards and catch the unicycle between my legs.

If you feel you're losing it, stop. If you think 'I'll catch this one' you probably won't and that's when the shins get clobbered. Confidence AKA disengaging the brain, gradually develops.

When you ride your fist few metres the sensation is amazing, I find myself thinking 'how am I doing this?' - then usually fall off

[a.twiddler]

There seems to be a paradox in learning to ride one of these in that if you think about what you're doing, you'll fall off. It's getting to the stage where you can begin to balance unconsciously having got past that initial stage that's the hard part. Nobody has to consciously think about walking, yet it's an odd thing to have to learn, and when you start you have to hold on to things until you master the art of keeping your feet directly below your head, or where your head is going to be. That's also a sort of controlled falling forward. So having learnt to walk, but not having learnt to ride a unicycle, I'm just extrapolating that the same principles apply.

Just because it's got a wheel, it's not like riding a bike, and maybe having the ability to ride a bike might actually make it harder to learn to ride a unicycle. If you have a long stretch of railing and a flat path, once you've managed to stay upright by getting confident enough to let go of the railing while keeping the contact patch moving fractionally to and fro beneath you, the next hurdle would be to move forward, and to keep your balance when the cranks are at their least effective position, ie up and down.

I'm sure that a unicycle comes with instructions, and there must be stuff on the internet, but It's getting your head round the mindset needed to actually ride one that intrigues me.

I saw a chap casually riding one, not really looking where he was going, no helmet, and texting while riding on a cycle path in a nearby town a couple of years ago, so it must be just a matter of application. Is it easier than walking? It's certainly the ultimate minimalist fixed wheel bike, or maybe uike, or whatever the abbreviation is.

[a.twiddler]

Some pics of my recently acquired HPV Grasshopper with USS.

[Cowsham]

Some pics of my recently acquired HPV Grasshopper with USS.

Grasshopper 16.JPG

Grasshopper 17.JPG

Grasshopper 18.JPG

Very envious -- I'd love one.

[a.twiddler]

The Grasshopper was advertised on the CUK forum. It was one of those rare things, a recumbent advertised fairly locally and which was actually likely to fit me. I thought it would be way out of my price range but I had to see it as It was within travelling distance. I made an offer, which to my surprise was accepted. It just goes to show, sometimes it's worth trying your luck even if you don't think you will succeed. Maybe some things are meant to be, and if not, you haven't lost anything. The seller was very pleasant and laid back through it all.

It's certainly in very nice condition. Whoever owned it originally must have been very tall as the boom was uncut. It certainly is now, though not by as much as I thought I would have to take off.

Some reviews have suggested that the Grasshopper's steering is "squirrelly". I did wonder about that, but it feels very stable to me even at low speeds. The under seat steering suits me well. I'd wondered about the seat recline, as my other bikes are quite upright but it's been fine. There are about a gazillion adjustments that can be made to the seat so there will be some fine tuning on my next long ride. The boom is definitely higher than the seat base but that, too has caused no problems on my short rides so far. It will be interesting to see if the combination of seat recline and boom height will make climbing less easy than on my less recumbent recumbents. It actually feels lighter than my other bikes, which is surprising bearing in mind that it has suspension front and rear.

I wasn't too sure about the green but it has grown on me. It's a pearlescent metallic finish and seems quite tough. It's rather a pretty bike, not a description I'd normally apply to a recumbent.

I look on it as a "Streetmachine for shorties." The fact that it usefully folded to get it in the car to bring it home is just a bonus.

So far, it's all good.

[Lodge]

That Grasshopper looks to be a good machine. I would have been very tempted myself but had not long paid a deposit for a Azub Mini frame kit. In a very similar colour.

It'll be nice to return to the dark side once I've taken delivery. Then transplanted the Rohloff from the Tern Vektron it's currently in, fitted a Shimano STEPS removed from an ICE Sprint trike sold on a couple of years back, and brakes which came with our Hase Pino but were replaced with something better for Peak District downhill use. Winter project methinks; pictures in the spring!

[yostumpy]

Grunhilda out for a mud run through the lanes today.

[pjclinch]

Some reviews have suggested that the Grasshopper's steering is "squirrelly". I did wonder about that, but it feels very stable to me even at low speeds.

I am increasingly convinced that a lot (not all, but a lot) of handling problems people have with bikes are due to inability to relax sufficiently. If you can't relax you tense up and tend to try and hold on to the bars too tight, that prevents all the little unconscious movements one makes for balance and it ends up as a fight to get the bike to do what you want.
I've noticed this with changing bar styles on an otherwise identical 'bent so no geometry changes, but with a tiller bar I can't relax and find the handling twitchy, underseat or aerobar style and the same bike is totally solid.

I think 'bents in general engender problems with people getting started because there's a worry about something so different, and ability to get used to it and relax does seem to vary a lot (as above, even after a quarter century of 'bent riding I still don't really do tiller bars), so my suspicion is those reviews of squirrely Grasshopper handling may be a bit like those views of a Brompton verging being unrideable one-handed: quite possibly caused by the rider as much as the bike and with loads of riders having no issues.

I had an extended go on a GH when they came out as my missus was after a 'bent but having tried my Streetmachine GT, not a Streetmachine GT: nothing wrong with the SMGT for her, just didn't have the X-Factor. We borrowed the Kinetics demo bike for a few hours and it turned out the GH didn't have it either (she ended up with a Nazca Fiero, which is a bit sportier and more fun but arguably less practical overall) but we both found it an agreeable ride with no worries about the handling.

There are about a gazillion adjustments that can be made to the seat so there will be some fine tuning on my next long ride

There are lots of things to play with, and no matter how hard I tried on various HPVel demo bikes I could never get it quite as good as the standard one-piece seat on the older GT I have
One change I have made is replacing the original HPVel cusion with a Ventisit one, which I think is better (more airflow, just as much support).

I look on it as a "Streetmachine for shorties." The fact that it usefully folded to get it in the car to bring it home is just a bonus.

I'm 1.73m (5'8") and with relatively short legs and have no trouble with a Streetmachine, I think you'd have to be quite a lot shorter still to find it oversized. Where the SMGT scores is the longer wheelbase so the lowriders sit more between the wheels, meaning less impact on handling with heavy loads. On the other hand, the GH is more compact and you only need one size of tyres and tube

Pete.

[a.twiddler]

I think that people of around average height often fall into the trap of underestimating how much difference a couple of inches in seat height can make to the feel of a recumbent. Yet it's not about the height of the seat alone. The feel, the "X -Factor" if you like, varies between riders as to what they relate to in a recumbent. In my case, it's the "X -Seam Factor" too.

I was surprised to find that the Linear, which I find very relatable, actually has a seat height of 27" or 69 cm but that doesn't mean that I could ride other recumbents of similar or slightly lower seat height easily. There are other factors which affect that. The triangular seat base, which allows the full leg length to be used when getting a foot down (in fact I can "flat foot" with both feet despite being 5'5" and short legged to boot) and the fact that the seat cushion is the highest part of the frame when mounting and dismounting both help here. The frame in front of the seat is a good couple of inches lower, which eases mounting and dismounting. I've certainly proved to myself that I can ride it pretty much anywhere that I can physically get it to, its length being the biggest barrier to accessing some routes.

When I planned to buy a used HP Velo Streetmachine GT last year, it being local enough and well priced enough to make it a viable proposition, I was very disappointed in it having a seat height that put me on tippy toes. Even the seller commented on that. I wasn't able to have a test ride as it would have meant cutting the boom which no seller is likely to do. The seller was over six feet tall. Following this I wondered if the suspension had been unusually pre loaded, or if something had been modified in the seat to suit the owner's height. Since then I've seen a couple of long term tests of the SMGTe which state that if you are 5'6" or under, you might need to look elsewhere. So it's not just me then.

I didn't manage a test ride on this Grasshopper, either, as the boom was uncut so I broke one of my cardinal rules. However, I'd read an awful lot about its suitability for smaller people so I felt that I'd minimised the risks as far as possible. This is the best deal I'm likely to get bearing in mind my limited exposure (ie: none!) to recumbents and their riders in my area.

I actually felt at home on it after sitting on it and getting a feel for it. I can flatfoot this bike easily. You never really know until you've really ridden around on something for a few months but it still has a positive vibe. Certainly after setting it up it has a solid feel and handles predictably. I will probably change the Kojaks for something with a bit of tread bearing in mind my off tarmac predilections. I suppose I ought to include a picture, as it's in the thread title.

My induction process has been cut short due to going down with pericarditis a week or so after buying it though I've managed some low energy rides on the local estate paths to try out various adjustments. Otherwise it's "no strenuous activity" for the time being.

[Stradageek]

Do enjoy but beware that off-road recumbent riding, whilst do-able is a tad more scary on a recumbent. You cannot use your body to balance and correct, it's all in the steering so you have keep moving. On the upside, if it all goes pear shaped it's not far to fall

[a.twiddler]

All I ask of the Grasshopper is that it does mild off road, such as rail trails, better bridleways and reasonably surfaced towpaths as well as the Linear, and more recently the Spirit, which has been surprisingly good in that respect. Neither of those are particularly speedy on -road, and I'm just hoping that the Grasshopper might improve my average speed by 1 or 2 mph for the same effort. Of course, it's all down to the engine in the end, and short of riding some super light, unsuspended, horizontal speed monster which would baulk at any of those alternative surfaces, maybe I've already got the best combination of qualities for the sort of riding that I like to do. All I can say is, I'm looking forward to finding out!

Meanwhile, the Grasshopper has been hogging the limelight so here's a picture of the Spirit on a canal towpath

And the Linear on another towpath

[Stradageek]

Apologies for assuming you were a less experienced rider, I should have read more of the thread.

I've taken my BikeE on some seriously rough farm tracks but the level of concentration required rather detracts from the enjoyment of the countryside.

I'm thinking of wider tyres on my Speedmachine to cope with the 'mud-in-the-middle' Devon country lanes. I've been too used to the wide, clear lanes of Northamptonshire

[pjclinch]

All I ask of the Grasshopper is that it does mild off road, such as rail trails, better bridleways and reasonably surfaced towpaths as well as the Linear, and more recently the Spirit, which has been surprisingly good in that respect.

Having never ridden a Linear and a Spirit only on roads I can't directly compare, but my wife and I have done "gravel days" with full camping/touring loads on ours and I can't see any reason the Grasshopper wouldn't be at least as good as the Fiero for that (which is lower and more laid back).
They're not the greatest tools for the job, but they're not inherently problematical either. An examples is the west side of Loch Eck which was about 10 miles of gravel tracks including some fairly sharp up and down and interestingly deep puddles...

Pete.

[ONETAL]

The latest incarnation of my summer VTX