a.twiddler
Veteran
The Green, Green Grasshopper of Home
N + 1
Most unexpectedly, I’ve acquired a HP Velotechnik Grasshopper.
Background.
During my search for the One I’d had a vague feeling that with all the positive write ups of the HP Streetmachine GT or Gte, on paper, that was the one to try, particularly with the 26/20 set up. It seems to be well rated for longer distance comfort and load carrying if not sportiness or light weight.
However, last year, getting to sit on a rather well worn, local, affordable steel GT model disabused me of that notion as the seat was uncomfortably high. Manageable on a level surface maybe, but no leeway for the sort of off roadish stuff that I like to do. This brought home to me yet again how limited the choice is for shorter recumbent two wheeler riders.
Since then, I’d been keeping an eye out for an affordable 20/20. The Grasshopper has been put forward as the “petite” person’s Streetmachine (Me! Petite?). I’d idly followed others for sale but since I’d had a bargain offer from a seller for a very well specified HP Velo Spirit (Be careful what you put on your watch list!) last year those had rather gone on the back burner since. The Spirit has acquitted itself very well over the miles since then. It’s so easy to get on and off and ride round town. Its only shortcoming has been that I couldn’t help wondering how it would be with USS. Tsk! No pleasing some people!
Earlier this year I sold the trike and had some space in the garage again.
Then along came this USS Grasshopper, local enough, and at an unexpectedly attainable (though by my standards, still high) price. If a recumbent turns up locally, I can't resist going to have a look, even though I know where that might lead.
So now here is a new experience, a USS 20/20 wheel SWB. not had one of these before.
Despite the mantra Never. Buy. Without. A. Test. Ride. I’d read enough about the Grasshopper to know that size wise it would fit. The boom was uncut and unadjusted, with plenty of chain to spare. I would have had to set it up before anyone could test ride it. Someone had ridden it enough to fall off it. As the boom was unmolested they must have been mighty tall.
First positive report: Not only is it extremely Green: it does indeed fold to go in the car easily without fully folding both back seats.
It has 35/406 Schwalbe Kojaks which ought to give a more sprightly ride at 95 psi than my other bikes. A SRAM Dual Drive which ought to give a gear range of about 20 -100 inches with 46T front and 11 -32T rear.
So far I have:
Shortened the boom extremely carefully.
Fitted a budget kickstand.
Fitted a bolt on rear light to rack.
Still waiting to sort a secure front light fitting and Garmin bracket.
Taken a little more off the boom, while being acutely aware that I couldn’t stick it back on again. Smoothed down and painted the cut end.
Adjusted leg length. Shortened seat and made the back less reclined.
Took some links out of the chain. Put two back as RD arm was a little too far forward on big/big.
Took a couple of inches off the chain tubes.
Lubricated chain, pulled through using old cloth to collect excess and dirt. Originally stiff/ noisy. Now much better.
Ready for a test ride when the weather improved.
Test Ride!
I’d wondered if having learned on a long wheelbase bike with under seat steering, I might find this USS short wheelbase bike tricky to ride. I was a little apprehensive on starting but in fact it works fine. I certainly managed to avoid falling off despite experimentally turning round in the road a few times. A previous owner must have tipped over, as the seat base bears the scars of battle. Some reports mention squirreliness. I can only assume that my other bikes must be squirrelly too. Or maybe I’m just used to small wheels. It feels quite stable to me. I’ve not yet tried it at speed downhill. The brakes work fine, as do the gears. The wheelbase is not actually so short, though I've not measured it.
It has some peculiarities. The USS bars have a friction mechanism that allows them to move if vertical pressure is applied to one end or the other, to avoid damage to handlebars or controls if the bike falls over. A bit disconcerting until you get used to it. Also remembering that the front wheel is under your knees after being used to LWB bikes, so go easy on the braking as the rear wheel could lift, or certainly be more prone to skid. Also the front wheel is no longer out front. If you’re heading for a lowered kerb, it’s not where you expect it to be, and the boom conceals that it’s not there. I've not noticed any heel strike despite having shortened the boom.
The advantage of the short wheelbase is that it has a smallish turning circle even with under seat steering. At least it has a chainguard protector each side of the front chainring to to prevent impalement of random pedestrians. Due to having a Sram Duo Drive hub it has no derailleur post out front. This has its uses for attaching gadgets to, or for resting a hand on while getting on and off. Still got to work on that.
The seat/BB relationship isn’t the issue that I thought it might be despite the seat being lower than the BB. The seat is more reclined than I’m used to, but that didn’t really stand out on the short test ride either. The boom needs extending a fraction before I can give a verdict. Because of the recline I find it difficult to sit forward when coming to a stop, which doesn’t cause any leg reach issues but might be useful for looking around at a junction. Adjustment, practice, or the need to wedge my feet under the settee and do a few hundred sit ups? I have no doubt that it’s solvable.
The side stand fits solidly. It’s a full sized item rather than the shorter one I thought I’d need with the 20” wheels. It’s a different one to the rather weedy one in the picture. I can fold it while sitting on the bike. Extending it is more difficult as it’s at the limit of reach, and just out of sight, unlike the outsized one on the Linear. So getting on is easier than getting off, unless there’s a convenient kerb, wall or post available which are solutions well known to other short cyclists of long standing. A stand attached to a bicycle is a recent extravagance for me, as like many others, for decades I just used to find something to lean it on, but now I’ve got used to the idea it’s hard to do without. It’s just useful if you need to do some work on it.
It’s early days yet but it’s definitely got potential.
N + 1
Most unexpectedly, I’ve acquired a HP Velotechnik Grasshopper.
Background.
During my search for the One I’d had a vague feeling that with all the positive write ups of the HP Streetmachine GT or Gte, on paper, that was the one to try, particularly with the 26/20 set up. It seems to be well rated for longer distance comfort and load carrying if not sportiness or light weight.
However, last year, getting to sit on a rather well worn, local, affordable steel GT model disabused me of that notion as the seat was uncomfortably high. Manageable on a level surface maybe, but no leeway for the sort of off roadish stuff that I like to do. This brought home to me yet again how limited the choice is for shorter recumbent two wheeler riders.
Since then, I’d been keeping an eye out for an affordable 20/20. The Grasshopper has been put forward as the “petite” person’s Streetmachine (Me! Petite?). I’d idly followed others for sale but since I’d had a bargain offer from a seller for a very well specified HP Velo Spirit (Be careful what you put on your watch list!) last year those had rather gone on the back burner since. The Spirit has acquitted itself very well over the miles since then. It’s so easy to get on and off and ride round town. Its only shortcoming has been that I couldn’t help wondering how it would be with USS. Tsk! No pleasing some people!
Earlier this year I sold the trike and had some space in the garage again.
Then along came this USS Grasshopper, local enough, and at an unexpectedly attainable (though by my standards, still high) price. If a recumbent turns up locally, I can't resist going to have a look, even though I know where that might lead.
So now here is a new experience, a USS 20/20 wheel SWB. not had one of these before.
Despite the mantra Never. Buy. Without. A. Test. Ride. I’d read enough about the Grasshopper to know that size wise it would fit. The boom was uncut and unadjusted, with plenty of chain to spare. I would have had to set it up before anyone could test ride it. Someone had ridden it enough to fall off it. As the boom was unmolested they must have been mighty tall.
First positive report: Not only is it extremely Green: it does indeed fold to go in the car easily without fully folding both back seats.
It has 35/406 Schwalbe Kojaks which ought to give a more sprightly ride at 95 psi than my other bikes. A SRAM Dual Drive which ought to give a gear range of about 20 -100 inches with 46T front and 11 -32T rear.
So far I have:
Shortened the boom extremely carefully.
Fitted a budget kickstand.
Fitted a bolt on rear light to rack.
Still waiting to sort a secure front light fitting and Garmin bracket.
Taken a little more off the boom, while being acutely aware that I couldn’t stick it back on again. Smoothed down and painted the cut end.
Adjusted leg length. Shortened seat and made the back less reclined.
Took some links out of the chain. Put two back as RD arm was a little too far forward on big/big.
Took a couple of inches off the chain tubes.
Lubricated chain, pulled through using old cloth to collect excess and dirt. Originally stiff/ noisy. Now much better.
Ready for a test ride when the weather improved.
Test Ride!
I’d wondered if having learned on a long wheelbase bike with under seat steering, I might find this USS short wheelbase bike tricky to ride. I was a little apprehensive on starting but in fact it works fine. I certainly managed to avoid falling off despite experimentally turning round in the road a few times. A previous owner must have tipped over, as the seat base bears the scars of battle. Some reports mention squirreliness. I can only assume that my other bikes must be squirrelly too. Or maybe I’m just used to small wheels. It feels quite stable to me. I’ve not yet tried it at speed downhill. The brakes work fine, as do the gears. The wheelbase is not actually so short, though I've not measured it.
It has some peculiarities. The USS bars have a friction mechanism that allows them to move if vertical pressure is applied to one end or the other, to avoid damage to handlebars or controls if the bike falls over. A bit disconcerting until you get used to it. Also remembering that the front wheel is under your knees after being used to LWB bikes, so go easy on the braking as the rear wheel could lift, or certainly be more prone to skid. Also the front wheel is no longer out front. If you’re heading for a lowered kerb, it’s not where you expect it to be, and the boom conceals that it’s not there. I've not noticed any heel strike despite having shortened the boom.
The advantage of the short wheelbase is that it has a smallish turning circle even with under seat steering. At least it has a chainguard protector each side of the front chainring to to prevent impalement of random pedestrians. Due to having a Sram Duo Drive hub it has no derailleur post out front. This has its uses for attaching gadgets to, or for resting a hand on while getting on and off. Still got to work on that.
The seat/BB relationship isn’t the issue that I thought it might be despite the seat being lower than the BB. The seat is more reclined than I’m used to, but that didn’t really stand out on the short test ride either. The boom needs extending a fraction before I can give a verdict. Because of the recline I find it difficult to sit forward when coming to a stop, which doesn’t cause any leg reach issues but might be useful for looking around at a junction. Adjustment, practice, or the need to wedge my feet under the settee and do a few hundred sit ups? I have no doubt that it’s solvable.
The side stand fits solidly. It’s a full sized item rather than the shorter one I thought I’d need with the 20” wheels. It’s a different one to the rather weedy one in the picture. I can fold it while sitting on the bike. Extending it is more difficult as it’s at the limit of reach, and just out of sight, unlike the outsized one on the Linear. So getting on is easier than getting off, unless there’s a convenient kerb, wall or post available which are solutions well known to other short cyclists of long standing. A stand attached to a bicycle is a recent extravagance for me, as like many others, for decades I just used to find something to lean it on, but now I’ve got used to the idea it’s hard to do without. It’s just useful if you need to do some work on it.
It’s early days yet but it’s definitely got potential.
Last edited:
