Scorpion Enduro fs26 Walk-Around, Part Two: A Closer Look!

Radical Design frame pouch:
www.radicaldesign.com/frame-p...
The GT-54 Arkel panniers I will be getting soon:
arkel.ca/collections/bike-pan...
For all other products, please refer to my other videos where I talk about them specifically. Thanks!
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"TAKE IT EASY ... TAKE A TRIKE!" - trike hobo
Steve's current recumbent trike is a 2021 HP Velotechnik Scorpion fs26 Enduro, outfitted with Schwalbe Marathon PLUS road tires instead of the stock knobby off-road tires. He has also owned a 2015 ICE Full Fat off-road trike, a 2014 Catrike 700 speed trike, and a 2007 ICE Qnt trike ... not to mention three bikes (Specialized Roll Elite - Motobecane Night Train fat tire - Easy Racers Gold Rush recumbent)
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To learn more about recumbent trikes, please visit Trike Asylum:
trikeasylum.wordpress.com
To visit Steve's health, fitness, and longevity channel, visit Iron Vegan:
/ ironvegan
To browse Steve's books, visit his Amazon author's page:
amazon.com/author/stevegreene

[@tomboyd9053]

Enjoyed the descriptive overview of the HP Velotechnik Scorpion, Steve. I have certainly added a few things that you have introduced me to to my HP Velotechnik Scorpion. I like the safety items and storage. Keep on Triking!

[@EZSteve]

Thanks Tom! Sharing all our ideas in this great community is a lot of fun! Many heads are better than one! I also have seen things on other rider's trikes that I have incorporated into mine. steve

[@dansv1]

Very nice. Narrated walkarounds are my favorite type of trike video. I’ve been wanting to do one of my own. The small bag you couldn’t remember the name of is the Altitude Brands Bike Handlebar Bag. I got one for a tool pouch after seeing your video about it. I’m very happy with it.

[@EZSteve]

Yes, the Altitude bags! They are great, and provide me two neat places to put stuff that is small, which would get lost in other bag locations. I also enjoy walk-around videos ... so much to learn from other trikers! steve

[@paulahavens2764]

loved this video thanks for sharing this with us.

[@EZSteve]

You are most welcome Paula! Comments like yours keep me motivated to continue yakking away at everyone! Much appreciated. steve

[@trikesalot771]

Nice! In my opinion the most useful/important accessory add-ons are lights, flags, and reflectors. As you know I also run an HP Scorpion Enduro, I have 4 lights in the front, 2 low beams mounted lower on the stand up/assist bars, and 2 high intensity flashers (white light) mounted to the canopy "H" frame. In the rear I have an actual brake light that uses a built in accelerometer intensifying the light as the brakes are applied, centered just above the rear wheel, and 2 high intensity flashers (red light) mounted to the canopy "H" frame. Standard reflectors front and rear. A flag mounted to the bottom of the frame extending up about 6 feet, same flag that you use, I love that flag. I'm hoping to do a walk around video of my trike in the near future, showing all of my add-ons which there are many. Actually the stock Scorpion Enduro weighs in at 43#, my trike as it sits weighs 83#, that's a lot of add-ons! On a different note, any thoughts on cadence (high vs. low) training, and if this is something of benefit to help with conditioning and endurance riding!! Allen 😎👍

[@EZSteve]

You are indeed the CHAMPION when it comes to recumbent trike lighting ideas and implementation! I've not seen any triker so far with the cool custom lighting strategies that you developed and now use. I am going to put a link here so others can see some of your great trike ideas: www.youtube.com/@trikesalot771/videos Cadence! Personally, I prefer lower cadences, but that's just my thinking. From things I read and see, most riders prefer higher cadences. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer on that one. For someone who is specifically targeting better physical conditioning and endurance, I suppose a higher cadence could prove beneficial, from a cardiovascular standpoint. Getting the heart rate up there more by doing really high cadence pedaling would likely prove beneficial. For me, my physical conditioning is already quite high due to my lifelong love of health and fitness, so I don't worry about improving upon it. I just pedal how it feels good to me, and having been into bodybuilding for 55 years so far, I have strong legs, and I actually enjoy the lower cadence pedaling, where I can feel the quadriceps really working under load, almost like doing repetitions with a leg exercise in the gym. I love the feeling, but I bet most riders might well hate it, and be inclined to shift into easier gears. Yep, I'm weird, haha. I think my cadence typically runs in the neighborhood of sixty revolutions per minute (RPM). It's all very personal. I bet I'm outnumbered though in this preference! steve

[@EZSteve]

By the way, TWO of these Purple Sky flags is even better than one! Sounds like I have you beat on that one, haha.

[@trikesalot771]

@@EZSteve I normally run at 70 to 75 rpm which is a comfortable pace for me, but I'm now tinkering with HIIT (high intensity interval training) which is reportedly good for the cardiovascular system. I start my rides at around 70 rpm for approx. 10 minutes, increase to 90 rpm for 5 minutes, then increase to 110 rpm for 5 minutes, return back to 70 rpm for 10 minutes then repeat the process for 8 cycles. I ran this past my Cardio Doctor to get his input prior to implementation. He was on board with this type of training and wanted me to accurately monitor my heart rate during the training, I use a Wahoo heart monitor connected to my iPhone giving me real time heart rate data, and a Wahoo cadence monitor, showing my cadence. Since I've been doing this I can honestly say I feel stronger and have more energy after my ride and throughout the day! Allen

[@EZSteve]

@@trikesalot771 Amazing Allen! Yes, HIIT will indeed work well with recumbent triking. You have an excellent handle on the concepts and implementation of HIIT. I agree that for standard riding, we should all pedal at an RPM that feel comfortable. I think we all will just kind of fall into that RPM cadence naturally, at least that's how it worked for me ... I never really count or keep track of it, just pedaling and feeling good. steve

[@garyseckel295]

Such wonderful tech videos! Your stationary-mount camera changes everything! Some other's videos hand-hold cameras and I get SO Worn Out with endless camera movements. Use those spoke reflectors here too. Love those driveway reflectors. My name brand too-hard wrist wrests are UGH! Wish I had your softer by far brand. Was your front crankset shifting via fingertips, or a simpler, no cable shifter? Thanks, Steve, for your always best ever videos!

[@EZSteve]

Hi Gary, Thanks for the compliments ... keeps me enthused to keep making videos! I have found that many folks who use hand-held cameras when doing this sort of thing end up moving the camera way too much, so much so that I have found myself getting sea sick if I have the video set to full-screen. Yes, a tripod is absolutely necessary for those seeking to make the video content enjoyable for viewers. It's also nice to have my hands free to point things out, or to, for example, open zippers. I have seen hand-held videos where the person is attempting to use their one free hand to unzip something, or do something else that clearly requires two hands ... just because they don't have (or use) a tripod. These spoke reflectors are the best I've found so far, and unlike typical cheap bike plastic "stick in the spokes" reflectors, these actually look great, and are fun to watch as they spin around (besides the fact that they are VERY eye catching to car drivers. I came up with the idea of using the driveway reflectors on the spur of the moment one day, and thought, "What if I tried this?" Well, at first, I thought it looked kind of dorky, but for me, staying alive in one piece is more important these days than being the coolest cyclist in town, dressed in all black, with no safety strategies. My dual tail lights make me look wider, and I was going to be satisfied with that, but once I added the driveway reflectors, it took it to a whole new level. Catrike's wrist reflectors do the job, and I used to ride with them on my 700, but after experiencing these HP rests, there is no comparison! The comfort factor is off the charts! I luv' 'em! On this trike, nothing shifts in the front at all. It's just a single 32 tooth chainring. This is possible because there is an internal rear hub with three speeds, which, like my former Rohloff IGH, can be shifted at a standstill if needed. All my shifting takes place in the rear of this trike, with the rear internal hub taking the place of a front derailleur. It's a very simple, and very welcomed, method. Basically in the rear, I have the internal 3-speed hub, which shifts on my left handlebar, and a rear derailleur, which shifts on my right handlebar. steve

[@TravelsByTrike]

Nice trike, Steve! My only complaint on this trike is the fender attachment screws. The fenders are terrific but getting to the screws to tighten them is awful. I put blue loctite on the screws and they still come loose. My trike has BB7 disc brakes and the rotor blocks access to the fender mount screws. I actually have to remove the wheels to tighten these screws - bah!

[@EZSteve]

Ugh, that's not good news! I have never really given it a thought, but I'll check it out. Thanks! steve

[@The-GreenHornet]

Use nylon lock nuts. They are little crownd nuts that have a white nylon insert in the nut. They don't loosen like regular nuts do, even with lock tite.

[@TravelsByTrike]

@@The-GreenHornet the screws don't go through where a nut can be added but tighten into a mount.

[@EZSteve]

@@TravelsByTrike Okay, now I am really curious to get out there and look these screws over! Simple things can sometimes lead to much discussion and idea sharing.

[@EZSteve]

Okay Sylvia, at first I thought you were referring to the two screws on the sides of each front fender, the ones that attach the plastic fender to the metal fender strut. Then, as I was examining the fender setup further, I realized that you are referring to where the metal strut attaches to the trike itself. Yes, I can see what you mean. My brake rotor makes accessing the forward-most bolt impossible, but the rearward bolt can be accessed. So, I can check tightness of the rear bolt of the two, but to check the front bolt, I would indeed need to remove the wheel. In reality, I'd have to remove each wheel in order to check the integrity of all four bolts on each side, eight in total. I am surprised that Loctite did not keep them tight ... all the years I've used that blue goo, it has done the job quite well. When I've changed out front chainrings, I always use it as a matter of course, and I used it when assembling my HP Scorpion rear rack because I knew I would have to depend upon the integrity of those bolts holding the great loads of panniers on trips. Thanks again for the "heads-up" on those bolts! It's always a very good idea to periodically check tightness and integrity of all these little issues so we don't let some super minor glitch stop our progress out in the middle of nowhere! steve

[@The-GreenHornet]

Closer look?...where's the stinger on this scorpion?

[@EZSteve]

It's there ... you missed it ;-)