Robyn and I have taken a couple of extended trips on our trikes with our friends around the US.

The other couples have purchased “HP Velotechnik Scorpion fs 26 S-Pedelec” trikes.

What a mouthful to say. From here on out we’re going to call them “HPScorpion"s.

Next summer we are planning on doing the Erie Canal trail. 440 miles in upstate New York starting in Buffalo and ending in Albany.

Just got the HPScorpions late last week and did a shake down ride last Friday morning.

Here are the pictures with some comments.

Outfitted for touring the trike has two big Ortlieb panniers and the extra second battery for longer distances.

Shake down ride

Friday morning I went out for a short ride to get initial impressions of the HPScorpion. I meet up with Nelson Lamb at the top of the Georgetown Dam. What started as just a little easy ride turned into a 25 mile, two and a half hour, fun filled time with Nelson just cruising the neighborhoods and gabbing.

The three miles from home to the top of the dam to meet Nelson I had the pedelec assist on and it is amazing. Kick back, move the pedals, and enjoy the scenery. The trail to the dam is narrow, twisty and for a short section very rough uneven gravel. The HPScorpion did great.

After I met up with Nelson I turned off the assist and rode the next couple of hours pedaling manually. The HPScorpion is a cruising machine. Even the roughest chip-seal is not noticeable because of the HPScorpion’s suspension. It makes for a very relaxed ride - on my Catrike Expedition my teeth would be rattling.

The only downside is the HPScorpion is HEAVY. Going up hill, without the pedelec assist engaged, is the same as going uphill in my Quest velomobile. It probably weights close to 75 pounds with the extra batteries and panniers. When I get those panniers loaded up the weight is going to be close to 100 pounds. My Quest was 85 pounds.

I did not seem to have any problems riding the HPScorpion manually with Nelson on his Catrike Expedition.

Summary: What an awesome trike! Sometime in the next month Robyn and I are going to take an overnight ride to a small town 35 miles north of here to check out it’s touring abilities.

Ordered mid October each HPScorpion is custom ordered from Germany so they take awhile to be delivered. Ours finally arrived December 9th.

The right side handle bar contains the controller. The the left top round button controls all the functionality. Press the top power button for on/off. Press the plus and minus to increase or decrease the power assist.

Press and hold the minus button (and then goose the pedals just a smidgen) to engage the reverse gear.

The mirrors came detached. Remove the headset on the top of the suspension and replace them with the mirrors.

The front chain ring setup is quite impressive. The pedals came detached. Put a little grease on the threads and use an allen wrench to screw them in.

I really like the chainring guard and the headlights already assembled.

We ordered our with the Terricycle Boom Adjusters. Glad we did. Made the initial setup for getting the boom length correct really easy.

This is weird compared to our Catrike Expeditions.

The right side brake is hydraulic with a splitter just below the seat so that the right side hand actually actuates both front brakes at the same time. No more pulling to the right or left when braking due to uneven pressure with your hand strength.

The left side brake goes to a rear wheel rim brake. Included is a parking brake level that is tons better than the velcro strap included on the Catrikes.

It was not obvious how to attach the panniers. Took many tries to finally find the correct combination. They tended to collide with either the batteries for the water bottles.

Here is the final position that seems to hang together with everything.

From the top.

How you have to adjust the SL2 system so that the pannier just easily clips on and off the HPScorpion.

Surprise! The second battery has just a placeholder and is not electrically connected to the system. When the first battery runs dry you have to get off the bike and move the battery cable from one side to the other.

The battery cable is long enough to reach from one side to the other.

The Pedelec motor is a beast. It has no problems moving my fat butt up the steepest hills.

The Ortlieb panniers are first class. Also, very large.

Was not obvious how to attach the headrest. Seems to work ok like this.