HP Velotechnik trikes - Manual (Page 70)

Adjusting the suspension
66
experience extreme variations in the load as it
is known from dancing on the pedals while
riding uphill on a mountain bike.
In addition to this, varying pedalling forces
have very little influence on the suspension of
the tricycle due to the No Squat design of the
suspension system of the Scorpion fs 26. So
when you adjust the damping, always start
with a low damping rate.
It is necessary to choose the correct spring
stiffness to have a well operating suspension
system. The spring stiffness is a measure for
the compression of a spring at a certain load.
It is either given in "N/mm" (Newton per Mil-
limetres) or "lbs./inch" (Pounds per Inch).
Sometimes you only find "lbs." printed on the
springs.
The spring stiffness of the optional air shock
R
OCK
S
HOX
Monarch is set by adjusting the air
pressure.
The suspension is designed in a way that the
spring is compressed partly when you sit
down on your tricycle. This is called negative
suspension travel (or "sag") and it enables the
spring to expand on bumpy roads. (This is in
fact a definitely positive feature.) You should
choose a spring stiffness with which this nega-
tive suspension travel takes up around 30% of
the overall suspension travel. This value usu-
ally provides a very comfortable ride on your
suspended recumbent tricycle.
Adjusting to load
The luggage carrier of your recumbent tricy-
cle is mounted to the suspended part of the
frame. That way your luggage is also fully sus-
pended and it spares the material. Most nota-
bly, even under heavy load the suspension will
compensate an uneven road much better and
quicker compared to a design where the lug-
gage carrier is mounted to the unsuspended
parts, e.g. the rear swing arm.
Additional luggage changes the load on the
wheels and their suspension. The springs are
further compressed initially through the load
and there is less suspension travel for bumps
while riding. Your suspension will bottom out
more often.
The suspension of the front wheel is less af-
fected since luggage at the rear rack almost
only puts weight on the rear wheel. Only in
case of heavy luggage on the lowrider under
the seat there is an influence on the front
wheel.
In order to compensate the variations in the
load you can change the pre-load. For details
see the following chapter.
Theoretically adjusting the preload can com-
pensate for a load change of approx. 10 kg (23
lbs) at the rear wheel. In case of higher varia-
tions in the load you will have to exchange the
spring with a spring with different spring rate.
In practice you can often do without it: With
a suspension travel of 80 mm on the rear (and
60 mm on the front of full suspension tricy-
cles there is a lot of suspension travel for a
touring tricycle. When you choose the spring
rate to have the full 80 mm at your disposal
when your recumbent is under maximum
load, you will have a somewhat smaller but
still very comfortable suspension travel when
you ride without luggage. The optional air
shock R
OCK
S
HOX
Monarch can be easily
pumped up to compensate load increases.