tomarnold

Thank you all for your replies. Annoyingly now I have broken the starter mechanism with all of this pulling! So I have ordered new parts from Fresh Breeze. So do you think that having the decompression hole (built-in as standard on the Solo 210) and the decompression valve would cause the problem? If so, perhaps it would be a good idea to blank off that hole somehow so that I have the option of using the decompression valve on its own?

Ah, maybe that's the problem - the decompression hole is there and i recently unblocked it so perhaps having the decompression valve as well means that there is not enough compression for it to start.

Hmm, mine is a modern type, so it does self-close when the engine starts, but the weird thing is that the engine doesn't start well if the decompression valve is open but starts fine with a hard pull with the valve closed.

Yes, coil gap is correct. The motor starts absolutely fine without the decompresser valve, but it won't start with the valve activated.

On the advice of several people I spoke to, I fitted a decompressor valve to my solo 210 motor. It certainly pulls over more easily with it, but I find that it almost never starts with the decompressor open. If I close the valve (i.e. pull it up), the motor is harder to pull but fires every time: if I open the valve by depressing the button, the motor is much easier to turn over by hand but it doesn't fire. Any thoughts?

Yes, i think i just need more time to spend playing with the tuning. And yes, new plug and new fuel. Frustrating as i just want to get out and fly!

I am also am English paramotor pilot and i live in Stenkullen, near Lerum. I'd like to come and fly at Vårgårda sometime soon (when i manage to get the motor running properly) so perhaps we could meet up. Always good to meet other pilots Tom.

Yes, mine is a bit bigger i think. Pretty sure it's a 115cm prop. Just changed the fuel lines and cleaned and serviced the carb and now i can't get the damned thing to start! It fires up by doesn't idle, it just immediately dies. Will try again tomorrow...

Thank you! That is very helpful. Much more helpful than Fly Products who replied to my email just saying "We don't know"! Thanks, I'll have a go at tuning it when i get home...

Hi Bob, funnily enough I have recently acquired exactly the same motor here in Sweden. In England I've been flying a Fresh Breeze Solo 210 paramotor for several years, but that one is still in my shed in Somerset. Now I'm living in Sweden and I have borrowed a motor which happens to be the same as yours! Has yours got a Walbro carb or a Tillotson? Mine has a Tillotson and I'm trying to find out the factory settings for the Hi and Lo screws to start out from. It fires up ok but won't accelerate, it just bogs down when I try to apply any throttle. If you want to discuss the motor or anything to do with flying it, just drop me a line. Tom.

Cheers Simon. Yes, you're probably right that I might be able to continue while I'm doing my PPL, but I definitely can't take it traveling (one car loaded with my wife and two children and all our gear - no paramotor space) so it will be stored in the shed for at least a year then. So is it OK to store it for that long? What's 'fogging oil' then?

I am about to start my PPL and will have to devote all of my flying time to that, leaving little/no time for my paramotor. Then next August I'm going travelling for a year or potentially a bit more. So, in short, my paramotor is going to be mostly/totally unused for a long time, maybe a couple of years. Does it do a motor any harm to be stored in the shed without being used? It is a Fresh Breeze Solo 210 by the way. I am considering selling it and buying another one when we return in a couple of years time. Either that or I could keep it, but I am not sure what I can do to ensure it doesn't deteriorate. Any thoughts?

At the moment I fly a Fresh Breeze Solo 210 motor with the floating j-bars system. For that I use a low hangpoint harness, which, combined with the j-bars, gives me high hangpoints. This system works ok, but it's a bit of a faff. So my question is this - if I attach the harness to the frame (and did a hangtest of course), could I use the low hangpoints that are on the harness already, or would I need to buy a high hangpoint harness?

Nice one, thanks, do you have any pictures? tomandsophie at gmail dot com Cheers, Tom.

I just got out of hospital after being in for a week after landing on a fence when freeflying. I have several significant breaks, mostly within the right knee. The physios have said that once the cast is off (I have a full-length cast on the right leg) if I work hard at my exercises then I should be able to fly again with 6-12 months. Aaargh! How am I supposed to stay on the ground for all that time! So I am looking at buying a lightweight trike so that I can take off and land on wheels. This will help protect my knee from future damage as well even once the 12 months has passed. The only trouble is that I don't really have any money available to buy a new trike. I reckon I could source up to £500 from my bank and pay it back over a year or two - it would be worth it to get back in the air. Does anybody happen to have a trike that they would like to sell? Or perhaps somebody knows someone who could build a simple light trike? My motor is a Fresh Breeze Solo unit, and when I bought it (from Alan McNab) it was mounted on a trike (I think it was a Bullix trike) and I adapted it back to foot-launch, so I know it works well on a trike.

I flew my tandem for the first time yesterday. Free-flying that is, no motor involved. What a great feeling! I was taken up as a passenger first by an experienced tandem pilot friend, then I took him up with me as pilot and him as passenger. So now I'm wondering about trying it with the motor one day once I've got a fair few freeflying tandem hours under my belt. My question is this: can you fly tandem with a high hangpoint motor, or would that put the controls too far up once they're connected to the spreader bars?

Anybody know the pilot who was pulling wingovers around the crowded breakwater at West Bay yesterday? If you do know him/her, please let them know about UK airlaw - they were doing all sorts of crazy stuff only 30ft away from the crowds. This kind of stupid showing off could spoil things for us all.

Excellent, I love simple solutions like that, thanks! Now I just need to figure out how to sort out the two bolts I stripped trying to remove them. Aargh!

I am trying to replace the drive belt on my solo 210 motor (Fresh Breeze). It has an electric start, so first I have to remove the big starter cog. However, here is where I am rather stuck. Firstly, I removed the two allen bolts which now I don't think were meant to be removed as they snapped off as I turned them (so now I have to get the holes re-threaded - motorbike shop perhaps?). Now I realise that I have to turn the big bolt in the middle in order to remove it. However, when I turn this of course the whole assembly turns the engine over. In the manual it says to put in the 'piston block in the spark plug hole' - is this something I have to buy to do the job? Or is there any other way of stopping the engine turning when I undo this very very tight bolt? Don't you just hate it when you bugger up your motor during a period of beautiful flying weather?!!

Had an amazing flight this evening, but when I landed I was giving my motor a quick once-over and found that the belt had split a little bit at the edge. Nothing major but best to replace it. Where can I get a new belt from? Fresh Breeze want 30 euros plus tax and shipping. Seems a bit steep. So I looked on the belt and it says 'Contitech multirib 6pk 730. If I put this into Google I get very few results, but Amazon come up with a couple. Here's one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/KLAXCAR-6PK730- ... ch+6pk+730 It looks right to me, but is there any reason not to get this one? Or should I go straight to FB?

Thanks Andy, that's a really kind offer, but I have a copy already. I'm sure there's somebody out there who would appreciate it very much. Cheers, Tom.

It teaches you to read slower?

I was wondering if there are any non-instructional books about paramotoring? I have read Judy Leden's 'Flight of the Condors' (mostly paragliding and hang-gliding - an excellent read), and I remember reading a book about microlighting across Africa, but I haven't yet found anything about paramotoring apart from the usual how-to type books.

I reckon the idle jet may be the cause - I haven't owned the motor long and it has never idled right in my ownership. I don't think there's any other engine issue causing it as it runs so well throughout the rest if the rev range.

Also, I should mention that I have got the idle screw screwed all the way in in order to get that idle speed. If I screw it back out at all the idle speed is too low to work at all. Would a new idle jet solve the problem I wonder?