fuzzybabybunny

Awesome! Thanks so much for the explanation and the photos. - Do the telescoping arms slip? On some cheaper hiking poles the locking mechanism slips when weight is applied, necessitating readjustment and retightening. If I fell on my side I suspect the poles locks might slip. - If one of the swing arms sheared off mid-flight, is there a soft connection between the harness and risers that would catch you can avoid catastrophic failure? I've spoken to a previous owner whose friend had a J-bar version of the Synergy and somehow the riser attachment point "slipped off" the J-bar, leading to a fall. - How do the weight shift arms differ from the S-shaped arms on the Air Conceptions and Miniplanes? - Is the APCO harness quick to disconnect? APCO says this harness can also be used for freeflying?

Yeah, sorry, I meant if the collapse doesn't come out immediately and you've already been falling for a bit. I guess braking on a collapsed reflex wing to reinflate shouldn't be an issue - the wing's collapsed already. You aren't disturbing the reflex profile because the profile is already gone.

So basically their claims of better fuel economy than a 4-stroke and 450 hours with no maintenance is just a lie? I was just wondering if Simonini engines were somehow way different from other two strokes? I've heard of a certain brand of outboard two-stroke motor that is both low-pollution and quiet, but they attained this by adding tons of sensors, electronics, and narrow tolerances, making them extremely difficult to work on when needed.

What's 'tip to tip'? And what do you mean by crappy weather? Like really thermic weather? And what's the recovery procedure after a collapse in reflex? In an assymetric collapse on a non-reflex wing you pump a brake on the side that is collapsed. You also ease on some brake to catch the surge on reinflation. But braking in reflex mode can make the wing even more prone to collapse, so how do you catch the surge or pump out an assymetric collapse on a reflex wing in reflex mode?

Has anyone collapsed their reflex wing while in reflex mode? There are plenty of videos showing frontal collapses on freefly wings, but I don't seem to see any with reflex wings? Just wondering what it took to actually collapse the reflex profile. My Ozone Spyder manual still recommends I get out of reflex mode and fly actively when I'm in heavy turbulence. But what exactly is "heavy" turbulence? Flying through a thermal? If it's a thermic day should I not fly in reflex mode at all?

Ok, after reading some more the issue of fuel economy seems to be a really complicated one and something that's not easy to maximize. Say that for a certain weight and prop level flight requires 40kg of thrust. 40kg of thrust is obtained by spinning a certain prop at 2000 RPM. Thus, the motor needs to spin the prop at 2000 RPM, and this is where it get complex. The RPM that the motor needs to spin at to obtain this propeller RPM is determined by the reduction drive, so it's not an easy comparison. If a 200cc motor and a 125cc motor where fitted with the same reduction drive, so that the 200cc had to run at the same RPMs as the 125cc motor, the 125cc motor would get better fuel economy. But if the 200cc motor were fitted with a redrive that allowed it to spin considerably slower than the 125cc motor, while both achieving that 2000 RPM propeller speed, then the 200cc motor could theoretically achieve better economy. What I find interesting is that the MacFly Thor 250 and Top 80 seem to do very well on the eco challenges, despite being literally polar opposites in terms of power. And the new Air Conception Nitro 200 seems to do awful, as well as the Moster 185s.

So I'm looking at the specs on the Simonini engines. On their front page they say: consumption lower than 4 stroke engines, 450 hours with no maintenance. I'm wondering if they're just flat-out lying on their website. Take the Mini 4. It says it uses only 1.8L / hour @ 5800 RPM. Is it just me or does that sound awfully low? 450 hours with no maintenance also seems to be untrue - checking the manual of a Fresh Breeze seems to indicate regular maintenance intervals similar to other motors. Plus none of them seem to be offered with a clutch. Am I just reading the specs of the Simonini engines wrong?

My instructor told me to only use Castrol Power1 TTS two-stroke fully synthetic racing oil on my ROS 125 engine. It also happens to be expensive at $25 USD a liter, so I use it all up in about 4-5 full tanks of petrol (50:1 ratio). I would also imagine that it would be very very hard to find if I were traveling in third world countries or even out in the countryside in some first world countries. When selecting oil, do I *have* to go for the Castrol Power1 TTS? http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Castrol-Power-1-TTS-Motorcycle-Oil-1-Litre/4448 Or can I use another brand of fully-synthetic two stroke oil? http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Valvoline-Racing-2-Stroke-Oil-1-Litre/1517 What about just regular two-stroke oil for scooters? http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Castrol-Activ-2T-Motorcycle-Oil-1-Litre/1105 http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Silkolene-Scoot-2-Scooter-Oil-Low-Smoke-1-Litre/124135 Definitely not lawn mower / chain saw oil, right? http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Gulf-Western-2-Stroke-Engine-Oil-5-Litre/105585 http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Chief-Muscogee-Small-Engine-Oil-2-Stroke-Oil-1-Litre/344502

So basically what I'm getting from this thread is that there are no downsides to larger engines compared to the small ones like the Top80, besides a bit of weight?

Also - and I don't know the guy and I'm not endorsing him - but "Capt Kurt Fister" offers free paramotor training in the USA with "no fine print." http://poweredparaglidingfreetraining.com/powered-paragliding-free-training/ I would take Duhgman or any other pilot on their offer though.

Hey Jared I started a topic in this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/paramotor/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/paramotor/permalink/1079163002136717/ I suggest you join and message the guys there. There is at least one guy in the area who might be able to help and supervise.

Does anyone know of any paramotor pilots around Portland? I don't, personally. I agree that he needs to at the very least communicate with another pilot. Even reading something like the Powered Paragliding Bible front-to-back isn't enough to fly safely - knowing something intellectually is completely different to being able to apply all these things instantly and often simultaneously in real life. There are simply way too many gotchas in this sport that will lead to death or injury. How is he even going to make sure his trike hangs from the wing at the proper angle? Is he doing some kind of hang test in a garage beforehand? If he's hell-bent on doing this alone (I know of one guy who managed to safely learn on his own) he needs to find a flat unobstructed field at least 2500ft x 2500ft SQUARE and fly only on a day with zero wind. If he takes 1000ft to take off and then his engine dies during the climb, it would be nice to have another 1500ft to just glide straight down without needing to really steer the glider. If he takes off from a field that's only 1000ft that ends in trees or power lines or a road or a fence or water and his engine dies, he could die if he ends up gliding straight into these things. Does the acreage he owns qualify? That's half a mile by half a mile... There are also mountains and hills everywhere between Portland and Olympia so it's not exactly like he's figuring this stuff out on the Great Plains, which IMO would at least be feasible but still not recommended. But the best bet is still to communicate with another pilot. There's a school in Pacific Beach, Oregon called Fly Halo. Perhaps they know of pilots around your dad's area?

The manual says 50:1 after you have already broken in the engine, 40:1 if you are still in the break in period. Just check the spark plug and if it's black you're running rich. If your engine is already broken in you would use 100mL for every 5L of fuel for a 50:1 ratio 5000 mL petrol * (1 mL oil / 50 mL petrol) = 100 mL oil I just use the pump at a petrol station to precisely fill my tank and then squirt or pour in the correct amount of oil using a measuring cup or syringe. Image of spark plug colors attached.

Here's the video that I shot complete with a small bit on the pulley pull start: The bit that really seems to help is for the decompression plug on the engine to have a hole drilled through it already so a steel wire can be threaded through it. I'm not sure if you have this hole already on your motor. The hole drilled into the cooling fin on the motor is also helpful but I suppose you can find another place to securely mount the other end of the wire to create the tension necessary to push the decompression button back in. If you try and do this yourself, just make sure that there is zero, and I mean zero, chance that either end of the wire can come loose and fall back into the propellor mid-flight. Having a steel cable fall into the prop would be an insta-kill for your prop and maybe even the part of the chassis that the wire is attached to. And after thinking about it, it would be nice to have the knobby bit mounted over the shoulder, somewhere close to the pull start, rather than down next to the primer bulb. You want to start the motor, so your right hand is naturally up over your right shoulder. Having to move it down to where your primer bulb is and then move it back up to where the pull start is is a bit of a pain in the ass.

On my ROS125 I can't crank the engine even with two hands if I don't decompress it first. The decompression kit is extremely, extremely rudimentary and you can make one yourself with just some thin steel wire, a crimping tool, and something to crimp into the wire to allow you to grab it easier. I'll shoot a video of the setup tomorrow on my Backbone 125. IMO having a way to decompress the engine is mandatory if you want to restart the engine in midair. I practiced this a few times before - fly up, kill the engine, feel for the tip of the pull cord that leads to the decompression plug (it's mounted next to my primer bulb and can be felt through gloves - the primer bulb is a good place because you also use it to flood the engine should your kill switch ever refuse to work), give it a tiny pull, and then yank the pull starter. Starts right up in midair.

The exhaust manifold on my ROS125 has some kind of gray-colored rubbery sealant where it meets the engine. You can probably go to an auto shop and ask around for an. exhaust sealant. I would make sure that it doesn't set hard because it would make getting the exhaust off in the future very difficult. If there's gunk it probably means that you're running too much oil or too rich. Check the spark plug to make sure it's the right color.

Oh wow 200cc engines are actually winning eco challenges compared to the Top 80? I'm pretty new to this. Can you provide some links to results? I read somewhere a while ago that the best economy will always just be a small engine with a big prop. And then I figured that I'm only 75kg and a Miniplane would only weigh 19kg so I began wondering why I'm even thinking about machines with bigger engines.

Say that you've got a choice between a 130cc motor that's only 1kg lighter than a 200cc motor. The prices are both similar. As I understand it, thrust is governed by how fast the prop is spun. A 125cm prop spinning at X RPM will produce less thrust than the same prop spinning at X + Y RPM. A more powerful motor allows a larger gear ratio to be used so that a big motor at 5,000 RPM can spin a prop at X + Y RPM while a smaller motor is only powerful enough at 5,000 RPM to spin the prop at X RPM. Horizontal thrust from the prop translates into airspeed across the wing which translates into lift. So you climb faster with more thrust, which may be useful for quickly getting to a safe height after takeoff. But this is where I stop seeing the advantages. A bigger motor means worse fuel economy, so to maintain level flight a 130cc motor will use less petrol (like 33% less) than the 200cc motor when you have the wing, chassis, and pilot constant. I guess a different gear ratio can mean the larger motor can spin slower than the smaller one to maintain the same propeller RPMs for level flight, but it seems that overall the bigger engines simply use more petrol than the smaller ones no matter what. Maximum fuel economy is getting the smallest engine you can find and driving the biggest propeller you can get, right? The rest of the flight characteristics are governed by the wing, not the motor. A more powerful motor wouldn't necessarily even translate into a longer lifespan, right? So unless you're flying tandem, are heavy, or fly at high altitudes, is there really a reason to go for a 200cc motor? Seems like compared to a Top 80 or something that motor will simply use more petrol.

Compared to Blackhawk and Air Conception and Miniplane, I can hardly find any user reviews or video reviews of the Synergy 5 paramotor. I can't find any videos of the breakdown of the unit either. I really like the idea behind it and how it can be broken down to fit into a single suticase. The petrol tank closer to your body plus the option to add a fuel bladder for extended range look awesome. Plus the APCO harness can be removed for freeflight? PLUS it can be made to fit practically any engine?

Does anyone here detach their PPG harness and freefly with it? I'm thinking about selling my Kortel Kuik II freefly harness because I don't plan on freeflying that often. I've heard that some of the SupAir and APCO PPG harnesses freefly as well? Can anyone give a review? Do the risers just clip in somewhere?

It's not the primer bulb, but rather the membrane on the carb I *have* to push on with my finger to let fuel into the carb and to the engine. If I don't push it in, the primer bulb is rock hard because the carb is essentially blocked. Pushing on the membrane unblocks the carb and allows the bulb to squeeze and fuel to go through. There is no way for me to prime the thing while on my back because I simply can't reach my hand back far enough to press on that membrane. So to be clear, *no one* has this kind of setup? You can prime the engine and everything while it's still on your back? Is my ROS125 the only engine that has this?

I'm getting really fed up with my ROS 125 engine that I have on my Backbone. In order to prime and start my engine, I need to: - Stick my finger into a hole on the side of the carburetor, which presses on an inner membrane that allows the fuel to be drawn into and through the carb into the engine. - If I don't press this inner membrane, fuel cannot flow into the engine and priming is impossible. I can squeeze the primer bulb all I want but no fuel will get to the engine. - In order to prime it, I need to put my finger into the hole to press on the inner membrane and then give a small squeeze of the primer bulb. - I HAVE to do this with the motor off my back because the inner membrane hole which allows fuel to flow through the carb is impossible to reach with the unit on my back. - My entire motor unit is 38kg with fuel. So here are my problems: - When I start the engine for the first time, I prime it but then I'm heavily incentivized to start it on the ground instead of on my back. The reason is that once I put it on my back (and hook up FIVE straps), if the engine doesn't start, I have to undo all the straps, take the unit off my back, prime it again by pressing on the membrane, put it back on my back, buckle five straps, and retry. It is a massive, massive pain in the ass. - The engine becomes "unprimed" after just 5-10 minutes of sitting around. Say that I prime the engine and get it started and then kill it. I get my wing and lines sorted in the next five minutes but then the wind direction suddenly changes. So I take all my stuff and walk a couple minutes over to another corner of the landing field. I then try to start the engine and it won't start anymore, despite having started 7 minutes ago. I then have to unbuckle EVERYTHING, take the thing off my back, put my finger into the unreachable f*&(ing inner membrane, squeeze the primer bulb, get it running on the ground, kill it, put it on my back, buckle all five straps, only to have the wind change direction on me again. So here are my questions: - What motor do you have and can you describe the step-by-step process of starting it as I have with mine? - I'm probably going to ditch this ROS125 and go with whatever engine is light and starts easily and reliably on your back. Yesterday was absolutely killer for me. I had to take the unit off my back twice to re-prime because it refused to start when I was ready to launch having walked around the field as the wind changed. As a result, I was so tired and flustered on the last attempt that I forgot to buckle one of my FIVE straps. By the time I took off, my mirror which was attached to the end of the unbuckled strap flew into the prop and got eaten up. Luckily the prop didn't break (it just got rashed up a little) but now I'm out a mirror not to mention I had an incredibly frustrating and tiring time launching.

Amazing! I'll go try that today for both my brakes and tip steering. Did you eventually move to a low hang point?

I've got an older Backbone Stronger 125 (ROS 125) and the frame only has high hang points with J-bars and no option to install weight shift arms. I have my chassis hang point straps adjusted to the absolute lowest it can go and the risers start hanging at my hairline. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7frWuNellxacHBEVUxlSm9Ndmc/view?usp=sharing I fly the Ozone Spyder. It does not have seperate hang points for a motor or PG harness. There is only one hang point on the risers. I have the lines for the brakes and tip steering handles lengthened to their maximum and I park them on the lowest magnet. I'm short at only 5'5" / 165cm. - In non-reflex mode I can reach the brakes just fine but have no ability to reach anywhere close to the big ears lines. - Even with a Big Ears kit, I still can't reach the Big Ears. - Even if I had Big Ears, I can't steer because there's no weight shift ability. - In full reflex mode I have to extend my arms 100% to reach the tip steering handles at the lowest magnet. The tip steering handles are attached by a thin bungee cord lower on the risers, so I often end up tip steering by pulling the bungee, not the handles themselves. - In full reflex mode I have to extend my arms 100% to reach the brakes at the lowest magnet. if the brakes somehow detach from the lowest magnet and hang next to the pully, they are completely out of my reach. - Having every single control so far up means flying is really really tiring on my arms since I always have to have them raised for steering. - The result of extending all the lines is that there is now so much more slack lines which makes ground handling messy. At this point I don't know what to do. I feel that it's only a matter of time before something happens and because I can't reach things, I'll get into an accident. Should I just dump the Backbone? Maybe scavenge the motor and buy a weight-shift frame that allows for mounting of the ROS 125? I personally don't care for the lack of bumps of high hang point - I prefer to feel the bumping around of the wing like I do with my paragliding harness.

Are there any United States PPG pilots here who can recommend travel insurance and equipment insurance companies for my wing and motor? I've heard it's a bit tricky to insure because it's aviation equipment. I don't expect normal travel insurance to cover such items. I'm a US citizen but got my PPG license in New Zealand and will also be flying in Australia. My wing got stolen from my car a week ago in NZ so I feel insurance is now a requirement going forward. I really only need insurance from theft.