AndyB

This was my smaller wing and I am right on the upper weight limit....without added water. I was expecting some sort of change in performance. Wing is at least double in weight so maybe 5 kg of water.

I just got caught in some very heavy rain. Went from sunshine and sparse, but low cloud, to cloud touching ground and very, very wet in under 5 minutes. I could barely see where I was going. What I can now say is that a Roadster flies perfectly well when completely wet. I couldn't even tell any difference while flying. After I landed the wing was so wet I could wring it out!

Takes 5 minutes.

You could lie on your back and go straight up. Why use a wing?

Ha ha, 150m was exactly how it felt...and then I am used to climbing steeply. I got this gauge, but there are many similar ones. They have a built in pump. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pop-Off-Pressure-60PSI-Gauge-SBT/dp/B00KI36ASK

Many countries require liability insurance for paramotoring and that is the only reason I have it. I have always looked at medical insurance as being a totally different beast and I use a different company/policy for that.

You need to come and fly in the south of Spain. 44 C on the ground at times and can still be 30 C at 5000 feet. Quite often in the morning it is chilly (well 15/16 C) on the ground but 25 to 30 C at 2000 feet. Having taken off with warm gear on I have often thought "I wish I was a bit cooler up here"!!!!!

I use my phone most of the time. Most phones now use image stabilisation software.....you will see the picture freeze, then jump a little as the software digitally keeps the picture still while you decide to take it.

...and very cold! I rarely go above 1000 feet, usually 500' (or 2' where I can) as I like to stay warm.

AC Nitro. I usually find the NItro needs just under one turn on the high screw. I flew twice this evening. Not quite right yet. All good except for trying to rev up after it has idled for a while. It wants to bog down rather than pick up quickly. Took a couple of throttle blips to make it go again. This likely means the low screw is not right....but not sure which way yet! Someone will hopefully tell me. CHT gauge showed a max of 130 with sustained full power. Cruise temp was 193 (5800 rpm trims full out). Max rpm same as always 7300 rpm.

Yes you just have to pull the fuel line off and use another piece of fuel line to the pop-off meter. I also thought it was such a simple thing to do that the manufacturers ought to be testing as standard.

Just spent 1 and 3/4 hours doing carb repair/rebuild. Never done this before. I read the previous thread on here about pop-off pressures and lever height (I already had a pop-off pressure tool bought after reading previous thread!), although I did not now how to use it. I am a technical guy, so maybe bear that in mind. However, I thought this whole thing was really quite easy to do. I measured the pop-off pressure before rebuild and it was 12 psi...however, once 'popped' it would then not re-seat and would not hold any pressure ie it kept letting more fuel through, causing my flooding issues. Because the pop-off seemed ok in terms of the pressure setting I decided to use the existing spring (I haven't got a new one, although I do have 3 spare carbs!). I changed all the gaskets, the metering lever and shaft. On fitting the new lever I checked the lever height using the Walbro gauge (bought after reading a previous thread on here!) and it was perfect without any adjustment. Re-built everything, set jets, both at one turn out, and fired it up. It ran great straight off. Only adjustment needed was idle as it was way too high, having previously had trouble keeping it idling (because of too much fuel). Here is my work bench after the re-build. All the gaskets and bits are the old ones. Just for interest I measured the pop-off pressure on the spare carbs. These were new carbs that Parajet kept sending me when my new machine would not run correctly. One carb popped at 28 psi one at 10 psi and the other at 14 psi, but it would not re-seat (like my current issue). So the first one was flooding and one was so lean it would have destroyed the engine and the other was also flooding. So, my advice to anyone with engine issues..... After you have ensured fuel is getting to the carb (no blocked filters, air ingress etc), then measure the pop-off pressure. It tells you so much.

I flew this morning and it was my longest take-off run ever. Zero wind, grass droppings fell straight down. Grass was very wet, so wing got wet. But, the main issue was my motor was producing enough power when I tested it, but at full throttle, as I tried to take off it didn't have much umph. The climb was very, very slow. I take off in a 10 acre field, but it has a forest around 2 sides, power lines one side and housing the other. I cleared the trees by an uncomfortable amount ie for 20 seconds or so, not enough height to glide somewhere nicer. For some reason the pop-off spring has decided to lift early causing loads of fuel to get through. I used 3.75 litres in 30 mins.....I circled round to gain lots of height before deciding to land. I think I now know what a Top80 might be like with my weight! Anyway, while at height I spotted these alternative style crop circles....more of a star sign I think.

My all up flying weight is 140 kg before adding in any extras like radio, map, tent or whatever. I am underweight on a Roadster 28 m (160 kg max) and top of the weight range on my 26 m (140 kg max). I have to run 3 mph faster on the smaller wing to take off.....but don't really notice it.

As I said at the start, I prefer 3rd/4th finger throttles as these leave your 1st/2nd fingers free for doing other stuff. I used 3 different machines while training. Maybe you need to go and try them some.....

There are dozens of throttles. Better to think of them as 1st/2nd or 3rd/4th finger.

I add my own cruise control using a small loop of bungee cord and a clip over the throttle lever. Pushes off in a second if need to take it off. The key to a throttle working well on 3rd/4th finger is that it needs a really good adjustable, elasticated strap around your hand. Thus, once adjusted it stays where you want it. I have use Polini, Parajet and Air Conception throttles, although they well have other names. I find the AC one the best so far.

Many people trim the end of the lever so it fits just their 3rd/4th fingers. Other manufacturers have the lever the correct length to start with!

3rd/4th finger throttles leave your 1st/2nd fingers free for doing other stuff.

I am a professional engineer, with no experience of 2 strokes.

My comments are relevant to the original post because: - It shows how little breakages there can actually be, so not much support required. - Most breakages are VERY simple to fix. - More difficult stuff gets LOTS of help online. - There is always someone willing to help and try and draw out the issue so everyone can learn about it. - But there are always a few who will disagree, because they feel offended, hurt their feelings or they don't agree. I fly alone, with no help and no other locals here, just like the the OP.

Where I am in Spain it is only 8 miles to Morocco. I still haven't tried it!

The cycle was about 1 second or a little over. Only noise change was engine revs, otherwise sounded normal. The metal was not really welding. When metal gets very hot it "picks up" on the other side and hence the friction increases. In the photos you can see how much the metal has been transferring between the 2 surfaces, both shoes and bell housing are really rough. Not only has all the friction material gone from the bell housing, but it has ploughed a 1.5 mm deep grove, the width of the shoes.

The clutch was running metal on metal and very hot. It would start to slip, get very hot, stick back together again, the sudden increase in load would stall engine, then recover and rev up again, slip again etc etc.

My machine has rpm. The fault was that it would go to 6800 rpm, then suddenly drop back to 4500, then repeat. I did not diagnose slipping clutch from this.....and nor did any of the "experts". I did not diagnose lack of thrust because when the revs drop back to 4500, then I would expect less thrust. My point re the "experts" is that they are not so good for diagnosing problems. What you get is a huge list everything that they all think it could be. Once you know what a problem is then someone always knows hows to fix it an they are very helpful.