Justin

Thanks Gordon, It kind of confused me too. The glider in question was the ITV Boxer GT. They claim it to be semi-reflex, so is it a reflex or non-reflex glider? The closest opinion that I've heard of from someone was the one I mentioned above about having reflex in the centre section rather than full span. This wasn't concrete evidence, just somebody else's opinion of what it could have referred to. I wish manufacturers would explain! Thanks again Gordon, Justin

I know Flybubble have done a review of this wing in different sizes, although only free flying, not with a paramotor...http://www.flybubble.co.uk/articles/section/1581 Justin

Hi, I see there are a few paraglider manufacturers that state that their PPG wings are semi-reflex. While I understand what a reflex wing is & how it differs from a conventional paraglider, I'm a bit in the dark of what is actually meant by semi-reflex? My guess is that it's either the trims have a smaller range, therefore allowing less reflex or that the glider is configured to only allow reflex at either the centre section or just the tips rather than full reflex across the entire span? Can anyone shed some light on this & explain the pros & cons of semi-reflex? Thanks, Justin

Hi, I just want to clear up a bit of uncertainty I have about getting my first PPG wing with a background of paragliding experience from ridge soaring & XC flying. I've been free flying paragliders for the last 16 years, previously flying DHV2 level paragliders from ridge soaring to cross country flying, with experience flying abroad in the French Alps & southern Spain. I'm currently flying a Nova Mentor 3, but I'm not as current as I used to be having a young family. I'm planning to do a paramotor conversion course, ready to start next spring. I plan to start out on my Mentor 3 for my first few flights, but my question is, would I need to go for a starter reflex wing for my first reflex glider such as the Ozone Roadster 2, Dudek Synthesis 2 etc, or given my past experience in paragliding, would it be too ambitious to consider wings such as the Paramania GTX, Ozone Speedster, ITV Billy etc, as a first reflex glider? My intention for paramotoring would be flying local cross country, not competing. Any thoughts or advice on this would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, I've dug out my old Adventure F3 & noticed the fuel pipe has the odd nick on it in places. Any ideas what size tube I need & where the best place is to buy? I shall try to measure the inside diameter this week but thought maybe somebody knows what I need off the top of their heads. If it helps it's got a Walbro 32 carb on it. Cheers.

Hi, I've had ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction on both knees following injury and had medial meniscus tears trimmed at the same time and this was a good 9 months or so before I could go back to full activities without concern. Having said that the length of recovery was due to the acl graft settling in so I would say a mesicus tear op should settle well within a couple of months if not sooner, as long as you stick religiously to your physio exercises!! Good luck with it, I know what you're going through! Justin

Hi Fuel9m, Why not get some paramotor risers for your Epsilon 5? They have two hang point fixing points for either power flying or free flight and the Epsilon 5 is DULV rated for power flying using the paramotor risers. Lock the trims into the karabiners for free flight and it retains it's DVH1/2 rating! I've free flown the Epsilon 5 back in 2005 when it was first released when I was on holiday in Switzerland and went to Advance. We were the first Brits to actually fly it before it went into full production Great glider with really easy handling on the ground and in the air. In my view it would be excellent under power. If I had an Epsilon 5 I would save my cash rather than buy a wing for power and just go for the power risers. Just my view! Justin

Thanks again weesplat, Anyone who has used or using this method of mounting a reserve on the hangpoints care to comment? Also is there any specific front container that anyone would recommend and how does it attach? Thanks, Justin

Hi weesplat, Never thought of that idea. It's a high hang point harness so it would keep you upright in the event of a deployment but not sure if it's a done thing or not? I can't understand why the harness has no routing when it's got attachment points on the shoulders fro a Y bridle? I'll have a closer look into this. Thanks, Justin

I have heard people say about the restrictions it gives to move your head back to check your wing. Never thought about the issues of grabbing the handle from behind your head in high G situations and agree it could be difficult. I think I will look into a front mounted reserve and consider some options of routing the bridle as you mentioned. Might even be easier if I found a second hand Adventure harness with the routing already there but they are probably as rare as hens teeth Thanks for your input Phil, Cheers, Justin

Thanks for that, sounds like a good idea. Do you not think a cage mounted container would work on the F3? The harness is in fact a Sky Sytems harness which I believe was made as a copy of the original Adventure harness but differs in a few areas being the webbing routing for one. I will look into the idea of attaching some velco if the cage idea isn't feasible. Thanks again for you reply. Justin

Hi all, Has anyone ever mounted a reserve container on the cage of an Adventure F3 behind their head like on the PAP units? This seems the only feasible option for me if it can be done as my F3's harness has no bridle routing to carry the bridle from a front mounted reserve to the shoulder maillon attachment points. Any other possible ideas of ways to attach a reserve would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Justin

Fair play whitcombe that looks excellent! Really professionally designed and build which looks as good as the current crop of paramotors from the leading manufacturers. It will be really interesting to see how you get on flying it. A mate of mine built his own version of the Doodlebug powered unit for hang gliding using the Radne Raket engine and it flew perfectly and is still flying as good now. Good luck with it I'm sure it will be good! Justin

Cheers guys, I'll leave well alone unless it starts playing up in future! Thanks again, Justin

Hi Fanman, Any idea what the WB32 carb mod consists of? As far as I'm aware mine is standard and seems to run fine so reluctant to fiddle with it for now. I've got a carb kit on standby as I do believe the diaphram, over time, can harden and go brittle. Justin

I will check the fitting of the drill pack. I'm sure my work won't miss one I think the Walbro 37 is basically a newer version of the WB32 carb which gives a bit more power. I'm not 100% sure but I think the 32 and 37 represent the choke diameter in mm??? Cheers, Justin

Cobra, Thats brilliant, thanks for that I will PM you my email address. The battery is sub C's made up of 15 1.2v cells. I have priced them up to make a pack up soldering individual cells together which is still quite expensive. My original battery still seems ok but it won't last forever due to it's age. The carb is a Walbro 32 but seems to operate very well at the moment. I've got a carb kit on standby and other than a K&N style air filter it's a standard machine. Pete, The 18v drill battery sounds a great idea! As it happens I've got a Dewalt drill with an 18v 2A battery (well three batteries ) on my work van I could try. How does this sound to you? Thanks guys, Justin

Hi Cobra, Thats interesting to know thanks. No in-flight charging on mine and I would imagine the 18v battery would be expensive to replace. 12v would have been much handier and easier to source a battery. Do you know what the issues on safety the pull start had? I only use it for cold starting on the ground. I would imagine it difficult to use pullstart in flight but not flown the thing yet so can't comment. Justin

Hi Cobra, Just out of interest what is the "Plus" version of the F3? Justin

My Adventure F3 has an 18v NiCad battery which is the original from Adventure. It's both electric and pull start with the Solo 210 engine. Don't know how many variants there are of starter units for F3/Solo but just thought I'd let you know mine's an 18v as I've not heard of an Adventure unit using 16.8v, I could be wrong! Mine will not take long to drain the battery on a cold start so I always use pull start to start from cold to warm up then it starts straight away on electric once warm. Justin

Hi folks, Would I get the best out of a Paramania Revolution using an Adventure F3, no modification just the standard unit? I know it would fly the wing but I'm more concerned whether the motor would cope at top speed i.e. full trimmers open and full speed bar? Anyone out there using or have tried this combo? Thanks, Justin

Well I'm pretty horrified that I'm being accused of misleading newcomers to the sport! I clearly mentioned correct me if I'm wrong not shoot me down in flames. I really understood that forums were here for open discussion on various topics related to the site. Obviously my thoughts on the relevant subject aren't too welcomed here and the last thing I'd ever want is to mislead newcomers or experienced people so I'm out of here!! Justin

Fanman, I've looked at your post again and misread the first part wrong sorry. I missed your point about reflex wings at the slower trim range and agree with you that different manufacturers use different methods of trimming, therefore you would have to specify the wing in question but I stand by what I say about fully closed trim with "certain gliders" does give the wing a slight under cambered aerofoil which I believe is the main cause regarding the danger of using speedbar in this situation. I should have said on certain models and/or manufacturers and rightly so as you said, read the user manual as it would clearly state this danger. I remember seeing a good example of a diagram of a wing somewhere showing the shape of a wing with different trim settings which clearly shows what I was trying to explain. If I can find it I will attach it on here. t_andrews, You're quite right I was using the three extremes of a)Trims closed, b)Neutral, c)Trims open to give clarity and regarding "undercamber" it was the only term I could think of to explain my point but glad you know what I mean Justin

Hi Fanman, As I did say "correct me if I'm wrong" I was purely giving a basic, general example from all the information I've picked up from reading various article etc. Ok so different manufacturers use reflex in different ways maybe, I don't know exactly how so any input would be appreciated by me and others I'm sure. I'm always happy to learn the technical stuff involved in our sport as I believe it helps our flying when you know more on how the wing works and why it does what it does. I don't dispute your input and believe what you're saying. I am basing this as a general example of a reflex aerofoil as the overall aerodynamics of how a reflex aerofoil works can't be miles apart from each other? Thanks for your input, Justin

Hi all, I've been reading the above threads with interest. From what I understand, but please correct me if I'm wrong, reflex gliders basically have three primary trim setting; a) Closed trimmers b) Neutral c) Open trimmers I've done lots of reading up on this from various magazines and online articles etc and my understanding of this is that when a reflex glider has the trimmers fully closed there is a slight undercamber of the wing section i.e. the opposite of reflex and in neutral trim position the wing section would be similar aerofoil to that of a normal paraglider i.e. no undercamber or reflex. On a conventional paraglider you don't use the brakes while the speed bar is on, instead you weightshift. Applying brakes while on speed bar would have a similar effect to applying speedbar while trims are fully closed on a reflex glider. Not only are you loosing pressure on the leading edge but also reducing the angle of attack and increasing the risk of a collapse. As I said please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this is close to the reason as speed bar on and brakes applied/trimmers closed are two forces acting against each other creating a very unstable aerofoil. Justin