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  1. Hi , i am currently training on paratrike and looking to team up near Wolverhampton area . If anyone is interested please contact me on my whatsapp number 07506063606 .
  2. Ozone roadster 3 View Advert Ozone roadster 3, 26m. Colour: RYKO £2100 Bought new in July 2020, so only 2 years Old with 90 Recorded Hours. Always used from grass fields and still feels like new. Reason for selling - I upgraded to Speedster-3 to keep up with my buddies who fly very fast. Easy Bag, inner blue bag, risers bag, black Glider strap, Speed Bar, Repair Fabric, original stickers which came along included. PPG: 80-140kg weight range, PG: 80-100kg weight range, ENB Great first wing for new pilots or anyone wanting something stable and easy to use. https://www.flyozone.com/paramotor/products/gliders/roadster-3 £2100 Advertiser HiFly Date 10/14/2022 Price 2,100.00 GBP Category Wings  
  3. View Advert Parajet Volution 2 - Polini Thor 130 Parajet Volution 2 - Polini Thor 130 Very solid paramotor for sale. Quick and easy to transport, take apart/set-up and fly! Harness Medium. Manuals can be found below: https://parajet.com/wp-content/uploads/ParajetVolution2-PilotsManual.pdf https://www.polinithor.com/en/thor-130-2/ Advertiser Bobby Matthews Date 06/13/2022 Price 2,500 GBP Category Paramotors
  4. I have been holding my breath for months, not being able to talk about this new engine. Very excited, it is not for everyone, it is also not replacing the Nitro. We feel the majority of pilots suit the Nitro 200. This new engine the Tornado 280 is breaking new ground again. Larger capacity bore and stroke giving 35hp is going to be great for larger pilots finally wanting a light weight engine. Launched on the weekend at the U.S. Beach Blast 2017 to a fair bit of Facebook chatter. Public sales will start in September. I hope to have one end of June. It has been in thorough testing since 2016, flown in various climates in other countries. While the layout looks very similar, many parts are upgraded to account for the extra power. Who is it aimed at? It's going to reach out to the slalom guys on hankies, plus larger pilots who can then fly normal wing sizes while wanting to carry less weight. Ultimately I hope it could help push the whole sport forward for everyone. With more power it is easier to fly smaller wings, go further in less time. I can already easily launch and live with a wing smaller than I used to fly. With more power I can drop a size again. I'm on 19m as a 13.5 stone pilot. Some friends fly 15-17m easily, not crazed slalom nutters. So, How light is it? much the same weight as the Nitro. The Tornado 280 is 11.7kg for the pull start version. Available as electric start and electric start with clutch. (electric start one about 12.2kg, I don't have exact numbers yet) Thrust? 125cm props are working well and it can also run on the 150cm XL prop for maximum power. A few more combinations to try before a number is put out there.
  5. I'm looking to sell my Parajet Volution 3 frame with Moster 185 plus engine, comes with. I have owned it from brand new, first flight April 2016, it has around 25 hrs flight time. Works beautifully never had any engine problems, zero crashes. Perfect for someone looking to get into the sport. Also comes with Sky Spare XL lap mounted reserve fitted by Parajet, (never thrown). rrp £570 Also includes a Parajet V3 Frame Carry case £ £116 All relevant specs can be found here on the Parajet site. The kit is in good condition, always stored in a dry trailer, it has the usual used rubbing marks you'd expect on a used machine. The pull start cable was replaced in 2018 but otherwise no other issues. I will try to upload better images when I get a chance, but I've attached a few phone snaps to show the colours (black and orange) to match the paramania REVO 3 wing which I'm also selling. Please check my other listing for details. Selling because I don't ever have the time to use it enough. Looking for £4300 ONO Viewing recommended, please contact me on info @ garethiwanjones.com
  6. For sale is my startup paramotor and wing kit. It consists of a Radne Arrow Paramotor with Radne Raket 120cc engine with pull start and a PAP Motion Size 26 wing. It was an ideal first setup to build my initial hours on however it's time for it to go and for me to move on to a more advanced setup overall. The paramotor never skipped a beat despite what I've heard about it in the past. I've refurbished the carburettor fully with the repair kit bought from Radne Sweeden (£18) 15 hours ago and the pull start magnapull spring again bought from Radne Sweeden (£12) about 17 hours ago. That's all the work I ever had to carry out on it. The rest was just petrol and high performance two stroke oil. The mixture I was happiest with was 40:1. The recommended max pilot weight by RAD Paramotors is 95kg but I'd say it's more like 85kg with the motor generating 50kg static thrust. It's equipped with a 3 blade wooden propeller. I'm 70kg and it got me up with ease. It also comes with its original harness. Here's the full tech specs of the paramotor posted on RAD Paramotors website: http://www.radparamotors.com/radarrowclassic.html The wing is a PAP Motion Size 26. It's a brilliantly forgiving wing and in my opinion I couldn't have gone any better with a wing to learn on. It never let me down and is still in very good, crispy condition. It comes with its original bags and a brand new unused speed bar. I've flown the setup last 2 weeks ago and haven't had any issues whatsoever. Performance wise it was all brilliant. Both paramotor and wing have 47 hours on in total. Any questions - please do not hesitate to ask. Located in London (Canning Town) Contact number: 07763 834 483 Price: £1800 (I believe it's fair for a full setup to get you in the air) PHOTOS:
  7. First of all, thank you for having me as part of your community. I am looking for information about transporting two paramotors on a specialized cargo hitch carrier. Do any of you have any information/tips for procuring something that would be suitable to carry a Miniplane Top80 + a Parajet Maverick with a Moster 185? I am driving a Subaru Outback. :) Additionally, would you go with a cargo hitch carrier for that setup, or would you rather get a trailer? Trailers come with their own sort of problems - tyres to manage, bearings that break and so on..
  8. Today was the day that I began to realise my childhood dream. When i was 11 years old, i bet my brother that i would be a pilot by the time i’m 50! Well today was the day that my vision of actually achieving that felt real. Today was my 1st Paramotoring lesson. Before i start - I had a few flying lessons in the past, but the ‘cost' of getting a pilots licence was just too high (in both time and money). AND once you get it, there’s the small issue of BUYING A PLANE! So realistically, i needed to work out another way to fly. Cue Paramotoring. So what is Paramotoring? So for those reading this outside of the Paramotorclub.org, Paramotoring is basically a person, with a parachute (called a wing) and a big propeller strapped to his/her back flying - Here's a picture for you ? Learning this sport can be frustrating - it’s weather dependant - in particular, the wind and so you can’t really guarantee a training day more than 1 day away. If it’s too windy then you can’t do it. Simple. To help, here’s an app that i highly recommend (as recommended to me by my instructor Simon) - it gives wind and gust speeds. I’m sure it does more as i learn more. But it give you an idea if flying is going to happen. Even with these potential delays due to weather, it still beats flying a fixed wing simply down to the fact that it takes less ‘hours’ and more demonstrable competence. So if you’re keen you can be in the air flying solo within 3-4 days! (weather dependance of course). Day 1 Getting there: The airfield was just behind the Membury services on the M4. Easy enough to get to. Lower profile wheels/cars should be warned, the driveway is a little rough. Food & Drink: Their is a Starbucks literally 10 meters away! and another 10 meters are WHSmiths, Macdonalds etc… so food and drink is easy to get. However, i think i’ll bring a gas cooker and kettle next time - much cheaper than motorway service prices! Getting started: So after arriving, there was a meet and greet, coffee (very important), a short briefing and the issuing of the Trainee Pilot’s Guide workbook (TPG). The TPG contains info, further reading and more importantly, explanations and instructor sign-off for each stage/learning outcome. It looks pretty good… gives me an idea on what stages i’ll be going through in my training. Today was about Ground Handling. The most difficult part of Paramotoring is getting off the ground (as told by the instructors). So a good understanding and ‘feel’ of the wing is essential. So today was about getting used to handling the wing, getting it in the air and keeping it stable. Things i learnt: Laying out the wing on the ground in the optimal position for a good launch Controls - brakes and Risers with left and right controls How to ‘balance’ the wing - Simons analogy was to think of it as an up-side-down pyramid that you are balancing on your finger - if it starts to lean to the right, you need move yourself to the right beneath it. This is done with the left and right controls of the brakes and your feet. Using the wind - the wing flipped a few times, but rather than physically unflipping it, i could use the lightest of winds to get it to right itself. Wing control in 3 stages - today was just stage 1: getting used to the wing and getting up in the air while wearing a harness. Make love to the wing - don’t just f*ck it - Haha. this had to be the quote of the day - and it worked!!! If you pull hard, tug left and right aggressively then the wing responds aggressively (usually to the floor), but if you use the wind, and lightly touch the direction you want to go, it’ll work better (and stays up - no pun intended). This took most of the day to get the hang of due to it being a ‘feeling’ rather than a step-by-step technique. Managing the cables - so they don’t tangle etc Picking up the wing safely so the wind doesn’t catch it and pull you away Packing the wing away So overall, a really fun day - a great experience. Next Steps I’ll blog each of my training days, so others can share in the experience, but also, if you are also interested in learning this sport - do it! It’s a lot cheaper than you think… and way more fun!!! Now, I just gotta wait for a combination of free time and good weather for the next lesson! I'll leave you with my quote of the day:
  9. For anyone who is interested in how Kangook Paramotors are made:
  10. Find out how a Japanese karaoke machine manufacturer, an old dairy barn and the Clarks shoe company, combined with the vision and hard graft of one man, led to the world’s leading paramotor manufacturer - Parajet. What comes to mind when you think of Parajet? Smart designs? - Yes Gorgeous looks? - Certainly Superb build quality? - Without a doubt Reliability? - Absolutely Great flying dynamics? - The best Comfort? - Of course A long list - with one big overlying quality - customer service. I have to confess that I learned to fly on an old Pap, but the day I saw the original Volution1 I was immediately smitten with its stunning looks; there really was nothing comparable - and it had electric start! I just had to own it, so bought one immediately. After I ploughed it into the side of a hill following some very poor judgement, I discovered that overlying and most important aspect of owning any paramotor - customer service! Someone at Parajet was immediately available on the end of the phone and parts were sent out by next day delivery. When that wasn’t enough to fix my bent machine, there was an immediate offer of same-day service, meaning I could take the machine to the factory and have them drop everything to help me out. Plus not forgetting the message from the MD on a Sunday morning at 9.00 am, asking how he could help. You don’t get this level of service with any other company in any sector that I’ve experienced - but you do with Parajet. And that is why I have been a loyal customer for so many years - and will continue to be so. And I’m not alone. I have met many others who have similar experiences to tell - you only have to take a peek online to discover the immensity of the reputation Parajet has for looking after its customers. I imagine that most of us have only a little knowledge of the history of Parajet as a company, and those behind it. I decided I wanted to know more and to hear it from the horse’s mouth - which is why I met up with Gilo Cardozo, someone who is responsible for creating a point in time from which much of today’s fabulous advances in paramotor design have emanated. Whenever I've met Gilo in the past, he always struck me as the perfect person for moving paramotoring into the future - he constantly overflows with energy and passion for the sport and openly considers himself very lucky to have found something that he loves so much. As a schoolboy, Gilo was inventing and building little vertical take-off aircraft, and as soon as he discovered paramotors he realised that this was his perfect stepping-stone into the world of aviation and his dreams. It was a swelteringly hot day in mid-June when we met up, and it was a relief to sit down with Gilo in an air conditioned office and have the gaps in my knowledge, along with a lot of new stories, relayed from the company founder - who I’d humbly suggest also has a career as a raconteur awaiting, should he ever fancy a change. -------------------------------- I asked Gilo how it all came about at the very beginning. “I started Parajet when I was about 19 years old,” he began. “I left school and got into making portable cocktail bars for a company in London whilst simultaneously developing a product called Laddermax. Laddermax was a DiY product which you put onto ladders and which separated you from the wall. If you use ladders a lot it’s a really useful tool, and I sold thousands of them. “A friend of mine came up with the idea - I was still at school at the time and he was about 40 - he knew I was good at making stuff but he didn’t know how to make anything himself. He had been up a ladder one day, painting a window frame, and he’d thought to himself, ‘This is rubbish, I need a gadget!’ “So he came to me, an old friend of the family, and I told him that I’d knock it up in my workshop. So, during my A-levels I was making prototypes for this gadget, and I ended up leaving school early to crack-on and spend my time building this thing. I was aged between 17 and 18, then started getting contracts in for portable cocktail bars, an idea another friend of mine had come up with. He wanted to start making these for a company in London.” So Gilo also began making very smart portable cocktail bars out of aerospace grade aluminium. Gilo continued, “They were really very high-end looking pieces of equipment, with inlaid marketry all over them in aluminium and brass. They folded into a flat-pack arrangement and basically were sent off flat-packed to parties in cities all over the world. Once they had arrived, they folded out into stunning cocktail bars.” While all this was happening, Gilo had discovered paramotoring. “I got into paramotoring because when I was 15 I saw a tiny picture in a physics magazine of a guy with a fan strapped to his back, although it didn’t really make sense to me at the time as there was clearly no wing. “So I started looking into it. This was before the internet properly existed, but eventually I discovered that this paramotor thing needed a paraglider to fly. So, while these cocktail bars and the DiY ladder devices were going on, I was also getting very excited about paramotoring. But I couldn’t afford one as I was putting money into these other projects and couldn’t just go out and buy a paramotor.” Around this time, Gilo came across a guy who was teaching people to fly, called David O’Donnell, and he was in need of long range fuel tanks for a very popular Japanese paramotor called the DK Whisper. David asked Gilo whether he could make them. Gilo confirmed that he could. “So I went ahead and made vacuum forming tools to make a special polypropylene 12 litre fuel tank for a machine which normally had a 6 litre fuel tank. And I started selling quite a lot of them to David - they were about £150 each because they were all hand-made on my vacuum forming machine, which I was borrowing from my brother at the time. He was making vacuum formed garden products, so I would take his stuff off in the evening and put my stuff on and vacuum form my fuel tanks during the night, then get it all set up so he could carry on with making his products by the time morning arrived. “So I was selling quite a lot of these tanks, but as manufacturing was so labour-intensive I decided I should look into making them rotationally moulded instead. I found a company in the south-west called Wydale Plastics and they could see what I wanted to do - but it was going to be expensive, at about £15,000, to make a special tool which could bang them out for about £15 each. I thought this was what I needed because I was making so many of them and sending them out all over the world." At this time, DK Whisper were selling thousands of paramotors and were regarded as the best, with their electric start, specially developed engines for paramotors, etc. Gilo realised that as there were were so many DK Whispers in the world, if he could make these tanks on a large scale then he could make a good profit. Gilo remembers thinking, “As long as the Laddermax thing was going along okay and the cocktail bars were ticking over, although they weren’t making much money yet and were really labour-intensive, then I could do this.” But financing the expensive tool for the fuel tanks needed to be addressed. Gilo visited Wydale Plastics in Devon and showed them one of his existing fuel tanks. They confirmed they could make a rotationally moulded version. Recalling that visit, Gilo said, “I explained that I couldn’t really afford the tool but suggested that if I came in and worked in their workshop with one of their guys, he could just prompt me in the right direction and I could make the tool. “So I managed to do it for £500 instead of £15,000 because I put my own time into it. I made this really cool steel tool, it was fully functional, split apart and was perfect for what I needed. Because I was young and only looked about fifteen, they were very helpful. “Nowadays, if I saw a really young guy coming into my workshop extremely keen to do something, I’d want to help him. I didn’t realise it at the time but looking back now I can see they were equally happy to help me - I merely thought I’d been very lucky.” So Gilo started making the rotationally moulded tanks and it worked very well, selling hundreds more of them. These sales now ensured that he could save enough money to buy himself a paramotor, but his first one turned out to be not very good. “I got one from Scobyjet in Poole, who were the first paramotor manufacturer in the UK. It had a twin-cylinder boxer engine which was a bit old fashioned and unreliable and I only got to fly it once - so I saved up a bit more and got a practically new DK Whisper from David O’Donnell - and that’s when I got crazy about paramotoring. I was 19 and thought that this was just brilliant and that everyone should be doing it - it was such incredibly good fun.” This was about 2001. The Laddermax and cocktail bars were both separate companies which Gilo shared with other people. But making the fuel tanks was his first solo venture, as Gilo Industries. Gilo recalled, “Gilo Industries, my first company, made the fuel tanks and they had the name Gilo Industries written on them, which I thought was quite a fun name especially because it was a bit ridiculous; there were no industries at all, there was just me in my shed, basically. “However, I had this vision of a big industry, so I could see where I wanted it to be going. And making plastic fuel tanks was somewhere to start from.” However, shortly after Gilo got into paramotoring DK Whisper went out of production. DK (Daiichi Kosho) was a multibillion dollar corporation, and were the largest manufacturer of karaoke machines in the world. They had a division called Sky Leisure which had been making the DK Whisper - they had done it properly because they had access to lots of funds. The president of the company in Japan had loved paragliding and paramotoring and this was the reason he created Sky Leisure. Gilo: “I had learned a lot about the DK machines through flying them and through making fuel tanks for them. As I knew the machine so well, I knew I had to go over to Japan as soon as I heard they were stopping production. The president was leaving the company and the new president who was coming in had no interest in Sky Leisure at all. The old president had driven everything through his own passion for paramotoring but the new guy was quite the opposite and thought that it was a bit of a liability, so got rid of it. He literally just cut it off.” DK had a fully designed paramotor, along with an engine designed from scratch for it, and so Gilo went to Japan to see whether he could arrange for all those parts to be shipped over to England directly from the original suppliers. That included engine casings, cages, harnesses, and every other component possible. He didn’t succeed in getting every part of the DK Whisper but did manage to form a deal with the chief designer, who by now had left DK and was working on his own. He knew the network of suppliers from his time working with the company. Having established a deal with the Japanese designer from DK, Gilo also needed to find a deal with a travel company to get him to Japan as he was still rather short of cash, and £1000 for a ticket to Japan wasn’t an easy thing to find. But, in his usual manner, Gilo did just that and got his deal and a trip to the Far East. Gilo: “I got about 80 percent of the parts and, despite it being an immense undertaking and just doing it on my own, it was just such an exciting prospect. I knew I could take on a completely ready-made design with a full supply chain and I could make this paramotor again and launch the new DK Whisper from Britain as a new company. “And I called this new company Parajet.” I asked Gilo where the name came from. “About a year previously, I’d registered a patent (pending) for a jet-powered paramotor. It was a twin gas turbine that I wanted to be able to pack-up into a really small bag, which would give fifteen minutes of flying time to do really radical stunts and the like. I still have all the sketches from about 2001 when this was all happening. For the patent office I’d needed a name and so called it the Parajet. “By this time the internet had kicked off and was well underway, and I clicked on parajet.com and nothing came up. So I snapped up the domain - and that swung it for me. I decided there and then that this company would be called Parajet and it would be a part of Gilo Industries. As it happened, Parajet grew and Gilo Industries was more of a sideline, so Parajet became the main company that everyone knew. “So I got to Japan, met the guy out there, having spent six months prior to that trying to get the parts organised from the UK ... but I had a lot of issues trying to organise everything. For example, Tohatsu were subcontracted by DK to manufacture the engine for their paramotor, with all the casings, integration for the reduction drive, the starter motor, etc. It was a properly developed paramotor engine and Tohatsu, who already mass produced engines for all sorts of things such as generators, outboards, etc. was a very well known brand. “But I couldn’t get what I wanted over the phone or by email, which is why I went out there, met up with the designer from DK, and basically set up a deal whereby he would help me get all these parts. I eventually went back to the UK with lots of boxes full of bits - cylinders and all the parts I’d been trying to get hold of. And then I remade all the other parts in my old barn down in Motcombe. Gilo had made a wooden jig for the paramotor cage and chassis and asked a friend, who was in a workshop nearby and had an aluminium welder, to weld them up during the evenings. Over time Gilo managed to get enough money together to buy his own aluminium welder but the first few hundred paramotors were all made by taking them to his friend down the road. The resulting paramotors were as good as the original thing, just having been made on wooden jigs and hand-bent on an aluminium bender. “So, I tried to replicate the DK Whisper as accurately as I could and it actually worked really well - there was no difference between the original DK Whisper and the machine I was now making by hand in the UK. However, after a while it became clear that the product supply chain was just too limited; when importing engines to the UK from Japan the exchange rate was very poor and it was not a good time to be buying products from that country - so Gilo decided he needed to make a new engine. Gilo grinned, “And then I hit gold! “I found a small company in Salisbury called Lamb Engineering, run by a brilliant engineer called Larry who was about 40 years old. He owned this company making components for lots of other companies and he had a range of milling machines, lathes and all sorts of equipment which I didn’t have at that time, including CNC machines. “So I visited his workshop one day and showed him my paramotor after he’d just finished a stunning custom motorbike. That motorbike pet project was literally just completed and he was ready for another one - and he was the kind of guy who just loved projects. “Larry had never seen a paramotor before and he was incredibly excited by it. I was telling him that I wanted to do this and I wanted to do that ... and before I knew it we’d started working on new crankcases and crankshafts and before long had created a new engine from scratch. “It was a single cylinder engine - we had managed to get a cylinder head from a 180cc Malossi, a component which was intended as an expansion kit to increase a 125cc engine to 180cc, and was available off the shelf for about £180. Added to our own crankshaft, crankcase and other components, all made with Larry's CNC milling machines, we were well underway to making our own engine. But, as usual for small any new business, money and cashflow was a stumbling block, so Gilo came up with a bold proposal. I made a deal with him - I said, 'I will pay you for these parts two months later than you supply them to me. So you make as many as you can, and I will buy as many as I can, just give me the sixty days credit'. This ensured that I didn’t have to fork out loads of money upfront. “So this was a way for me to obtain engines, by far the most expensive of all paramotor components. I could make the chassis, the cages and other parts, but buying an engine from another company was always going to be at least £1000 for each one, so it wouldn’t have worked out when trying to build a decent volume of paramotors whilst having to fork out thousands, that I didn’t have, for engines.” So now it made financial sense and for the next three years Parajet built lots of these machines, which replaced the SkyDoo (the machine with the Japanese engine in it), and which became the Parajet GTX, the paramotor with their own engine. Gilo: “It actually took us about two years to get that GTX engine good, and probably nearer three years to get it seriously good - and then it was super-reliable and a nice piece of kit. And that engine eventually became the XT - although the XT actually wasn’t as good as the GTX! “The XT engine was an evolution of the GTX but it was lighter, therefore some of the reliability and smoothness had been taken out of it. It was a re-engineered version, which I’d handed to one of our engineers to evolve it to the next generation. But a lot of mistakes were made in the process. At that time I was busy setting up Rotron and other projects, so I wasn’t completely hands-on with it as much I would have liked, and some of the things I’d learned the first time around with the GTX, about what not to do, my engineers actually did - But all with good intentions. Things like reducing the weight of the crankshaft, putting smaller bearings in, and reducing the weight of the flywheel - all this actually ended up with a bit of a vibrating motor, whereas the GTX motor had been a very smooth engine, one which started reliably and had become very good. But the XT engine started breaking exhausts and such because of the vibration, although it was still a successful engine which did its job and expanded the Parajet brand. Gilo had explained where the XT engine came from, but I wanted to know how the radical frame came about, the frame which instantly stood Parajet out from the crowd. Gilo: “Going back to the GTX engine, it went into the frame I was making in my workshop, which was based on the original DK Whisper - so it looked just like the DK Whisper with a different engine in it. Our engine. “But then I decided that I didn’t like the DK Whisper frame either - everyone had started talking about low hang points and stuff like that, so I thought we had better explore this new low hang point concept, and while we're doing that let’s look into designing a whole new chassis and cage. “I’d always thought, ‘Why aren’t we using aerofoil sections?’ So I found a company called Seldom Masts who made aerofoil cross-pieces for the masts on sailing boats, and they had two different sizes of extrusion. So I began making the Volution frame from these. “The new engine, the GTX, went into the new chassis made from aerofoil sections and that is what became the Volution paramotor, and which was made in three versions - The Macro (with a 126cm prop), the Compact (with a 95cm prop) and the Micro (with an 80cm prop). “It was great as I didn’t have to extrude anything myself, I just found the company and they did it for me, because they had the tools. So that saved me quite a lot of money upfront. “So the Volution had arrived, which was the same year as I got married, 2007. I was designing it well into 2006 and it was launched officially in 2007. Which was also at the same time as I was doing the Everest project.” Whilst listening to Gilo, I was intrigued by the immensity that the change in paramotor chassis design must have had, being so radical and potentially leaving other paramotor designs looking like something of an anachronism. Gilo: “I looked at the DK Whisper style frame with the GTX engine and decided it all looked a bit clunky and old fashioned and decided I needed to make this thing look super-cool. Which is why I so wanted to try and use aerofoil sections and good design. “I made full steel jigs for this new machine, rather than wooden ones, and everything about it I was trying to design for slicker manufacturing. Things like getting rid of the netting, which some people didn’t like; I personally loved it because it made it so much quicker to manufacture them - stringing up nets and cages took hours, plus I thought it looked cool. It certainly looked very different. And it was safe enough, there were no accidents that I came across because of it. That was the real drive behind creating the Volution, and I started selling loads of them. “Around that time I met up with Bear Grylls and taught him how to fly on a Volution. We kicked off this plan to do the Everest project, which was great publicity for both of us. At that time I really wanted to get someone with a big name with whom to associate the brand. Bear was building his name back then and you could see that he was really going to go places, we got on really well and he became a great friend. He loves mucking about on paramotors - we even gave him his own brand eventually. “As time passed, at Parajet we decided that we needed to make different sized paramotors in the range; big ones and smaller ones, but interestingly the Micro was a bit of a flop. I thought everyone would want a tiny paramotor because it was so small and compact and you could break it down into a small car. It was a super little thing, in fact I still have one. The way it has gone in paramotoring is that everyone wants bigger and bigger machines, more powerful and fuel efficient, but the Micro wasn’t punchy enough for a lot of pilots, for quick take-offs and such." For the Everest project, Gilo developed a huge version of the Volution which had a new rotary engine for paramotors which would, incredibly, produce nearly 100 horsepower, was supercharged, with fuel injection and which was incredibly heavy - and this taught him a lot about rotary engines during the process. Gilo then realised that he should be using rotary engines in his paramotors. “So I found a company in Germany making small 294cc rotary engines for go karts and did a deal with them to convert them into paramotor engines. I bought the casings, the rotors, the shafts, all from this company in Germany - I thought this is great, they’re making all the hard bits now but I need to learn about this properly. Unfortunately, they started letting me down more and more, with poor quality stuff coming in. Things were breaking, which ended up with paramotors which had been shipped all over the world now coming back with seized engines and needing a new replacement engine each time. “I was trying to work out why they were seizing. It turned out they were getting too hot inside because the actual design wasn’t right. “So we decided that we needed to set up a new company to make these engines ourselves - the German company wasn’t supplying us with the quality we needed, so Rotron officially kicked-off making our own rotary engines. “We began with a whole new design to make them much better, and came up with a lot of other applications for these engines, but primarily it was for paramotoring - because I just love paramotoring. But also looking beyond that; UAVs, vertical take-off aircraft, motorbikes and all sorts of other things as well.” And that’s where Rotron has ultimately gone, making engines for a multitude of applications. And, during this process, paramotoring went down the list some way, because the money from bigger applications allowed the company to grow. This created the need for each company to be developing independently - Gilo Industries is the holding company, and within it there are the subsidiary companies Rotron and Parajet. And they are both companies in their own right with their own identities. Gilo: “You need people with completely different energies to manage these companies. Rotron has its own set of staff who work with their high-end clients, such as Boeing, to produce amazing products for various sectors and are completely focussed on making rotary engines. Parajet has very different clients and staff, it’s equally faced-paced but there’s a lot of fun and a different energy there. And they are completely focussed on making paramotors. I love both and am really proud of all our staff who make the companies what they are.” PREMISES, MACHINES AND STAFF I first discovered Parajet when they were in their old workshop in Mere. But prior to that they were in Motcombe in a small old dairy barn, which was about 40 feet x 20 feet and which Gilo had converted into a workshop - it had an old lathe and a milling machine which he’d managed to pick up over the years. Gilo was working mostly alone - he would work all day and then take all the bits he’d made, and his wooden jig, down to his friend Ian (who worked all day for another company) in Gilo’s little van. Ian would do an extra two hours every evening welding up paramotor frames and cages in a big workshop which belonged to someone else and which was used to make vacuum forming machines. Gilo: “So I’d prepare it all for Ian and bring it down fully populated in the jig, then he’d weld it and I’d take it home again. I paid about £80 for each cage to be welded. It was a pretty labour intensive way of doing things but it was the only way I could really afford it at the time, I couldn’t afford to sub-contract another company to do it all for me. “But it was the best way to get started. Eventually after eight months I managed to buy a welder and then he would come to me each evening and work in my tiny workshop after I’d prepared all of the parts for each machine during the day. “So I had what I needed but all the really complicated stuff like crankcases, etc. were being made by Lamb Engineering in Salisbury. So I’d assemble the engines and put them into the frames we were making and then ship them out from there. And I built probably 900 paramotors myself during this time, before anyone else was involved. I had a girl called Jenny who came to work making wiring harnesses and she did some assembly of netting on the cages. My girlfriend of the time also used to net up the cages, which was handy! "And I do look back on that as the good old days, where it was all done by hand for five years from an old barn down in Motcombe." Gilo then moved into the bigger workshop in Mere in 2005. And this is where the story of Parajet’s history takes an unexpected and fabulous turn. When he started making the Volution fuel tank, which was very curvy in several places and very complicated to manufacture, Gilo carved it out of foam and approached a company he’d heard did electroplating of plastics. Gilo: “I’d heard of them through the Wydale Plastics company who, when they saw my foam model, had said they couldn’t make a tool like that - it was far too complicated. But they knew a company who could do electroplating and they thought might be able to help. “So I contacted a company called Maple Precision Tooling, who were an offshoot of the Clarks shoe company. “Clarks Shoes had an amazing workshop for making all of their tooling, in the town of Street in Somerset. When Clarks took their manufacturing out of the UK to the Far East, they kept their machine shop and basically gave it to their employees, telling them to do what they wanted with the machinery. They got to keep their jobs and were encouraged to use their skills to find and supply other companies around the country. “So they had this enormous building filled to the ceiling with all sorts of great equipment, and I met them through asking them to do the electroplating of my foam fuel tank model - I’d prepared it so that it could have an electroconductive cover put over it. They dipped it in a tank in the same way they did for shoe moulds and electroplated the entire thing with about 6mm of nickel in three sections - which all came apart so you could polish the inside of it. So we created the shape in a high temperature metal (nickel) of the complex foam shape which I’d hand carved. And it worked really well.” This all happened in 2005, but soon news arrived from Maple Engineering that they were beginning to struggle and that Clarks were going to take down the factory. They were going to build a new housing estate in place of their workshop. The Maple Precision staff were going to be kicked out of their premises. Gilo: “When I heard about this, I told them that I had just found this large workshop in Mere, and that I didn’t need all of the space, and suggested that they move all of their equipment into there. I also suggested that they could make all of my paramotor parts for me in-house with their CNC machine shop. So that’s what they did; they literally shifted hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of kit to my workshop in Mere after I’d cleaned it up, painted the floor and made it as nice as I could. “I built a mezzanine for the upstairs, putting my Parajet assembly line on that upper floor and had the machine shop downstairs for making all the parts. And they also ended up making all of my complex pieces because Larry had got fed-up with making all these crankcases and other parts for me and was keen to get on with his next project - as he was really keen on making motorbikes. And it worked out very well. “It was good timing because that workshop looked very impressive - it had a lot of equipment in it. It was my workshop but I didn’t have to pay for any of the machines because they all belonged to Maple, who had been given them by Clarks in the first place. I had the complete run of their workshop - it was basically my workshop, even though I didn’t know how to use the machines - but the eight guys from Maple who were working there did. So the first Parajet staff were Maple Engineering staff who had been Clarks Shoes staff, although they were more than we actually needed - we only needed three or four guys for Parajet at the time, but they had their own contracts to do too - so everyone was happy. “Over time I started replacing their machinery with newer and better machinery, so eventually we had upgraded everything. But it had been a real leg-up. “At that time I was just kicking-off the Everest project plans, had just created the new workshop with all the equipment for free, and it looked like I’d done seriously well to the guys from GKN who came down with their big business hats on and saw this operation with all these guys wearing white Parajet coats building Parajet parts - they thought, 'Brilliant, this guy and his team can really make an engine that will get a paramotor over Everest', so it worked really well.” Gilo then used the whole set-up to raise money for his next project and also Rotron engines, because it looked like what is now was, a very professional company. Gilo: “So that was a key turning point, getting the Everest project underway and getting the guys from Clarks Shoes involved. “I look at big companies now and think back to what I struggled with when I was younger. One was credibility because I was very young and I didn’t have any money so I couldn’t really pay for anything, so I couldn’t really raise money very easily from other people - they didn’t want to give to a young guy with a whacky idea for a flying machine, it just didn’t look like it financially stacked-up. And I couldn’t talk the business lingo very well with them, do all the accounts and stuff - I was terrible at all that so I really just had to do it my own way. “ So Gilo just grafted his way through it all. But he loved it, and confesses to it not feeling like anything but mostly fun. He remembers it feeling like 80% of the time as really good fun, 20% of the time as really, really hard work. MUSEUM When I asked whether Gilo still has any of the original paramotors, I discovered that he does, and Parajet are actually putting a museum together at the moment. This will be installed into their new building, covering the entire history of Parajet, from the original DK Whisper copy, through the GTX version in the DK Whisper frame, then the new frame with the GTX engine, and then onto the Volution with the XT engine and onwards - right through to the latest machines including the v3, Zenith, Maverick and Falco trike. There will be a full story board with pictures and information so visitors will be able to see how it all evolved, with everything on display including the different sizes of machines with different propellers. A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS The future of paramotoring is very exciting - and, as you can probably imagine, Gilo has a vision which is way beyond where most of us are seeing right now. With new technologies, new composite materials, new manufacturing techniques, and perhaps best of all, designing and manufacturing everything in-house, the future Parajet machines are certainly going to be something incredible - If you think that Parajet is top of their game now, imagine where they will be in two years, five years or even ten years. The company's vision, motivation and energy will ensure that Parajet continues to produces paramotors to suit every current and future pilot - which means that from our perspective, as paramotor pilots, all we have to do is wait. And not for too long, I suspect. - Steve Thomas --------------------------------
  11. You can now literally fly over the Pyramids! Taking place in Giza Pyramids, Egypt [SEPTEMBER 5th - 10th, 2019] Enjoy From-the-air-tour of the Giza Plateau at the year’s biggest paramotor flying festival. With Dabuka you can book your Paramotor Flying ticket above the Pyramids, and take part of Egypt's biggest air-games Festival in September 2019. Book your adventure today, and participate in one of those life events you will never forget. Email: service@dabuka.de, Skype: dabuka Hurry up, only 5 seats remaining... reserve yours today! Price: $180 + Entrance fees PRICE INCLUDES All equipment and gear. Qualified tandem master. Flight Schedule: Morning Flights between at 9 am, 10 am & 11 am. Afternoon Flights at 3 pm & 4 pm. The experience is 30 mins, including safety instructions & getting ready. Airtime is a max. of 15 mins. Exact flight time depends on weather conditions. We can also organize for your a round trip in Cairo / Alex / Fayoum... and many other places around Egypt!
  12. MAVERICK The lightweight market for paramotors recently hotted-up with news of the new Maverick from Parajet, which was unveiled at Coupe Icare. At first glance, the Maverick looks very good. The two things which were most noticeable to me were the colour option on the cage rim and the fact that this is the first time Parajet hasn’t used sexy aerofoils in their frames and cages; for this machine everything is tubular and made from titanium. Although 'lightweight' is usually regarded as a compromise in terms of strength, Maverick appears to have not compromised on this aspect as much as you might expect. Maverick comes in three different versions that is based around engine spec and ‘accessories spec’ - in standard form it comes with the Moster 185 Plus engine (68kg of static thrust) and a two-blade carbon Helix prop plus a Parajet Dudek lightweight harness. Total dry weight is 24.5kg. Next is Maverick Sport which comes with the same Moster 185 Plus engine and Parajet Dudek lightweight harness but also has a carbon cooling shroud, a lightweight two-blade carbon e-prop and also comes with a travel case into which the entire machine fits. The travel case is impressive. Total dry weight is 24kg. The highest spec is the Maverick Pro which is the lightest of the three options. It has the Moster 185 Factory engine which is the lightest Moster available, featuring a CNC machined crankcase, a lightweight two-blade carbon e-prop, a titanium exhaust, a carbon silencer, a carbon airbox, a lightweight Apco split-leg (or standard Parajet Dudek Lightweight) harness and the Maverick travel case. The Pro comes in at 21.5 kg before being fuelled. This machine looks the most bling of the range owing to its orange anodised CNC engine block and its titanium/carbon exhaust system. I don’t know how much you'd notice the weight difference between the machines, or how much it matters at this level when they are fuelled and on your back, unless you are the kind of pilot where every gram is important - maybe the biggest difference for most pilots is in the accessories and the fabulous looks of the 185 Factory engine, which is gorgeous. A concern with some lightweight paramotors is their lack of strength when it comes to resisting damage when compared to a regular machine. A flexible cage is usually accepted as part of the deal but the Maverick is a pretty strong machine considering its light weight with its titanium chassis, frame and cage. The cage resists flexing very well with a slick design which allows a smooth uninterrupted surface for its entirety. It’s actually incredibly simple and brilliant at the same time - typical Parajet design and clever thinking. It also solves any issues with fiddly netting attachment and adds a nice bit of colour (of which there is a choice of green or blue at present) to the looks of the machine. The cage slides together easily and the netting assembly ensures everything stays together. The netting is supplied attached to a sheath which simply pushes onto the titanium cage ring and hooks in with two tightening knobs (one on each side of the frame). There are no buckles involved and when fitted ensures there isn’t anything for lines to get caught on. I was so surprised with how quick and easy it was to fit that I did it twice, just to be sure. It’s one of those things that I wish I’d thought of. The best things are often the most obvious. The Moster power to weight is one of the best on the market. Air Conception have their own engine, where they have lost a lot of the weight in their machines. Not having the option of building a lightweight engine, using the Moster, with its power to weight ratio, solves that issue for the Maverick. Parajet took every engine and did their own in-house testing, which is how they came to the conclusion that the Moster had the best power-to-weight ratio of all the available paramotor engines, even outperforming the Thor 250! Kester Haines did all of the engine testing in a consistent environment, so I think it’s safe to say that Parajet’s comparison figures are safe to use. Parajet has a good view of what is proving to be a good or bad engine as they have so many options in their range. Without doubt, in their eyes, the Moster is proving to be the most reliable engine available; they see relatively few problems in all of the Moster 185 Plus engined paramotors they have sold, which is another good reason to be using it in the Maverick. Obviously, as the focus is all about being lightweight, the options are limited. An obvious example would be the fact that there is no electric start option - adding the weight of a battery, the starter motor, etc. would defeat the object of the exercise. This also applies to the choice of engine. You can only have the Moster 185 Plus, as mentioned, chosen because of its power-to-weight ratio. To have a lighter engine but with less power would not be desirable, so with Maverick you get a paramotor which has excellent thrust and is lightweight. With this amount of thrust on such a light machine, a lightweight pilot is really going to be feeling the power. Despite its strength compared to many other lightweight machines, it’s fair to say that the Maverick is not aimed at completely novice pilots because if you fall over it won’t be as impact resistant as, say, a v3. Maverick is likely to appeal to pilots who have finished their training and are confident at launching and landing on their feet. Having said that, in true Parajet tradition, the modular construction of the machine means that if you do prang the cage the components can be replaced individually. The fuel tank is a striking, sculptured design which not only stands out visually but also serves practical purposes. It tucks in nicely behind the pilot and, along with its shape, is designed to improve aerodynamics, following on nicely from what Parajet has done with the Zenith and v3 fuel tanks. One of the corners lines up perfectly with the 4 litre mark for easy gauging of the fuel level. The tank also has the litre level clearly marked in black, easy for filling or when using a mirror for checking your level in flight. The starter cord is nicely routed through a pulley mounted high up on the cage and is easily removed with a solid-feeling quick-release pit pin. It ensures the starter handle is always easily within reach, without any fumbling over your shoulder to find it. It’s also mounted so that the cord is always partially pulled out and not needing frustratingly long pulls. The engines are black except the Moster Factory which has orange anodising. The netting hoop has a choice of colours and the swing arms have the usual colour options of the other paramotors in Parajet’s range, so can be colour coordinated with the colour of the cage hoop. The Maverick case is impressive. There are two internal pockets to take the prop, the legs and the spars fit in nicely, the netting assembly coils up and goes into a large pocket, while the chassis and motor sits in the main compartment. It’s been designed so that the fully loaded bag is within standard airline 25 kg limits. Maverick spent roughly a year in R&D - there was obviously a gap in the lightweight paramotor market for a machine which had to be both lightweight and robust. Despite lightweight machines having to be a bit mundane by their nature, Parajet has still managed to produce a good looking and innovative machine, most notably with that push-on net system which is quick to assemble, leaves the outer cage completely smooth and snag-free and adds a splash of colour at the same time. I've mentioned that twice now, it is brilliant! The lighter you go, the more strength you inevitably lose. But Parajet’s test pilots have confirmed it is strong - you could do power launches, although they're not encouraged (or necessary with most modern wings). There is good bracing in all the right places, curved spars coming out from the chassis is one of the touches which give the cage more strength overall. As mentioned, the unit is modular, so if any damage is sustained, individual parts can be replaced out, keeping costs down. The cage has eight separate pieces which connect to the chassis. Four identical outer pieces, and four inner spars. All simply slot together with nylon end bars, like a tent pole. All made from titanium. Pricing brings it in about £300 cheaper than the v3 and, being a Parajet, you know it will be designed well and built properly. www.parajet.com/maverick PMC will be testing the Maverick on the field at Membury in the near future; keep your eyes open for this review soon. Or call Simon for a test fly yourself on 07983 428 453. -------------------------------------- Which leads me on to talking in some depth about the company itself. I first became a Parajet customer six years ago when, having learned on a Pap, I wanted something a bit more modern and fell in love with the look of the Volution. However, a serious prang in my early days of ownership wrecked the machine and it was then that I discovered just how Parajet treat you as a customer - actually, it felt more like as a friend. They got me back in the air very quickly and were kind and supportive beyond any level of reasonable expectation. Try experiencing that with a manufacturer who is hard to get hold of, or even in a different country. And Parajet have kept me in the air every since, often getting me parts or helping fix something with little or no notice that I will be turning up. I’m openly a big Parajet fan so here’s my take on the company and the experience of being a customer. And if I sound biased it’s because I am, and for good reason. -------------------------------------- Parajet is well known for its outstanding customer support and their great looking and well-built machines, innovating at the sharp end and helping in a very large way to create the paramotor industry as it does so, so it’s interesting to delve into the background of how these machines are made, the processes involved and why this is good for us, the customer. We hear a lot about getting behind British industry, and here is a very good example of British industry doing what historically it has always done well - innovation, design and engineering. When new customers walk in the door at Parajet they usually have a lot of questions; Is this a substantial company that can be trusted to supply what I need? Do they have the facilities to help me if or when I need it? Why should I buy a paramotor designed and built by Parajet? Within moments, a lot of those questions are answered by what you see, how you are treated and the very obvious lines of beautiful machines waiting to be shipped out to customers. As well as looking at the machines (well worth a trip for that alone) you can try them on, do a hang test if you fancy it, see how they are made - even down to visiting the machine shops where you can watch the CNC machines doing their thing, or see the jigs that are used for building the chassis and cages. This is with an accompanying explanation of why things have been done a certain way, or why certain materials have been used over others. Having someone to explain everything to you and answer all of your questions is an enlightening experience and is just one of the reasons I chose Parajet for my paramotor and remained with Parajet ever since. This, combined with the positive experience of having your problems solved, if and when they happen, puts pilots into a place where you feel you have more control and optimism about keeping yourself flying. For pilots, faith in the manufacturer is paramount. I think of this as part of safety, comfort and security and the confidence which that provides - that if it goes tits-up, you’ve got someone watching your back, someone on your side to sort out your issues and keep you flying. It’s priceless in our sport. "Confidence builds safety which builds enjoyment." MANUFACTURING It’s been several years since I last had a look around ‘backstage’ in the factory and it has evolved dramatically, having now moved into its own facility in the connected adjacent building. When you take delivery of your new machine, you are probably more interested in getting it in the air than anything else. It’s good to realise just how much has gone into making your wonderful new flying machine; here’s a quick look at what goes into it all. For example, the cage of the v3 is a beautiful thing but each cage takes three hours just to drill the holes. That’s after making the components and welding them together on the jig. Then they go off for powder coating. Then it takes another three hours to string it and rivet it. And every step is done by hand. It’s quite astounding and even more so if you visit the factory and watch it being done. CNC Parajet has full access to its own manufacturing machines for most of the components. Anything they can make, they do make, including Zenith back plates, hand throttle, cage spars, cages, frames - anything which can be made with their CNC machines. The machine shop is worth a visit to see your bits being manufactured - there are a lot of really interesting points such as the way the aircraft grade aluminium billet is ‘sucked’ into place and held firmly whilst the machining takes places, how each block is machined to produce minimum waste (and environmental impact) and maximum parts each time. To give some perspective of what’s involved, just for the spars on the Zenith, the billet is machined on one side, the machine then has to be reset and the billet flipped over to have the other side machined. Each Zenith comes with six spars plus two spares, taking several hours of machining just for the spars. Then there’s the skates (feet), the legs, back plates, pulley wheels, tank handles, and all the other individual parts of the Zenith. So for one Zenith machine there are days of machine work alone. That doesn’t include the fact that all the parts have to be deburred, checked with a spectrum micrometer to ensure everything is within tolerance, cleaned, prepped, checked by Quality Control, by which point they are given a number (to keep track of each item) and they are then taken next door into the factory where they are stored in containers, until they are accessed by the guys who actually build your paramotor (all Parajet paramotors are built to order and this allows the specs for each machine to be varied easily). Everything then goes off for anodising in the colour chosen by the customer. They then come back to the factory and at this point there is still loads of work to be done - they have to drill and fit all of the various bits, fit all of the nylon components, etc. I always believed that, with the CNC and other machines, the components and final paramotors would be fairly quick to produce. They are not - the amount of time and work that goes into each machine is phenomenal. And that’s before you consider the design time, the programming of the CNC machines, etc. Along with the fact that Parajet are continually reviewing every part of every machine and that constant improvement takes considerable time and work. Parajet takes on board all feedback and comments which feeds back into the evolution of the machines, leading to constant improvement but always allowing backwards compatibility should anything be required for an older machine. All of this does lead to Parajet having a measure of confidence that their components, and therefore machines, are going to be beautifully and perfectly made - you feel this confidence when you talk to anyone who works there. And this gives customers confidence in the products. Another benefit with Parajet using modular designs is that customers can get in touch having damaged something, but thinking they need to replace an entire section, such as the stand on a Zenith - but then they find out that they only need to replace one or two components for a quarter or less of the expected cost. It’s clear that Parajet is constantly evolving their machines, processes and the way they do business. With the customer as the focus for all aspects of what they do, it puts us in a very good position as pilots. The fact that a pilot in the USA, for example, can order replacement parts via the US distributor, have them manufactured in the UK and shipped to the States and fitted on the customers machine within two weeks shows how far the customer-centric procedures have evolved. The future for Parajet pilots looks even better than ever, and it hasn’t been anywhere near shabby in the six years I’ve been a customer of Parajet. Quite the opposite. Parajet also make some excellent accessories, many of which I already own, such as cage bags for Volutions or paramotor travel cases. The range is well thought out and with Christmas coming it’s probably worth thinking about dropping hints about now. The latest Parajet flying suit is a good choice for PPG pilots which will be available any day now. Check back for a review of that suit which will be coming shortly. BUY CHEAP, BUY TWICE It’s probably of no surprise that a company like Parajet could make cheap tat (for want of a better phrase) and make considerably more money. I believe that they make quality machines which cost more (but have lower margins) than other machines but by doing so, along with their customer service and all of the things previously mentioned, they add to the overall improvement of our sport and will be there long into the future. This bodes well for anyone who keeps a machine for a long period of time and need that rare commodity, legacy support. A good example of this is the fact that pilots who are still flying the old v1 Volutions with the XT engine (which has not been produced for many years) can still ask Parajet for parts. They will actually manufacture these for you if they don’t have them on the shelf! And we are talking about a machine originating from more than a decade ago. This is also good news for anyone buying a second hand Parajet machine. This may mean that you have wait for the part to be manufactured (bearing in mind that machine manufacturing time priority is given to the latest paramotor components) but the part for a long-discontinued paramotor engine or frame is not unobtainable. That is outstanding. There are countless examples of new pilots finding out about paramotoring by meeting Parajet at various festivals or exhibitions and shows, then being given good advice by them and contacts for a good PPG school. Even when the aforementioned customer goes and buys a paramotor from a different manufacturer, because their school was tied in with them or because they saw a cheap deal on the web, it’s not uncommon for them to be back in the future buying a Parajet because the cheap bargain turned out to be less of a bargain than it originally seemed, especially the sometimes worryingly cheap deals for a new machine which sometimes turn up on ebay and other places. By pushing the sport (even through their BG brand which got paramotoring into circles of people who would normally not have discovered it) the sport benefits as a whole; schools benefit, wing manufacturers benefit, shops benefit and pilots benefit. It’s a good philosophy and as forward thinking as their cutting edge products. Goodwood and Farnborough Airshow, are incredibly expensive to attend and often the leads generated from them have taken hundreds of hours to acquire and process. Having brought paramotoring to the attention of the public, these people often go to their nearest school and buy a different brand of paramotor - but the sport has benefitted. The bottom line is that the more events that Parajet attend (ie, the more money Parajet spends on this kind of activity) the more the sport grows and benefits. Schools, wing sales, motor sales and general enquiries all have noticeable increases in numbers after events like Goodwood and Farnborough. Even such things as sponsoring Parafest (which Parajet did this year) helps keep the paramotoring economy buoyant. When buying new, the cost is often a major factor in decision making, but remembering the old saying ‘Buy cheap buy twice’, is very relevant in our sport. A good example one is of the paramotor copies which appeared after the Zenith was released. If a number of pilots bought one, then needed a spare part only to find out that the machines are no longer made, or the design wasn’t right so the manufacturer had abandoned it, then pilots are scuppered - as soon as they break it they’re stuffed. There is no continuity - Parajet have had customers asking them to make parts for other machines for this very reason. This works out to be very expensive and impractical and not good for maintaining happy pilots. It has happened where a pilot has brought in some damaged parts from a Zenith copy, having heard Parajet can make parts. They can, but the design time to redraw the part into a CAD programme, stopping the machines from doing their normal work to run this one-off part, and then resetting it back normal afterwards means that you’d be paying as much for four of these parts as you would for a complete machine. In several instances, customers have been offered a good deal on a new machine and they have ditched their broken paramotor in favour of this. OPEN DOOR POLICY Parajet operate an open door policy for everyone, and I really urge anyone who’s thinking about buying their first paramotor or replacing their current machine, to make a visit. You’ll not regret it and you will definitely learn something as well as enjoy being surrounded by such an array of the best that paramotoring manufacturing has to offer. Until recently any visitors would just walk into the factory but Parajet has recently installed a customer area so when you walk through the door you are greeted by a nice display area with machines (currently with the Zenith, v3, Maverick and the new trike on display) along with brochures and a coffee machine - which is going to be installed imminently. That won’t change the friendly greeting you always receive at Parajet, it’s just that now you have a nicely lit area which is away from the production area (not that the production area is anything to be ashamed of, it’s very clean, well organised, spacious and well lit). And laid-back. Maybe the kind of thing you’d expect if you got to visit, say, the McLaren workshop. By visiting you can decide about whether the quality of the materials and the manufacturing processes, the levels of service and support from the entire team, the thought that has gone into every component and manufacturing process, the longevity of parts and the benefits of being a substantial UK based manufacturer is better than the other options. You may not end up buying a Parajet machine, but you can make a decision with your eyes wide open and decide whether buying a cheaper machine and saving a few hundred quid up front will be a good decision in the long run. I know how I feel about it, it would be good for you to visit and decide for yourself. Really, go and check it all out. The only thing I can’t confirm is the quality of the coffee because that facility wasn’t installed at the time of my visit ... although if it’s anything like the way Parajet does everything else then it will be perfectly balanced between bean count and water volume, with the temperature optimally set for the average pilot with an option to fine tune it to your own preference.
  13. I thought I would start a thread with some pictures of my nitro in and on various cars, I hope this will grow and everyone will share pictures of their paramotors either compacted into a car, or complete in a van or on a car with our various methods of transport. Hopefully we can learn which van is best, which paramotors fit in which cars. To start off heres a few pics. This one always makes me chuckle first. My Smart Cabrio is an excellent van Paramotor transport by Surfer Vince, on Flickr Paramotor transport by Surfer Vince, on Flickr Paramotor transport by Surfer Vince, on Flickr
  14. Greetings. I'm a paraglider pilot. I'm looking at buying a used HR R120 paramotor for my First paramotor. I'm looking for advice regarding this particular unit. Is it good? Bad? Tell me! What a used unit fetch normally if low hours and good shape? TX.
  15. https://www.facebook.com/groups/720999287913701/permalink/1653118241368463/?sale_post_id=1653118241368463 Photos in link above, video available. Parajet Parajet Zenith fitted with Vitorrazi Moster Classic 185cc engine. Black hoops and chassis with graphite silver spars and stand. Moster 185cc engine ideal for larger loads, tandem, small wings. Lots of thrust in a small and light engine. Well maintained. Engine has just been overhauled with new piston and rings. New pull start mechanism, new belt, recent new carb. Good starter even from cold and runs very well. Moster engines are well known for reliability and the zenith frame revolutionised paramotor design. No welds, all spares available off the shelf with Parajet's excellent customer service (very important when investing in a paramotor). Best to see the machine and have a proper handover, but I can deliver by arrangement. Service record maintained. Cash on collection. I will not send overseas. £3200
  16. HELLOOOO !!! Ive just moved back to Bath, is there anywhere i can takeoff from ? desperately trying to find people and or a sit to takeoff from. Ive got bhpa cp tow and motor Im on facebook as Eddie Handford (bath university) if thats easier Thanks
  17. NIRVANA RODEO Simonini 200 Lots of photos and a video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pcqYY5yu60 http://www.paradrenalin.com/shop/paramotors/rodeo/ - full spec here. I am selling my barely run-in Nirvana Rodeo (Simonini 200) after buying a Nitro 200. I am only changing from this great machine because I want something a little lighter. This was bought new in June 2014 but has been mostly unused for 12 months in that time. It’s in excellent condition. I have now flown 20 hrs since a complete rebuild by the US Nirvana dealer (Ryan Shaw) and it runs perfectly. There is only the usual wear and tear but that is minimal given the new prop, cage parts, fuel tank, and engine components. A very high spec and high power machine with electric start, pull start, in-flight battery charging, Skyflar combination strobe (nearly new), 3-blade prop, full kit as new (see web page). Easily dismantled and fits in the supplied cage and motor wheeled bag. The engine is running perfectly and with the beautifully smooth 3-blade prop gives me 3 Ltrs per hour! If you want power, electric start, and smooth quiet power then this is for you. Please call if interested. When next at the field I'll capture some video of the detail of my Rodeo and post on Youtube with a link here. Tony Wheeler Swindon (UK) 07904 125 756
  18. I have said to a few people I think the Spyder is one of if not the best beginner Paramotor wing. Its lighter weight makes it easy to launch and forgiving of mistakes. The wing just hangs there waiting for input, begging to fly. I just come across a great youtube video which shows how easy it is. You can see the wind is light, barely blowing 5mph it looks. The key element to a beginner is reliable easy successful launching. Easy for an experienced pilot to make any wing look good, but when beginners pull up the spyder after ground handling something else is great to see.
  19. Just uploaded my most recent paravlog. Woody recently setup a local meet where a bunch of local pilots got together at the soccer fields behind my house. Here is my vlog about my training progress and telling about my experience at the meet. Thanks Woody for getting everyone together and taking the time to give me some valuable instruction/pointers! Enjoy guys!
  20. I am Looking into getting into flying paramotors in Malaga, Spain. FlySpain are not too far from me, and heard good reviews so more than likely will get a few lessons there, but I would like to buy the equipment first before I do. I have been told it is a good idea to buy a PAP as parts should be easy to get hold of here and that the Pap pa125 and Pap ros125 are really solid machines, but open to suggestions. I weigh 87kg and about 6ft2. Look forward to some suggestions, many thanks, Daniel.
  21. I bought a used ParaJet Volution 2 Macro last year (it's a 2012 model). An injury kept me from flying much but it seems like it has never run well. I’m not able to get over 6500 RPM with it and even that seems to be inconsistent. That manual says to shoot for 7600 RPMs. I can run it up, get 6500, let it back to idle, then get 5500 when I run it up again. Here’s what I’ve tried so far. Replaced the fuel tank cap and fuel filter. Replaced the fuel line and put in fresh fuel. Rebuilt the carb with the OEM kit (Walbro 37c). Adjusted the throttle cable to ensure there was no slack or kinks. Replaced the spark plug twice. Had a friend check the compression. I don’t recall what it was but it remained the same each time which led him to believe there were no air leaks. Adjusted the high and low jets as well as throttle after each change. Checked the packing on the exhaust silencer. It's relatively clean and nothing is loose. Checked the resistance of the CDI and spark plug wire I’m at the point where I may have to replace the carb and/or replace the reed valve. I also read that loose packing in the exhaust system could cause problems. I’m getting very frustrated and don’t want to just start replacing things. We fired up my buddy’s Volution 2 and it ran right up to 8000 RPM. Since the high-end RPMs have been inconsistent (even when manually holding down the throttle lever), it's been hard to diagnose. Has anyone seen a similar problem and, if so, how was it fixed? Thanks!
  22. A question for folks ...has someone thought about using a 14k power bank ad a battery , pros n cons. If it can start a car I am sure u can crank a paramotor with it. Like this one https://www.walmart.com/ip/68800mAh-4USB-LED-Car-Jump-Starter-Emergency-Charger-Booster-Power-Bank-Battery/568089020?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=15564&adid=22222222228136594269&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=245352131987&wl4=pla-402280347529&wl5=9009674&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=118770990&wl11=online&wl12=568089020&wl13=&veh=sem
  23. Hey I have paramtor Radne raket 120 for sale complete set with reserve and prop. Ready to fly. Paramotor have electric starter. And it’s suitable for pilot with weight up to 75kg. Frame is made out of stainless steel and it have been powder coated. Frame can Be taken apart in. 3sections. Flight time for engine is 50 hours most. Shipping is not included in price. Paramotor is located in Latvia. U can contact me by phone +37128682054 or email zuravlovs65@gmail.com
  24. clearly I have never paramotered before, but I am deeply interested in the sport, I'm also interested in getting to college in the least stressful way possible. why dont I buy a car?! well according to google, paramotor cost you less in repairs if used correctly, so id rather spend a lot once than constantly fixing a lemon in essence, all im wondering is, can. I fly to college in anyway possible many thanks,
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