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I'm short and with high hang points I can't reach things. Help?


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I've got an older Backbone Stronger 125 (ROS 125) and the frame only has high hang points with J-bars and no option to install weight shift arms. I have my chassis hang point straps adjusted to the absolute lowest it can go and the risers start hanging at my hairline.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7frWuNellxacHBEVUxlSm9Ndmc/view?usp=sharing

I fly the Ozone Spyder. It does not have seperate hang points for a motor or PG harness. There is only one hang point on the risers. I have the lines for the brakes and tip steering handles lengthened to their maximum and I park them on the lowest magnet. 

I'm short at only 5'5" / 165cm.

- In non-reflex mode I can reach the brakes just fine but have no ability to reach anywhere close to the big ears lines. 

- Even with a Big Ears kit, I still can't reach the Big Ears.

- Even if I had Big Ears, I can't steer because there's no weight shift ability. 

- In full reflex mode I have to extend my arms 100% to reach the tip steering handles at the lowest magnet. The tip steering handles are attached by a thin bungee cord lower on the risers, so I often end up tip steering by pulling the bungee, not the handles themselves.

- In full reflex mode I have to extend my arms 100% to reach the brakes at the lowest magnet. if the brakes somehow detach from the lowest magnet and hang next to the pully, they are completely out of my reach.

- Having every single control so far up means flying is really really tiring on my arms since I always have to have them raised for steering.

- The result of extending all the lines is that there is now so much more slack lines which makes ground handling messy.

At this point I don't know what to do. I feel that it's only a matter of time before something happens and because I can't reach things, I'll get into an accident. 

Should I just dump the Backbone? Maybe scavenge the motor and buy a weight-shift frame that allows for mounting of the ROS 125? I personally don't care for the lack of bumps of high hang point - I prefer to feel the bumping around of the wing like I do with my paragliding harness.

Edited by fuzzybabybunny
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For a while on a high hang point setup I flew with a 'steering extender bar' that allowed steering with hands at waist level. It was an idea I found on another web site.

It was just a short piece of 15mm PVC pipe (40cm from memory) with cord tied off at each end, then attached to each brake handle.

On flare when landing it just came down to thigh level.

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5 hours ago, alan_k said:

For a while on a high hang point setup I flew with a 'steering extender bar' that allowed steering with hands at waist level. It was an idea I found on another web site.

It was just a short piece of 15mm PVC pipe (40cm from memory) with cord tied off at each end, then attached to each brake handle.

On flare when landing it just came down to thigh level.

Amazing! I'll go try that today for both my brakes and tip steering. 

Did you eventually move to a low hang point?

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