Paramotor Maintenance

[ian5708]

I'm looking at going to the 'dark side' from free flying and taking up paramotoring. 

I live in the West Midlands and I'm seriously considering an Air Conception Nitro 200 or a Miniplane with a Top 80.

I am practical and I can turn my hands to most things but I have very little knowledge of 2 stroke engines and zero knowledge of paramotor maintenance and component replacement other than a replacing a spark plug.

With the right advice and information I could probably do most maintenance myself but if I had a mechanical or electrical problem or if the engine needed to be stripped down and rebuilt are there reputable specialist mechanics in the country who I could take my motor to to fix?

Would a decent motorcycle mechanic be able to maintain of fix a paramotor engine or would he need to have some relevant/specialist paramotor engine knowledge?

Thanks in advance.

[admin (Simon W)]

I guess, if your looking at new kit with a warranty it would come down more to what the after sales service is like, what the parts delivery times are like, and so on. 

Any half decent bike shop will be able to help for sure. It just boils down to spares availability after that. 

Overall though, it's not that difficult to 'work out' how to do most stuff with a 2 stroke engine over time.  And with the Top80 at least, you should only need to replace a few exhaust springs now and then

SW

 

[christian]

I have a Miniplane Top80, one of the big plus points is the amount of support available.  There's a very responsive Yahoo group and a dealer in Texas has set up a website with all sorts of tutorials.  And it looks like the UK finally has a serious Miniplane dealer.  I had no problems finding a mechanic to do the jobs that I am not comfortable undertaking.  The Top80 is such an old engine and has been fitted by several manufacturers, so parts and expertise are never far away.

Vince, the UK Air Conception dealer seems really customer focused, so I don't think that you can go wrong with either choice.  I have read nothing seriously negative about the Nitro and am considering one myself, but I wonder about parts prices and availablility and who can fix them.  It's not that I've heard that it's a problem, just that I'm not sure of the situation.

Welcome to the dark side,

Christian

[alan_k]

Hi Ian, I am now in the West Midlands near Dudley so if you need any pointers then give me a shout.

I have been maintaining my old 2 stroke motor for more years than I care to remember, you would be very welcome to come over for a bit of a tutorial.

Have sent you a message.

Cheers,

Alan

[jock]

19 hours ago, alan_k said:

Hi Ian, I am now in the West Midlands near Dudley so if you need any pointers then give me a shout.

I have been maintaining my old 2 stroke motor for more years than I care to remember, you would be very welcome to come over for a bit of a tutorial.

Have sent you a message.

Cheers,

Alan

not far from me al.come and fly with us at worcesterif you want,yep 2 stroke are easy to fix, plenty of youtube vids if your not to handy with the spanners.your welcome as well ian

[ian5708]

On 13/11/2016 at 10:57, christian said:

I have a Miniplane Top80, one of the big plus points is the amount of support available.  There's a very responsive Yahoo group and a dealer in Texas has set up a website with all sorts of tutorials.  And it looks like the UK finally has a serious Miniplane dealer.  I had no problems finding a mechanic to do the jobs that I am not comfortable undertaking.  The Top80 is such an old engine and has been fitted by several manufacturers, so parts and expertise are never far away.

Vince, the UK Air Conception dealer seems really customer focused, so I don't think that you can go wrong with either choice.  I have read nothing seriously negative about the Nitro and am considering one myself, but I wonder about parts prices and availablility and who can fix them.  It's not that I've heard that it's a problem, just that I'm not sure of the situation.

Welcome to the dark side,

Christian

Thanks for your thoughts Christian. Much appreciated.  I'm still weighing everything up. 

[ian5708]

On 14/11/2016 at 19:28, alan_k said:

Hi Ian, I am now in the West Midlands near Dudley so if you need any pointers then give me a shout.

I have been maintaining my old 2 stroke motor for more years than I care to remember, you would be very welcome to come over for a bit of a tutorial.

Have sent you a message.

Cheers,

Alan

Thank you so much for your kind offer of support Alan. People seem very friendly here.  I haven't yet got a motor and live between the UK and New Zealand and I'm leaning towards waiting until I get back there until I get one. From what I can gather,  transporting an engine on a plane as baggage can be a big headache and I do quite a lot of traveling enough back to NZ. Thanks again Alan and happy and safe flying.

[ian5708]

On 12/11/2016 at 09:57, admin (Simon W) said:

I guess, if your looking at new kit with a warranty it would come down more to what the after sales service is like, what the parts delivery times are like, and so on. 

Any half decent bike shop will be able to help for sure. It just boils down to spares availability after that. 

Overall though, it's not that difficult to 'work out' how to do most stuff with a 2 stroke engine over time.  And with the Top80 at least, you should only need to replace a few exhaust springs now and then

SW

 

Thanks for all your advice and experience Simon. 

[aljken]

Hi Ian,

Don't worry. I knew absolutely nothing about 2 stroke motors before I started paramotoring, and now can do pretty much anything myself. You can teach yourself all of it, get advice of other paramotorists/2 stroke engine owners.

Stuff doesn't go wrong very quickly with the 2 stroke engines, so it's only 1 part at a time that you learn how to fix. After a while you'll realise you've learnt loads about them and don't just fix stuff, but actually modify stuff to make it better than it orginally was!

 

Good luck.... and remember, there's nothing that's actually difficult to fix on the 2 stoke.