Hi everyone
Could anybody tell me about the advantages and disadvantages of free/loose brakes?
Are there any problems/ dangers in any situation?
And any setup considerations?
Thanks for any advice
Ivan
Latest Comments
by Martini
9 years ago
time has past, here is my experience,
Positive: - nice for groundhandling if you like to release everything without worrying about your breaks catching in your lines and maybe nice for advanced acro training, I don´t know.
Negative side: if you are training stalls, tailslide, parachutage, where you need great symmetry.
...some people like it, some people don´t, some say it´s just a trend brought by acro superstars, some say it improves your ability to control, also it doesn´t fit with every wing, so wings will feel strange, like I once tested on my DHV1.
For me works best a mix between both, sheave with a long strap/elastic (like some highperformance glider Mantra R10.2 or the Passion) or normal breaksetup with an elastic to impede tangling...
I am a beginner myself so take everything written by me with a grain of salt. I have now roughly 100 flights with freebrakes and noticed the following differences.
positive:
- differential braking of trailing edge possible by shifting your arm further out or inwards
- more feedback and feeling for your wing
- can shorten brakes as much as you like
negative:
- you have to focus more on the direction you are pulling the brake to, e.g. if your wing is 90 degrees in front of you, you have to pull parallel to the risers and not towards earth to brake effectively, whereas with conventional brake setp you can basically pull in any direction
neutral:
- ground handling is a bit weird at the beginning, but one gets quickly used to it
for the correct setup, check this video: http://vimeo.com/59098219 and make sure your rubber bands are long enough to allow sufficient brake travel, e.g. for stalling....
Latest Comments
time has past, here is my experience,
Positive: - nice for groundhandling if you like to release everything without worrying about your breaks catching in your lines and maybe nice for advanced acro training, I don´t know.
Negative side: if you are training stalls, tailslide, parachutage, where you need great symmetry.
...some people like it, some people don´t, some say it´s just a trend brought by acro superstars, some say it improves your ability to control, also it doesn´t fit with every wing, so wings will feel strange, like I once tested on my DHV1.
For me works best a mix between both, sheave with a long strap/elastic (like some highperformance glider Mantra R10.2 or the Passion) or normal breaksetup with an elastic to impede tangling...
Thanks a lot for the tips and link, very useful! Would you say it could be dangerous even?
Hi Ivan,
I am a beginner myself so take everything written by me with a grain of salt. I have now roughly 100 flights with freebrakes and noticed the following differences.
positive:
- differential braking of trailing edge possible by shifting your arm further out or inwards
- more feedback and feeling for your wing
- can shorten brakes as much as you like
negative:
- you have to focus more on the direction you are pulling the brake to, e.g. if your wing is 90 degrees in front of you, you have to pull parallel to the risers and not towards earth to brake effectively, whereas with conventional brake setp you can basically pull in any direction
neutral:
- ground handling is a bit weird at the beginning, but one gets quickly used to it
for the correct setup, check this video: http://vimeo.com/59098219 and make sure your rubber bands are long enough to allow sufficient brake travel, e.g. for stalling....
Cheers,
Bastian