Hip rings

[flyingstrauss 0]

Can someone tell me the pros and cons of a hip rings on a canopy piloting rig?

[ChrisL 2]

What do you mean by "a canopy piloting rig"?

__

My mighty steed

[Psychonaut 0]

Are you talking about an articulated fit?

Stay high pull low

[flyingstrauss 0]

No, I was talking about this thing. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.strongparachutes.com/Pics/Sport/HipRing.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.strongparachutes.com/pages/Skydive_QuasarII.php&usg=__QdJ5iyZ3rDYD5K4iHCf-SDh2Enc=&h=83&w=90&sz=24&hl=en&start=22&sig2=RnMsXzg37MEaVnyIuyzzAw&tbnid=orp9xjjOqCJOkM:&tbnh=73&tbnw=79&ei=pending&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dskydiving%2Bcontainer%2Brig%2Bhip%2Brings%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D584%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C342&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=1077&page=2&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:22&tx=38&ty=38&biw=1280&bih=584

[flyingstrauss 0]

Mr. Cris, I meant a rig that I'm going to use pretty much only for hops and pops from 5000ft. My question is, is rig with hip rings more or less comfortable during canopy flight, and similar things...

[dragon2 0]

"This thing" is apparently a Quasar.

Yes an articulated harness feels better, provided it's at your measurements. I think I read somewhere that pro-swoopers like the rings less as harnasshifts are more difficult, but I may have that wrong, you'd be better off asking that question in Swooping and Canopy Control.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[ChrisL 2]

Quote

Mr. Cris, I meant a rig that I'm going to use pretty much only for hops and pops from 5000ft. My question is, is rig with hip rings more or less comfortable during canopy flight, and similar things...

I've had both with rings and without, and I can say that I vastly prefer having the rings. I'm much more comfortable under canopy than I was on my older rig that did not have them.

Both rigs were Vector 3's, with the same size harness and container. Only difference was the hip rings and a skyhook, so its a pretty fair comparison.

Keep in mind that my own experience, and the position in which I am most comfortable might not be the same for everyone.

__

My mighty steed

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

Likely cheaper to replace damaged leg strap on an articulated rig.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[jumpwally 0]

.....and as Bill Booth pointed out before,,,,more failure points as well...

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[billvon 2,400]

>and as Bill Booth pointed out before,,,,more failure points as well..

Has there ever been an actual failure? I remember the Bill Beaver opening that stretched, but did not destroy, the harness rings. The only harness I've ever seen come apart was a non-hip-ring Telesis (and that took some very extreme forces indeed.)

[riggerrob 558]

I re-built Bill Beaver's harness, plus a couple others (Ton Flazone, et al.) that suffered bent hip rings.
Despite openings hard enough to shred canopies and damage necks, none of them were close to harness failure, because those stainless steel rings bent longer before they would break.
You have to remember that the first batch of Flexons were built with comparatively soft, stainless steels hip rings. All later Rigging Innovations harnesses were built with stronger cadmium-plated hip rings.

[jumpwally 0]

I think he meant now you have at least dozen more fabric and stiching area's to look for wear and tear,,no mention of ring failure.....

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[billvon 2,400]

>I think he meant now you have at least dozen more fabric and stiching
>area's to look for wear and tear,,no mention of ring failure.....

Ah, I thought he was talking about failure rather than typical wear. In that case I would tend to agree with the stitching but not the fabric; a container on a ringed harness does not seem significantly different than the container on a solid harness. I'd also add webbing wear, since we've seen a few rigs that needed legstrap replacement from the wear that occurs between the legstrap webbing junctions when you walk with the rig on.