Fluidwings Gangster

[Crispy. 0]

http://www.fluidwings.com/gangster

Fluidwings just updated their website to include info on the Gangster! Sizes range from 79 to 135. There isn't a link to place an order for the wing quite yet, but I imagine they will fix that soon. Can't wait to hear about it and demo it ... someday.

[mbailey465 1]

Looks neat! Another nice looking canopy to bridge the gap between 9 cell and fully-xbraced wings.

What would be the reason for only having x-bracing on the center cells? Increased rigidity without the added pack volume?

[Crispy. 0]

It does look neat! I’m guessing that the partial cross bracing is a compromise in rigidity/responsiveness and being forgiving enough for the inexperienced swooper.

And I was wrong, sales have begun for the smaller sizes with sales for the 107, 120, and 135 to begin shortly.

[kevindice 1]

I just put 3 jumps on the Gangster 96 prototype this last weekend. The openings are fantastic. Easily the best 3 openings I've had in the last 200 jumps. (I jump a Velocity 96.)

Just to clarify, I don't work for Fluid, but here's what I know from talking to them and looking at photos...

It's a 9 cell canopy. The center 3 cells are cross braced tri-cells, and the rest of the cells are bi-cells. It's worth noting that cells 3 and 7 are still bi-cells, but they have a single cross brace going from the inner-most line attachment to their unloaded rib, so you see 4 "V" shapes total.

This design gives you 21 internal chambers, the same number as conventional 7-cell fully cross braced canopy. However, on the Gangster, the rigidity is more concentrated towards the center of the wing where it will most benefit the wing's efficiency. Out of the 22 ribs (including end cell/stabilizers), only 4 of the ribs are free floating...neither cross braced nor directly attached to a line. You can see these are the unloaded ribs on cells 1, 2, 8, and 9. Through this structure, the benefit of rigidity is maximized while the drawback of pack volume is minimized. There's also tail ribs to give the wing a more rigid trailing edge and sweet flare.

Again, the wing I jumped is a prototype. It already kicks ass, but the production version probably has some revisions to make it even better.

That said, here are some opening shots: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.dice/videos/10214701429152030/

[mbailey465 1]

Thnaks Kevin, I suppose you didn't have time to get a good feel for the wing after only 3 jumps, but are you able to make any comparisons to your Velo with regards to flight characteristics? (recovery arc, trim, speed ect.)

[kevindice 1]

I can next month. On my two of these three jumps, my pilot chute only killed about half way and created a ton of drag. Only on the third jump, I got a more accurate feel for the wing. Since I've been jumping the Velo w/ full RDS for competition and training, I'd like to jump the Gangster in the same configuration first before really comparing the two.

My initial impression is that recovery arc is similar, there is more power in the rears, the harness is a little more sensitive. For speed, I'd need to look at my Flysight data for rate of descent.

[tripp9r 2]

Those openings seem pretty smooth :)
Die u pull on the rears while openings?
Looks like it in the Video... Isnt that a "no-go" at High Performance canopies?

Cheers

[Alexg3265 0]

You can actively steer the opening if you wish and is far more forgiving to accidental large inputs but it opens beautifully and mostly on heading hands off in my personal experience... I have about 50 jumps on various sizes from the 90 @2.8 to the 135 at 1.9ish and had similar results on all...

I was that kid jumping out if his tree house with a bed sheet. My dad wouldn't let me use the ladder to try the roof...

[rjklein4470 23]

I placed my order a couple weeks ago for a Gangster 96, I am really looking forward to flying this wing.

I just got my Tesla for my other rig, and I am very impressed with the quality of construction and material. The Tesla is built really well.

[EvilGenius 0]

Hey Kevin, did you manage to make any more jumps on the Gangster, if so I'd love to hear about them?

[flyhi 24]

How big do they pack?

(My container is tight for my current canopy. Would probably go the same size in the Gangsta.)

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[Deimian 43]

As an observation from a friend: It should pack rather big. It is just partly cross-braced, but it is a 9 cell canopy, with miniribs, so probably it would pack as bit as a velocity, or a tiny bit more. All that without seeing one, so take it with a pinch of salt.

[EvilGenius 0]

Fluid Wings told me that a Gangster 90 would pack about the same as a Comp Velo 90.

[rjklein4470 23]

I just spent the last 10 jumps on the OG 135 at 1.81 WL, and I had a blast with this wing. At this WL, the OG was super fun to fly, so for those of you who want a fun wing, don't feel like you have to load this sucker up to have fun.

The openings were very soft on heading. I had a couple 90 turns to the right, but during the final stage of opening she came back around.

I am not sure how fluidwings does this, but the first part of the opening is so soft. One moment I pitch, then the transition to standing in the harness is well really relaxing.

This wing has so much power in the rear risers and the bottom end. It has a very strong flair, but fluidwings down plays the performance of this wing. I think because the HK, and Airwolf are such HP wings they forget to tell you that this wing will still gobble 99% of the canopy's on the market.

At 1.8 WL I felt like I could relax and enjoy the wing, but I also know she has another gear. My landing were all so much fun. Strait in this wing does move, it will be ground hungry. And it is so much fun, because the flair is so strong.

The wing does respond very well to harness inputs, but it is not at all twitchy. It is a great combination to make adjustments on final using the harness, and keeping your hands off the toggles. This just makes the flair have even more power.

The last two jumps I started using the rear risers during the flair, and the OG loves it when you tap her rears. lol just a small amount of pressure and she levels out and just goes and goes.

I had so much fun with this wing, all I can say is the OG is super Legit.

[rjklein4470 23]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

so I apologize for the spelling mistakes. I was using voice dictating, and did not re read the post.

[EvilGenius 0]

No worries I've seen worse. :-p

Seriously, thanks for the info I've got an OG 90 coming which will be loaded at 2.0, sounds like it's going to pretty spicy!

[isurfne 0]

Fluid Wings Gangster 135
Exit weight 195
Wing loading 1.44
Jumps (513) Test jumps 19

Packing:
The first thing I noticed about the canopy is that is packs HUGE. I have a 135 max container and its stuffed like a Saussage. I know that cross bracing packs larger and that it would be tight, but this was next level stuffed.
After 10 jumps things started to get a bit easier, but its still not really meant for a 135 container. It fits, but its certainly tighter than Sunpath would like.

Openings:
The first few opening I had were a bit of a mixed bag and I think that is mostly due to packing and over stuffing the container. The initial snatch force of the canopy is stronger than I anticipated but at no point was it hard. Once the canopy stood me up in the harness the openings were soft with a very staged inflation. The “bad” openings I had were not slammers or spin-ups but they weren’t exactly the expected beautiful openings. Again, I feel as though this is due to packing and I hope to have an opportunity to jump this from a larger container before I make final judgement. 15 jumps in and im in love with the openings. The snatch force is still a bit higher than I would think but by no means is it hard. Its staged and usually on heading. Ive had a few off heading openings but they were super manageable and I never felt like it wanted to spin up on me. So far its the best opening canopy ive flown.

Toggle pressure:
The toggle pressure felt easy/ moderate. There was light pressure at first and built slowly and steadily to the bottom of the flare. It was super intuitive and as it was what I expected I’m finding it difficult to describe accurately.

Flare:
Holy shit guys. This thing has flare power. ( thats what happens when you finally have some real speed) Tip toe landing and metric fuck-tons of range

Font risers:
The fronts were light to moderate and built steadily and progressively as you dove the canopy. Im really working on getting into the fronts and the more comfortable I got with the canopy the better they felt.

Rear Risers:
Wow wow wow wow wow. Even with my harness only approaches I had enough speed to plane out and feel just how powerful the rears are. Rears for Years! Once I can really dive the canopy I’ll be able to play with the rears more but for now they still have tons of range and power.

Harness: The harness was not nearly as sensitive as the Tesla but it felt more intuitive and controllable with more of a dive. I think that once you increase your wing loading the harness will liven up a bit, but as a step up canopy its exactly what you want. On the largest size you make it was fun and easy to fly while letting me know that she has a lot more in her when I’m ready to start ringing out some more performance.

Trim:
It was steep but not scary. Fast but controllable. It felt steeper than the Tesla by miles.


I have a Gangster 120 on order and it will be here in august. I cannot speak highly enough about this canopy as a step up canopy. I liked it a LOT more than the crossfire.

[isurfne 0]

The gangster packs a LOT bigger than the size that it is. Its 6% cross braced. To be on the safe side, plan for it to pack the same size as a velo or JFX. The attached photo is a photo of my demo OG-135 packed into a 135 Jav 2 stow bag. as you can tell.. it doesnt really fit. If your container is maxed out with a standard wing, dont even think about packing the same size OG in it.

[Pobrause 6]

isurfne

The gangster packs a LOT bigger than the size that it is. Its 6% cross braced. To be on the safe side, plan for it to pack the same size as a velo or JFX. The attached photo is a photo of my demo OG-135 packed into a 135 Jav 2 stow bag. as you can tell.. it doesnt really fit. If your container is maxed out with a standard wing, dont even think about packing the same size OG in it.

The gangster packs exactly as big as any new wing would with partly xbraced internals. Nothing new about them adding to the pack volume since the Excalibur.
Please make informed decisions, not vague guesses.

-------------------------------------------------------

To absent friends

[wngoeman 0]

Can you upload the photo? I don't see the attachment.

[rjklein4470 23]

I had the 135, and it did pack up a little larger than say a Katana.

The 135 OG I had only had about 30 jumps on it, so the first time I packed in, I tried the PD s fold and then stuffed it in the bag. That did not work so well.

The second time I packed it I did one fold at the tail, then placed it in the bag, doing the S fold when the OG was half in the bag. lol This worked way better.

It's just trying different packing techniques.

[EvilGenius 0]

Current Wing - OG 90 @ WL 2.0
Recent Wings - Comp Velo 90, JFX 84, Katana 97

I put 11 jumps on my new Gangster this weekend and I love it. I had so much fun with it and it's hands down the best canopy (IMHO) I've jumped to date.

The openings are stress free and on heading with none of the surging/searching you get on a comp velo, no occasional surprise 360's like a Katana and I think even better than the JFX. I'm sure sooner or later she'll give me a surprise but so far it's been a dream every time.

Front riser pressure is slightly lighter than both the Comp Velo & JFX but thankfully much heavier that the Katana. It was easy to keep it in the dive but you still get nice feedback. The rears felt great ripping around at altitude, super responsive and a ton of fun. I didn't have to use much rear input during landing because miraculously my roll out kept being spot on, the wing carried really well and again there was nice feedback and modulation.

Recovery arc was longer than the Katana and the JFX, probably about the same as the velo but I'd need more jumps on a Velo to tell. Anyway I had plenty of time after roll out to spot the landing and loads of power. As for the flare, not much to say really you pull the strings and you land...job done.

Harness, now this is where it's at.....the harness response is amazing! It's much more responsive than both the Velo and the JFX and that's a good thing. Not twitchy but just fun as it really makes you feel one with the wing, it's really intuitive to snap the last part of the turn from the harness.

[lazdog23 7]

Great review!!! and thanks!!!

[Tfal25 1]

On 9/10/2018 at 7:49 AM, EvilGenius said:

Current Wing - OG 90 @ WL 2.0
Recent Wings - Comp Velo 90, JFX 84, Katana 97

I put 11 jumps on my new Gangster this weekend and I love it. I had so much fun with it and it's hands down the best canopy (IMHO) I've jumped to date.

The openings are stress free and on heading with none of the surging/searching you get on a comp velo, no occasional surprise 360's like a Katana and I think even better than the JFX. I'm sure sooner or later she'll give me a surprise but so far it's been a dream every time.

Front riser pressure is slightly lighter than both the Comp Velo & JFX but thankfully much heavier that the Katana. It was easy to keep it in the dive but you still get nice feedback. The rears felt great ripping around at altitude, super responsive and a ton of fun. I didn't have to use much rear input during landing because miraculously my roll out kept being spot on, the wing carried really well and again there was nice feedback and modulation.

Recovery arc was longer than the Katana and the JFX, probably about the same as the velo but I'd need more jumps on a Velo to tell. Anyway I had plenty of time after roll out to spot the landing and loads of power. As for the flare, not much to say really you pull the strings and you land...job done.

Harness, now this is where it's at.....the harness response is amazing! It's much more responsive than both the Velo and the JFX and that's a good thing. Not twitchy but just fun as it really makes you feel one with the wing, it's really intuitive to snap the last part of the turn from the harness.

I just got mine. I got a 96 2.0 WL. Looking forward to fly it. Thanks for the review!