Racer Containers

[freefalle 0]

Anybody taken a serious look at the new racer containers? They look pretty good, virtually no velcro nice tuck tabs and good pin protection. Thoughts? do you still think there not freefly friendly? Im looking for opinions. The price is right.

[sar911 0]

If you don't get a chance to go and see them at the PIA convention go by Jump Shack and look at them. They are really nice and are VERY FF friendly. I packed a couple last week and wanted to keep one. When I go next week I am putting in my order.

[ScratchTX 0]

I'm sure this is not a new question, but why do people consider Racers to be not freefly friendly? I have an old SST, and once I added walrus teeth tabs to the main flap I never have any more problems with the main flap opening in freefall. (It used to do that, but since it is a pull-out there isn't much bridle exposed to the wind at all, even then. Not that I am saying it's a good idea to skydive with an open main flap...!)

Also, even though the riser covers are full velcro, I keep the velcro clean and have never had them open prematurely that I know about. (I'm replacing the velcro anyway, because it is old and getting weaker, but even so, it still holds now.) So, why would this container not be freefly friendly? What other things make a container not recommended for freefly orientations/speed? Besides it being kind of ugly and not hip at all? :>)

[hookitt 0]

I've seen the riser covers peel all the way down. Serious malfunctions were the end results of several of these jumps.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[AggieDave 6]

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Serious malfunctions were the end results of several of these jumps.

Yes, but if you keep the velcro in *perfect* condition, then it *probably* won't be a problem. Then again, its hard to keep that much velcro perfect AND I know a few riggers who will curse your very name if you want that much velcro replaced (although they will do it and do it well).

Personally, the way I look at it is that the use of Velcro for flaps/riser protection is very outdated technology and that there are other freefly safe/just about anything safe rigs out on the market now for a reasonable price, that I don't see why you would want to continue to jump the old technology. IF you can afford to upgrade (as a broke-ass college student, I understand the lack of $$).

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[LouDiamond 1]

I jump a Racer Elite and Dave you have seen it. I took it on many a FF and it's my rig for Birdman too. Nothing but good to say about Racer despite all the nay sayers. I love my racer just as much as my mirage, both are great all around rigs

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[AggieDave 6]

I have seen it, and you take really good care of it and the velcro. Like I said, there isn't really anything wrong with FFing it, just as long as you take care of the velcro and get it replaced when it starts to wear.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Samurai136 0]

The new shadow racer has no velcro problems(no velcro). I packed a few of them at DeWolf's course and they're pretty easy to close. The extra work involves finger trapping a few extra lines thru the quick loops and such when a cypres is involved.

I would have bought one but I already had an extra single pin cypres and didn't want to spring for a new 2-pin.

Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[hookitt 0]

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Yes, but if you keep the velcro in *perfect* condition, then it *probably* won't be a problem. Then again, its hard to keep that much velcro perfect AND I know a few riggers who will curse your very name if you want that much velcro replaced (although they will do it and do it well).

Dave, you're right about perfect condition. However the older racers were difficult to mate the velcro. Move wrong and they started to peel. Also perfect condition velcro still peels. I've been that rigger replacing the velcro several times. It peeled any way. (yes I used good hook and loop fastener) One world class freeflier in particular, ditched his racer after his 3rd radical malfuction due too the perfect condition velcro peeling away.

Racer Elites have been known to let the risers go many times too. I've watched them over and over. regardless of the personal feeling toward the rig you own, I've still watched many times. Please keep in mind I was talking about an old design.

That said...progress is progress. Designs improve. A container from a few years ago could very well have been tweaked. There is no reason anyone had to be informed about it.

Naysayers? Yep I'm one of them. But I mentioned that designs improve. Also keep in mind I was stating a fact that an old model was prone to bad things happening when flying in a position that wasn't face to earth. Notice the very Wings you jump is not the same as it was only a couple years ago.

For the record, the same model rig that I jump had issues as well. On my personal rig, nothing comes open untill I deploy. This is not true of all of them.

Designs improve. Racer fan or not, I'll gladly admit they can improve to a point of being a very FF friendly state of the art rig. I've jumped them and they are definately comfortable.

But what the heck do I know. once again..Please keep in mind I was talking about an old design.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[rmsmith 1]

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Anybody taken a serious look at the new racer containers.

Yes, I have two of them, and just might order a third one pretty soon!

[JDBoston 0]

I have a Racer I bought last February and I freefly (or at least sit...) in it all the time. It has zero velcro - tuck tab riser covers and the walrus teeth for the main flap. No problems at all. Love it.

Joe

[RichM 0]

I have a Racer Elite NOS made 2000. My reserve packer hates it, it has a small pop top and all the riggers at my DZ agree it's much harder to pack than everything else. Plus jumpshack wont make me a reserve pillow, point blank refuse. I'll be taking my business elsewhere in future.

Rich M

[JDBoston 0]

Yeah, I guess it all depends on your situation. My rigger packs a lot of Racers and doesn't mind them at all.

Jump Shack can be a little quirky and stubborn about what they believe is safe or not, which I am assuming is why they refused to make you a reserve pillow, but at my stage in my skydiving career I'm not making any nonstandard requests of them yet so I haven't encountered that.

My customer service experience so far has been great. I was back and forth with Nancy on the phone a bunch of times while my rig was being made, tweaking design stuff etc., it came out just like I wanted, and recently when I wanted a different-shaped pull-out handle made, it was no problem at all. Nancy met me down at Lake Wales with the new handle & lanyard, put it on the rig for me, and off I went.

But, to each his own.

Joe

[faulknerwn 37]

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Racer Elites have been known to let the risers go many times too. I've watched them over and over. regardless of the personal feeling toward the rig you own, I've still watched many times. Please keep in mind I was talking about an old design.

See that's weird - I've got over 3000 jumps on Racers - all with Velcro - and have never once had the riser covers come open in any sort of freefall. I have had the main flap come open, but that was years ago before I had the walrus teeth put on it. I'd be really curious to examine the rigs where they're coming open. I have seen on numerous occasions rigs with risers like Javelins and Vectors (where the risers are just tucked into the sides, not covered with an extra flap like on some newer rigs) have risers come out a bunch of times just doing RW.

W

[brettpobastad 0]

It's amazing to me how people will make a statement about the Racer rig without having any experience with them at all! I would submit that the person who has seen all those incidents of Racer flaps coming undone probably doesn't even know what a Racer looks like! I've got four or five thousand jumps. Mostly on Jump Shack gear of many vintages. Relative work, tandem, skysurfing, freeflying, CRW. I have NEVER had a problem with the velcro.

Yes, the Racer can be a bit harder to pack than other rigs. It's also a little bit more challenging to work on a Corvette as opposed to a Buick Regal. Another automobile analogy: what do you do when the tires on your car wear out?

[racer42 0]

I've seen that ad. Like I need another excuse to spend a bucket of money. I have an older SST I bought used from my DZ. I really like my Racer. I have never had any problems with the velcro. I had Jumpshack retro fit the shoulder tuck tabs and replace all the velcro and a good wash repack etc. after I bought it. Came back to me in about a week like brand new. Its good stuff. Besides does any other container deploy a reserve faster??

L.A.S.T. #24
Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team
Electric Toaster #3
Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor
Co-Founder Team Happy Sock

[ManBird 0]

Racers are by far the most comfortable rig that exists. They also have super clean and fast reserve deployments (hell, the bridle alone would probably rip the canopy out).

I put a couple hundred jumps on my Racer Elite before I got my Wings, and I will say on three occasions (all three after transitioning from head down to sit), a riser cover came open, and I had risers down to my forearm in freefall (pretty easy to just put back on my shoulder). But this was with velcro, and even then, replacing the velcro with newer velcro covering a much larger area eliminated that problem. I'd imagine the flaps and added riser coverage on the new one will do much better.

"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯"

Click

[cssriggers 0]

I'd disagree, and think that the person who's seen Racer riser cover undone probably knows his stuff. I believe he did say it was older gear.

That being said, riser tuck tabs come open in freefall, too! I've seen that many a time. Also main pin cover tuck tabs, especially when people are in a sit.

Anyway, I was very impressed with the new Racer dual-tuck riser covers when I first saw them. At PIA it was evident that they keep improving the design.

I'd say they're definitely freefly-friendly, though I still think the Mirage/Micron main pin cover is the best design out there for freefly. But having your reserve pin(s) both covered and against your back has its merits.

I *LOVE* to pack Racer reserves. I also loved watching one save my husband's life a time or two, once a very very low reserve deployment (long story, but I'm glad he didn't have an AAD at the time.) Had my heart in my throat, but that thing was open NOW.

[Rdutch 0]

Quote

Anybody taken a serious look at the new racer containers? They look pretty good, virtually no velcro nice tuck tabs and good pin protection. Thoughts? do you still think there not freefly friendly? Im looking for opinions. The price is right.

Anyone that know's me or my post history, and yes Chuck you know my standpoint's personally. I am a Relative Workshop fan all the way. That said, I have looked at the Racer 2k3 (I think thats the name) and it looks like a real good rig, I would have no problem jumping one of them. They look good, they are safe and also velcro free, oh yeah and very comfortable. Ok I am going to say it, this is a damn fine rig. As a matter of fact I believe, that they even changed their packing tray around, and the closing sequence is a lot easier, now. Also I am just a rigger trainee, but It is a very easy rig to pack. It takes more mental than muscle. When other rigs take more of both.

That said, this has no reference to Older Racer's with velcro, that for some reason people want to include in your question about new racer's (Read the initial post question people) Heck I wouldn't want to freefly a wonderhog, or even a vector 2, I can think of about every manufacturer out there, that has made a rig I wont freefly with.

Jumpshack does have very "Unique" ways of thinking about thing's, thus they wont make a soft cutaway pillow (Totally different post, but which handle will you need more force to pull cutaway or reserve deployment? This sound's strange to me someone explain why they wont do this).
But I have seen a lot of Vector's and Javelin's with Jumpshack "small profile" ripcord handle's. I am sure if you want a pillow you can find someone to make you one. Probably even Terry Pike. Also you might want to ask around and make up your own mind about how your reserve is packed if you buy a Racer. They have a normal, or rubberband stowed bag on the reserve. I dont know enough about it to honestly comment, I have my idea's about it, but not enough to make your decision for you.
But if your thinking about a new rig, I vote thumbs up on the new 2k3 Racer, it is a real nice rig, and it just like the v2 compred to the v3, it is nothing like the older racer's.

Ray
Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

[RMURRAY 1]

I have had a Racer since 1992 and have just bought a used 1999 Racer NOS. Even if I was buying new I'd get the NOS (with the velcro sealed risers). If given the choice, I'd pass on the double tuck tab covers on the shoulders - well maintained velcro works just fine - for me. Racers are not too popular anymore up here in Ontario but mine is very comfortable, durable and safe - just make sure you have a rigger who likes to pack them....

Rob Murray