Four-way size comparison: V1,M1,S6,Blade

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I layed three of my own suits and one M1 that fits me on the ground today to show relative wing sizes of each. This, for those of you who simply don't have access to 40 suits hanging in your school like we do here at Z-hills.

Anyway, draw what conclusions you will. The weather got crappy for a while and I was bored, so we took pictures. They were lined up side-by-side and taken from exactly the same distance and angle.

Chuck

[The111 0]

One thing I do not understand about the Blade is why the trailing edge recedes immediately below the grippers. It seems to me that would negate the effect of having the grippers there in the first place. The last 2/3 of the gripper does not appear to have much influence over the wing.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[bodypilot1 0]

Here was a my V2 over the Mach 1 I have.

edit: I dont have pics of the demo Blade I have over anything yet... But I'll bring it to Florida with me.


Be safe
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[Costyn 0]

I guess I can post these too: Tristan's V2 and my Blade.

As you can see the arm wing area does not differ at all. Although hard to see, the arm stance is a little higher on the Blade than the V2 (the leading edges of the Blade just peeks out in Vampire over Blade.jpg).

The leg wing width is the same, but the V2 does have extra material at the tail end.

Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Here's another just for shits and grins

[mccordia 73]

Thats a lot of money in cheep materials on the floor there

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[HN1 0]

Hey,
I was wondering if you could spread some light on why birdman does not use double stiching in there suits while Phoenix does. It seens to me that the double stiching really helps with durability lets say if some of the threads in one of the seems broke. And we both know i have seen at least two suits with less than 5 jumps on them have this problem.
Later
Ryan

Skydiving is borring!!

[The111 0]

I don't know a damn thing about stitching but my old S3 has over 400 jumps on it and has held up fine. Once there was ONE loose thread on the arm wing but Tony Uragallo fixed it up for me in a few minutes.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[mccordia 73]

Quote

Hey,
I was wondering if you could spread some light on why birdman does not use double stiching in there suits while Phoenix does.

Dont all suits have double stitching, as in 2 rows of stitches on the important seems? Or isnt that what you mean?
Cant say its a difference Ive ever noticed..nor anything Ive ever had issues with?

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[unclecharlie95 3]

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Dont all suits have double stitching, as in 2 rows of stitches on the important seems? Or isnt that what you mean?

Every seam on a PF suit is double stitched for strength and durability.

Older BM suits use some double stitching but also lots of single stitching (e.g. on wing ribs etc).

I didn't look at the Blade that closely in the UK so maybe this has changed now?

BASEstore.it

[HN1 0]

Ya the wing rips was what i was specifically speaking of, i have seen the birdman suits wing rips come undone. the suits this happened to were brand new and i think if they would have been double stiched like other suits it would not have made the suits Nonoperable. The blade does look like it is made better than the other suits so hopefully that will not happen to anyone. But i jump the V1 and i had one side of a double stich get damaged due to use and the double stiching made the suit still good to go.
Just my experiances take it for what it is worth
Ryan

Skydiving is borring!!

[chris74 0]

Hi birds,
Chuck , you have a lovely family ! Happy dad !
blue skies
Chris

[KrisFlyZ 0]

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Here was a my V2 over the Mach 1 I have.

Be safe
Ed

Hey Ed,

Do you mean that you don't have both suits now?

How do the suits compare?

Kris.

[mfnren 0]

I am the new owner of that V2
Flys great Ed, thanks again.

[leroydb 0]

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I don't know a damn thing about stitching but my old S3 has over 400 jumps on it and has held up fine. Once there was ONE loose thread on the arm wing but Tony Uragallo fixed it up for me in a few minutes.

How old is it? was a different person working at birdman that has since left?

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[mccordia 73]

Aside from some english monkey landing on top of barbed wire and people getting caught on parts of airplanes, of monkeys who FUBAR their suit in high speed exits or other forms of abuse (like me tripping over my bootie, and ripping it off in Empuria) I cant say Ive seen any suits come appart because of stitching problems..?

And the rips I have seen in suits where not cause, but usualy made worse by the stitching.
With the stitched seem acting as a path for a little hole to develop into a big rip.

The classic I is still the most solid and unbreakable suit Ive seen on the whole market. Built like a tank!

After that, the quality/strentgh seemed to get less and les. But atm. I dont really see any big differences in sticthing or construction between the top of the line suits from any of the manufacturers (and we had just about every brand but EG suits and pressurised present to compare at the DZ two weeks ago). but if I had to choose one, the Tony suits Mach1 looked to have the most solid construction (stitching and materials). Probably because of tony's previous experience in RW and FF suits..

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[leroydb 0]

Quote

The classic I

It wasn't called the classic I at that time

It was a S.U.I.T.

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[mccordia 73]

yea..I know..I have an original birdman S.U.I.T. for FJC's

http://www.flylikebrick.com/minishowcase/galleries/16_2007_Zwartberg/08_wim%202ndflight.jpg

Im always amazed at how 'new' most of these 'old ladies' look (when compared to some of the newer suits from any manufacturer with a couple of hundred jumps on them).

Even with my belly pushing hard, trying to break the zipper

*edited for zpelling problemos*

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[leroydb 0]

I love my old SUIT. I could hold 55 and get temp lower numbers from it. I also could make it back from 3 miles out (12.5k jump, 3.5 open)

edit to add: I still lovemy s3 though... dont want to hurt its feelings

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[Costyn 0]

In addition to Tony Suit's Mach1, I'd have to say that the S-Fly Expert is very well built too. But I'm not going to comment on Tony Suit's color schemes.

Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

[Zeemax 0]

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Aside from some english genius landing on top of barbed wire

There, i fixed it for you

Phoenix Fly - High performance wingsuits for skydiving and BASE
Performance Designs - Simply brilliant canopies

[MB38 0]

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One thing I do not understand about the Blade is why the trailing edge recedes immediately below the grippers. It seems to me that would negate the effect of having the grippers there in the first place. The last 2/3 of the gripper does not appear to have much influence over the wing.

My guess is drag and its effect on the jumper's arms. By putting more wing material closer to the body and less out by the hand, the jumper should be able to have a similar/identical wing surface area with less drag pulling their arm out of a good flying position.

I'm sure Jarno will be able to correct me or expand.

I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

My Blade is very wide at the wingtips. The arms are a bit long on my suit, possibly by design, so in order to not deform the wings I am only holding the grippers about halfway down. It's a very different grip, obviously, than one would take on a "vertical gripper" suit like an S6/S3/S3S or Mach1/Raptor. It's different even than the grip I take in my Vampire. The suit feels very, very different than any of my other suits.

Chuck