RMURRAY

check out rick's comments on his mal. If the link does not work just look for the thread on "soft reserve pillows and RSLs" in this forum. It turned into an RSL debate but I think the root cause of the problem was the shifted harness - was the ringed harness a factor? I would not get chest or hip rings but my rig is comfortable as is (also I don't freefly much - mostly into 4way)...rob http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=595670;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

no need to contact John. There are two write ups on the subject at www.jumpshack.com go to "technical articles", look for the articles on RSLs. I am not sure about the new M2K but I beleive you cannot order a Racer with a ring at the chest strap OR a soft reserve handle - maybe John saw this coming.

rubber bands will break - that is a good thing. So you are saying that the testing that John Sherman did before the change was BS??? Just make sure you use MIL spec rubber bands. I don't see the big deal.

sorry meant to say soft reserve handles - attached with velcro since the pull force exceeds the maximum allowable....RM

not sure this link will work but reserve handles are banned from finland (for now). It is in the incidents forum...RM http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=508246;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;guest=1504454

I saw this posted a while back and sent it to a friend. I can't find the original now but here it is cut and pasted from my email. comments on the subject by Bill Booth... First, the yellow coating I use on my breakaway handles is Lolon F (an "alloy" of nylon, not Teflon), coating a 7x7 steel cable. It is the best choice for breakaway cables for several reasons. It is very tough, reasonably slippery, flexible, easy to form ends with, and won't get brittle until -60C. I have never heard of it cracking or coming off the cable in the 20 years I have been using it. (Jump shack IS using Teflon, which they color code red. We do not use it for too many reasons to go into here.) The black coating we use for student ripcords is another form of nylon. We do not use it for 3 ring cable because it is too stiff, not as slippery, and cracks far easier than Lolon F. However, Its stiffness is a good feature for a spring loaded pilot chute main container system, and because main systems are packed before each jump, a crack should be easily spotted. I offer a third kind of nylon, with no color coding, for main container flex pins on my older Tandem systems. It is a thicker coating on a thicker steel cable. Each coating and cable size is carefully chosen for its application after a lot of testing. Here are the positives and negatives of flex pins on solo system main containers. Positives: 1. If your container is too big for your canopy and/or your closing loop is too long, and you jump a rig without adequate bridle protection, and your entire bridle comes out of the pilot chute pouch (without the pilot chute) while doing head down, then the flex-pin is less likely to be prematurely removed by the wind drag on the horseshoed bridle, which by the way, is well under one pound.. Negatives: 1. Because the flex-pin is longer than a curved pin, you must be very careful to leave enough pilot chute bridle, between the pin and bag, slack AND exposed, to allow the pin to leave the loop. If you carefully tuck all bridle between the pin and the bag safely inside your container, you will have a pilot chute in tow malfunction. 2. Because the flex-pin is longer and has more surface friction than a stainless curved pin, it damages your closing loop ten times faster. Also, you cannot put your pull-up cord under a flex-pin before removing it as you would with a stainless curved pin, because the pull-up cord would then cut grooves in the nylon coating of the flex-pin causing a possible total on your next jump. This causes you to further damage your closing loop each time you remove your pull-up cord. And the heat damage the flex-pin and pull-up cord do to your closing loop is nearly invisible. This sets you up for a broken loop, out -of-sequence horseshoe malfunction. Do you pack your own rig every time? Are you sure the packers understand the above limitations of your flex-pin system? Then you have to worry about which type of nylon coating your flex-pin has (will it crack, or splinter, or come off the steel cable core?), and whether the nicopress swage which holds the whole thing together was properly applied. Standards for the above items are simply not published. 3. Curved pins cannot be "pushed" out, they simply rotate in place. Try it. When a curved pin comes out prematurely, it was most likely pulled out by a bridle snag. And anything which snags your bridle will probably not stop pulling after only one inch. So flex-pins offer no protection from bridle snag induced premature openings. This is just the short list. If flex-pins were better for most solo rig applications, we would offer them. We don't. Bill Booth

depends where you are.....my rigger does not charge extra, does a nice job and does not complain. I don't think it takes him much longer than other rigs...what does that tell you?

why is it some riggers have problems with racers???? My rigger does not mind them and does not charge me extra - they look great and launch better than any other rig I have witnessed. It must be all about training...... Rob Murray Uxbridge, Ontario

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