Litespeed RX -Testimonials

 

Tyler Borradaile

 I switched to flying a Moyes 4 years ago initially for 2 simple reasons. The first was that I felt I was always looking up at the Moyes guys at the top of the stack, it seemed as though the Moyes gliders were always climbing better, they seemed able to fly just that little bit slower in lift and still keep full control allowing them to move up through the gaggle. The second reason I bought a Moyes which is every bit as important to me as the first reason and that is SERVICE. I have seen top Moyes pilots fighting for 1st and 2nd in a Open contest pull out of launch line to help another Moyes pilot (in the Sports Class) get into the air before they did saving that pilots contest while jeopardizing their own, parts are always close by and if they aren't Moyes has always looked at every option to try and find a way to get you back in the air the next day, questions always get answers and as corny as this may sound, you are made to feel like part of the family. Thats why I started flying Moyes gliders, the quality of craftsmanship, performance, handling, beginner like launching and landing characteristics of the RX are added perks that will keep me on a Moyes.

Tyler Borradaile
Canada

 

Phill Bloom

Last fall I went to the Santa Cruz Flats race in Arizona and placed in the top five with the likes of Tyler, Jonny, Kraig, and Olav. I was a little worried about the new Skylite sail not having done any comp flying beforehand, not knowing what to expect. Also, the field of pilots were no slouches! The glider was nothing less than exceptional in performance, I sat on top of most climbs, even giving Jonny a run for his money on the RX 4 and Tyler on the 3.5. I believe the glide is second to none and it loves being loaded, glides of 50 mph plus feel fantastic! So, I guess you’ve done it again! Congrats!  Phill Bloom

 

 

Rick Hawkeswood - RX3 Pro

I collected the glider on Friday from the freight company.

Managed to visit a flying site on the way home. Straight out of the box I noticed this glider is light! Slipping the outer leading edges in was straight forward. The build quality and attention to detail on this glider is second to none. It is certainly a beautiful thing and possibly my new mistress…

First impressions without making any adjustments: At full VG and the bar stuffed to my knees it tracks beautifully straight, but I did notice some bar pressure even at full VG. I’ll move the hang point forward a hole and see what change it makes. At trim with hands off it flies straighter for longer ( without any input ) than any other glider I’ve owned ( VG off and VG full ). Roll authority is so much lighter with half to full VG than any other glider I’ve owned. Lovely neutral balance on the shoulders before take-off although I did notice a slight squeeze due to the narrower base bar.

I’m hoping there’s still enough heat left in our days to get a thermal flight before winter sets in.

Fantastic build job, thank you to the team that built this glider for me.

Rick Hawkeswood
New Zealand

 

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Walter Mayer

My first competition the Aeros Winter Race is behind me, I was happy to place 11th.
Congratulations for the new RX pro, I would not have thought that the new one can make even more fun!
There is still an increase in the balance of this glider, glide is really impressive and soaring handling as well.
The new design looks great, even better in real life than the first photos! Great!

Walter Mayer
Austria

 

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John Pendry

Guto Villas Boas together with a Brazilian production company is in the process of making a documentary on the history of hang gliding. They will be in France in September to meet up with Bill and Molly while they are at St. Hillaire! They had been in contact with John Pendry, we offered a helping hand to get him an RX to fly for his segment of the documentary. Thank you to all our friends Fredy Bircher, Tom Weissenberger and Damien Zahn who were able to pool their resources and organise to get a glider to France in time for John to fly!

John Pendry writes:

Damien arrived with the glider on time and then despite the wind being a little strong I was able to fly for 2 hours on Saturday. The Brazilian TV crew had put 3 Go Pro’s on the glider as well as filming from take-off and landing so there should be some good footage.

The glider I found really great. I hadn’t flown a hang glider for 10 years and yet was able to jump on it, thermal around and do all I wanted without any problem at all. For me what was really remarkable was the performance in terms of glide angle and speed compared with what I was used to 10 years ago. After topping out in a thermal I just needed to pull on the VG (which really transforms the glider) and then pull on little speed to be able to just cruise around all over the place. Quite amazing!
Thermalling was a piece of cake and I think with a bit more time on the glider to really get used to it it could be a really fun machine on which I could make some good flights.

Congratulations on a really great machine. It makes me feel like getting back into hang gliding - maybe I will, we’ll see!

 

 

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A Mexican Lovestory

(Pic Feuerkogel launch)

Shortly before heading off to Mexico Wolfi Genghammer, the german Moyes dealer, informed me that he got a deal for me with Moyes. They would bring another Aussie to the worlds in Mexico and she could be my companion if not somebody else needs her.

I was not too excited about this as my current flying buddy a 2012 RX 3.5 was doing quite well and I was used to her.

So what should be so special about the new version that, in my opinion then, had only minor changes?

When arriving at Mexico, coming directly out of the end of the european winter, we hadn’t flown for several months. Jonny’s glider arrived with some transport damage so I had to fly my own glider for practice days and was happy with her.

2 days before the comp the spare parts for Jonny’s glider arrived and we put together the spare glider again.

I flew it first time the last practice day and instantly after launch I knew we would become good friends!

The new RX 3.5, which before launching had some minus points in my mind because the colour of her sail wasn’t  the one I prefer, handled like the perfect girl: She immediately made every move I asked for and yet was never bitchy or uncontrolled!

The landing behaviour, even in high altitude conditions like Valle de Bravo, is just as uncomplicated as you can expect.

That’s a crucial point  in an area like Valle as you sometimes have to land in shifting wind conditions and on high valleys up to 3000m altitude. You surely don’t want to mess around there with a glider in bad temper!

I can really say after this first flight I was already had a crush on her! I She had to stay with me!

So on the first day of the comp I was very confident and we went to goal together 2nd just seconds between later world champion Christian Ciech, me and living legend Manfred Ruhmer.

That was much more than I expected from my first day on a new glider and me being much more accustomed to skiing than flying on these end Feb days.

Maybe I was a little too confident and didn’t realize that the flying conditions were very worse and different from the pre-worlds last year.

So the following days I did very poor because of flying too risky in these low-cloudbase conditions. But I knew it was the fault of the one holding the base bar in his hands and not of my loved wing.

The days went by and after 2 or 3 landings out I knew the comp was ranking was nothing more I had to care about.

The only thing I could do now was to get a good day result. I knew the glider handled visibly better than every other one and even in glide I could keep up with everyone in the field with similar wing loading.

And so when we were in a good position the last day I whispered to her that we should now take the chance and try to win the day. She agreed, took over the lead and with some good decisions we won the day together.

I certainly was very happy and this was only topped when afterwards I could convince Vicki to let her come home with me! The only last problem was to tell my wife that we would have a new Aussie girl in our house.

Thanks to the Moyes family a lot for this exceptional race machine and hope for working together as good in the future,

Gerd Dönhuber, Germany

 

 

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Cory Barnwell

I just wanted to thank you again for the opportunity to fly a Litespeed at the Race & Rally. The glider was amazing and I enjoyed every minute in the air with it. I got a total of about 21 hours of airtime on it during the week and I went from feeling pretty comfortable on it on day 1 to feeling absolutely at ease on it on the last couple flights. It really flies like a dream. I had good launches and landings on it every day and the glide was amazing especially considering that I don't have a streamlined harness yet. I was really excited about the way it thermals. I could really wrap it up and get it locked in and was climbing through some people most days. I couldn't have asked for a better flying glider for my first topless experience. It'll be tough going back to the U2 for Big Spring. Thanks again for everything!

 

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Peter Burkitt

Flying the Moyes Litespeed RX5

I cannot tell you enough how happy I am with the new RX5. From the first flight at Blackheath the day after I picked up till now. What a dream to fly!

I am still in Corryong flying and having great time. Bunch of us flew to Holbrook yesterday, awesome, few low saves along the way. Again, glider performance is  unbelievable!

 

 

 

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Jochen Zeischka

Flying the Moyes Litespeed RX4

I've now flown a season with the Litespeed RX4 after changing from the Combat and I love flying it, so it was about time to write about the glider. Where to start?

Well, the obvious bit: the RX is quite different from the Combat. Less span, less aspect ratio, less sail tension, less weight. It's all screaming 'great handling' at you. And that's the way it is and that's also why I love flying it so much. Of course, there's always a compromise to be made. And it's definitely trading in handling for a bit of glide ratio and minimum sink. But for me, it for sure is a change for the better.

The light, predictable handling helps in many ways. But the most significant thing is the pure joy of flying it provides. I had such a lot of fun flying it this year that I am seriously considering not sacrificing all my holidays on comps in 2014. I really hope I'm going to be in the Alps for some of the magic days each year has to offer. But that's for 2014, now back to the RX.

Apart from the shear joy, the light handling obviously provides better reaction times in turbulent thermals. And speaking of the trade-off, for me the improved handling is much more important than an optimal minimum sink, because most thermals we encounter are at least somewhat turbulent and fast reactions usually keep you on top of the stack. Turbulent thermals are especially what you find low down, where it is important to be able to use every surge of lift. I can think of quite a few out-landings where I believe the RX would have allowed me to stay aloft (especially the last task of the 2010 Euros).

Handling helps you in so many other ways too. It's better in terms of safety and allows you to chose smaller fields as landing opportunities. It's surprising how short your landing field can be, without any VG (although I usually land with around half VG because that produces cleaner flares). Being able to use smaller fields gives you more freedom to chose flying routes. The improved handling is also safer and more fun when flying pretty close to terrain or in crowded gaggles. The more relaxed, the better you fly, so handling does really help you with that.

The other amazing thing about the RX is the feedback it provides on what's happening in the air while gliding. Maybe this is what took me longest to get out of the RX, because the RX flies so differently compared to the Combat, but it sure helped me during the pre-Euros. I had much greater confidence there, that I was able to find the lift around me. And I really hope to retain that feeling for the next season!

This great feedback might be linked to not having a tail anymore. To be honest: at first it scared me a bit. Before the RX, I'd been flying a Combats for 3 seasons, with tails. So, on glides, I was used to cut through rough air like a knife through butter: the glider didn't really pitch up or down on bumps. The RX has a lot more pitch reactions to whatever is going on around it. So you sense more of the air, initially more than I wanted to feel. But by now, it feels completely natural. Those pitch reactions also help you a lot in turbulent thermals. Whenever you hit a surge of lift, the glider tends to pitch up and turn in, which is exactly what you want.

Pitch stability obviously bring us into the territory of sprog settings. And I didn't change a thing there. At first because I wanted to know how it felt coming out of the factory and I didn't want to change anything while having Combat references in my head. And later because I got to like the behaviour of the glider more and more. So, until now, the glider still has the factory settings and it seems to be very competitive, although it is not an absolute final glide hero. Compared to the Laminar of Alex and Primoz's Combat, it's definitely lacking efficiency, especially in the high speed range.

Hmm, I almost forgot: it flies perfectly straight. Didn't have a single issue with a turn yet. So I absolutely love my RX the way it left the factory. No doubt about that!

It's been a great year, flying the RX! It got me back to the top 20 and it even ended up on a postcard :-)

 

Jochen Zeischka

 

 

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Dave Moore

Just a quick note to say thanks so much for my new RX4. It's awesome! My first flights have been aerotow launches and I was a little nervous as this is the first time I've flown a wing like this after moving up from a kingposted glider. I had no need to be - the RX feels like it's on rails on tow I couldn't believe it. In the air the handling is just superb and the glide - man - it feels like it's never going to come down! I was also amazed at how light it is, I was fully expecting a much heavier glider but to be honest it feels lighter and easier to handle than my old kingposted glider. I know I've made the right choice with the RX and I can't wait to really get tuned into it. Thanks once again.

Dave Moore

 

 

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Geoff Robertson

The RX feels like an RS with power steering.  The roll pressures of the RX  are about half the roll pressures of the older model.  The handling is much crisper, with a lot less lag as the sail billow shifts. In pitch, the RX accelerates faster than the RS.  It only takes a few moments to hit  80 or 90kmh. Unlike most gliders there isn't a glide penalty for great handling (often nice handling gliders are little softer in the sail or frame, and don't glide as well). After test flying an RX for a couple hours I had to buy one!
 
Cheers
 
Geoff 

 

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Jungdae Lee

Hi Vicki Cain~!

I have had a real good time with RX flying on 12 September and 22 this month. i have too late test flying.

I had been 2 time test flying RX. Continuous it,s rainy every weekend 2month in Korea.

Look as spread sesame oil in the sky, as feel soft  during the with RX flying.

Very easy everything all the time to set up and breake down in thermal and landing.

I very much appreciate Moyes hangglider RX  that in since 1979 hanggliding my course of life.
 
Regards
Jungdae Lee, pilot from Korea

 

 

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Greg Newnham and Paul Stuart

Just a short msg, I love my new Litespeed RX 3.5 and Paul is so happy and shocked at how good his RX3.5 is as well. Weight, glide, handling, and especially roll response, it goes up in nothing… one word "AWESOME". Thank you it was worth the wait.

Greg Newnham and Paul Stuart
Cairns, QLD

 

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RX3 Reviews

 

Gerhard Bolt

“On this particular day when Latsie arrived with his brand new Moyes Litespeed RX 3 at our local aero towing park, Aviators Paradise, it was my turn to be the tug pilot. Every time I came to land and tow the next glider, I would catch a glimpse of the RX 3 unfolding. A small crowd was starting to gather around the Fluor green, black and white glider, but only on my next base leg did I notice the Code Zero upper surface. Clearly Latsie has treated himself and checked all the boxes on the order form so I had to inspect closer.

Walking towards this stunning glider, Latsie greeted me with a coat hanger in his mouth and said I could take her for a test flight. Never was a replacement tug pilot summoned faster and before I knew it, my lucky ass was hanging from a brand new Moyes Litespeed RX 3, ready for its first flight under South African skies.

At 12.8 sqr/m the optimum pilot weight is only 57kg. I only discovered after the flight that I was 13kg over the optimum. Towing was done with a 1/3 VG (as recommended by Moyes) and you immediately get the feeling that this glider is super efficient. There was hardly any tension on the towing rope and Mike who flew the trike confirmed it.

After releasing, I climbed in very weak lift and was surprised to find that you hardly had to high-side. You initiate the turn and the only adjustment after that was pitch control. The glider slows down really well. In only 0.5-1.0 m/s lift I could fly as slow as 36km/h and still climb very efficiently with amble roll response. In still air I released the VG completely and left the glider to find trim. I was literally flying with my arms straight and would not recommend taking-off with less than a 1/3 VG. With 2/3 VG the glider got to 90km/h in no time. The bar trims nervously far back and the pressure hardy increases as you accelerate. This was typical of Litespeed’s according to other Moyes pilots.

I was very sad to spiral down after only 40 minutes in the air to help Mike with tandems. I did an aircraft approach with a 1/3 VG and found the transition from the base bar to the uprights very smooth with hardly any change in pitch. The flare window is massive even with the higher wing loading. The glider has lots of carbon options and is probably lighter than 30kg, making ground handling a pleasure.
Recent open distance records leave no doubt about the glider’s capabilities but what really came as a surprise is the “friendliness” of all that performance. Congratulations on your new glider Latsie, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to fly it.
 
Regards,
 
Gerhard Bolt

 

 

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Zhenya

You might remember that before, zoom A-frame fittings were quite fragile (when you crashed, they would very likely break) and were not as nice looking. Here's the new ones! Attila designed new fittings, gave drawings to the CNC machine, and now Moyes gliders have new elegant, well-fitted, and strong fittings. I really like how these fittings feel in your hands, and how nice they look:)

This article is mostly for light Moyes pilots. Light - because this racing machine is designed for them. Moyes - because others might think my excited review is like a commercial, but it's not easy for me to tone down my excitement right now.

We'll let the designer tell about the technical details later. For now, I want to tell you about the Litespeed RX3 from the point of view of my feelings, as I've already made a few XC flights with this glider in a varying weather conditions.

Launch and landing

Foot launching is as easy as it was with my LitespeedS3. A nice feature of the glider is that it comes with the special A-frame, which has the standard length uprights, but a shorter basebar. It makes the A-frame a little more narrow in a shoulder area, so when a pilot with not very wide shoulders picks up the glider, the clearance between the basebar and the ground is bigger than it is with the standard A-frame. This certainly makes a foot launch in no wind easier.

Aerotowing with the Litespeed RX3 became easier for me. The RX3 picks up speed faster than any other glider I've flown before - I don't need to use a lot of VG for an aerotow now. Since it follows the Dragonfly very solidly, you don't need to work as much (which might make you too relaxed sometimes with towing, but...:).

Landings

I didn't have any problems with landing my S3 - it lands kindly. But when I wanted to have a thorough stall on the S3, I always used some VG. On the RX3, the stall is more accurate - I don't need to use VG at all to have a clean break.

In flight

In flight I saw the difference right away. With a loose VG, you feel like you are flying a Malibu - so quick and easy it rolls, turns, and follows your thought.

I had a four month break in flying, and usually after such a long break I feel dead tired after a few hours XC flight: all muscles are sore as my body didn't have enough exercise for a long while. But not this time! I've had four XC flights already with this glider in different conditions. Nothing is sore! Not at all. The handling is so easy, I can not believe it :)

Also I don't need to highside much while thermaling - the glider sits perfectly in a thermal by itself.

What I also felt is that the tip on RX3 became smaller. On the S3 I could push the bar out as far as possible while thermaling, and the glider would not stall, but would continue to sit in the air on one tip. On the RX3 I can't count on tip as much - this is the price for better handling, I suppose. But I didn't feel it as a disanvatage, as the glider sits in a thermal in a perfect bank itself, making my thermaling quite effortless.

On top of that, the RX3 balances like a Malibu. You can basebar it. You can roll it so fast like I've never experienced before with a topless glider. You can dune soar. How is cool is that:)?

Adjustments

All pilots who tested the glider before me were quite a bit heavier than me, as I am just 50 kilos. Therefore my perceptions about the glider might be different from, say, Gerolf's or Jamie's.

One of things I wanted to adjust for my weight was the trim. As much as I like fast trim, I decided to slow it down to the second hole from the back. Now the position of the bar in thermal is the most comfortable for my taste.

Another thing is the pitch. I felt that, with my weight, I don't load the glider as much as a heavier pilot would, therefore the pitch moment also got lighter. It doesn't feel comfortable sometimes in bumpy air, so we put a bit more reflex back and put the divesticks a little higher. Now it's perfect for me:)

Conclusion

In comparing the RX3 with the S3 (keeping in mind my 50 kilos weight), I think that the S3 is more conservative and forgiving, while the RX3 is faster and more dynamic, more like a racing machine. And that I like a lot.

Thanks Gerolf and thanks Moyes for this amazing glider. RX3 seems to be a dream that came true:)

 

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Jamie

I wonder how it is that daddy can be the devil himself, yet the kids are nothing short of angelic?

I got to be the first girl to test fly the Litespeed RX3 today. I know that Jonny and Steve Moyes - boys with a few kilos on me - have flown it, but I was still concerned about being a little overweight on it. Gerolf says the optimum pilot weight is 55-65 kilos and I'm pushing 70 these days. So, I really worried that I would feel like a whale on it, especially since I've spent 5 years on a glider that is just a tad too big for me. I couldn't believe how nice it felt, even with my fat ass driving it around the sky ;-). Right from launch all I could think is that it felt so much like a Malibu - how is this possible? Now, I'm the first to admit that I am rather Moyes biased, but I also tend to prefer the lower performing gliders. So, I took off expecting something that was a little closer to the handling of my Litesport, at least. I also know that this was just Stanwell Park - smooth, mellow conditions - but I so loved the way this glider feels. Like the Malibu, the handling is incredibly light. But, unlike Carl's RS (which also had incredibly light handling), it feels extremely solid. I remember flying the RS in Cucco and being a bit skittish because there was so little bar pressure on it. The RX3 has just enough to instill a bit of confidence, but not so much that you feel you're having to work at all. I cruised around Stanwell at fast and slow speeds, high and low (ok, not really low at all ;-) and started to feel very envious of the pilots taking delivery of their's at Forbes next month. Already I'm thinking I need to get home and work a little....just enough to pay for one of these new babies for myself.

Here's the little RX3, with her big brother, the RX3.5. Gerolf offered to let me fly the bigger one as well to have some comparison - and because it may be a little closer to my size. But I really think the smaller one felt perfect for me, even being slightly tubby for it. I nearly believe I could gain another 5 kilos and still love it.....not a good thought!

 

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Jonny

If your around 60-65kg mark you should be getting excited about the new Litespeed RX 3 that Moyes is now releasing. I was lucky enough to try it out in light conditions at Stanwell yesterday. Considering I am 80kg now I am well heavy for this glider. Despite its size I was very impressed with the handling, climb and performance on this new design. Noma flying a RS 3.5 and I had a long ridge race of 15kms or more and for this first time flying a small glider I was happy to see I was coming out in front at the end of the testing. The light pilots will now be able to keep up so watch out big boys your advantages are now gone. check out Fly Moyes for the latest info coming out of the Moyes factory.

 

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Corinna

In the photo, Steve Moyes, Gerolf and I sit under a new Moyes glider called RX 3. It is a topless competition glider with a small surface and a smaller a-frame. Compared to my Litespeed 3,5 s that I have been flying so far, it truely is a toy! When I testflew it at Stanwell for the first time in quite bumpy air, I smiled, because the handling makes me very confident. The first glider I can steer with full VG on! And also - it does not yaw at all but flies peacefully straight line if you pull the bar in. Up to 115 km/h without ballast. But before I talk about it, I first wanted to fly a comparison with the other guys out here in Forbes. Now that I had 28 hours on the glider, I think I can give you some details about this new wing.

I had been a bit anxious about the rough towing conditions in the pre worlds out here in Forbes, dust devils and all, but it was piece of cake. The first day, I realized that I had more bar pressure on tow than on the flight at Stanwell. Right, I did not see that the VG rope had opened and I had been towing all the way up completely without VG!!! The only glider ever I could do that without my arms falling off afterwards.

Then of course the flying in thermals is even better than with my Litespeed. I feel the air, it is like my fingers turn into feathers, and I can finetune the wing into the strongest climb, quickly moving it around the corner. On the second day, the German pilots came up to me and said they were impressed that I was leading out and finding the lift for them - on some days it just works right! I like very responsive gliders that are easy and fast to roll. If I want to squeeze the last centimeters out of the thermal, I might highside the glider a little bit, but normally it sits effortless and stable in the turn.

Yesterday was a slow gaggle day and it was important to get high fast and stay on top of the other pilots. Even Gerolf could not outclimb me in our last thermal. Well, he outglided me into goal after that ;) The glide is good, but I can see that Jörg and the boys clearly pull away from me. Gerolf recommended more ballast, and so far I did not try more than 3 kg of water/ Red Bull as a ballast. I will try and see, now that Im very confident with the landings as well. Groundhandling gets a lot easier with the shorter base bar.

I am very impressed that don´t get tired of being in the air, but I can fly more than 5 hours every day, always looking forward to the next flight. The sail looks very much like a bird wing to me, a very clean and promising 3D cut.

I hope I will be able to bring one of these new gliders to Germany so all the light pilots can testfly it and enter a new dimension of high performance flying. I have the full carbon version here in Forbes, and also Francoise, Zhenya, Monique Pavy (FR), Virpi and Kathryn are on this glider. We all agree that towing has never been easier on a high performance wing before. Francoise came 5th in the overall ranking two days ago with her RX3, and I got 23rd yesterday after a long, difficult flight, quite promising results.

Have a look at Zhenya's and Jamie's blogs for their personal impressions, as they are flying the little beauty as well.

 

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Corinna

Stanwell was on and I went flying with Kathryn yesterday, swapping our RX3´s. My last flight for a while, because i go back to work and winter, so I made sure I had a bit of time in the air. It was blowing in quite strong, I measured up to a 38 km/h wind. Seeing how easy Kathryn took off made me confident too. She is quite experienced in the dune flying which helps a lot in strong wind conditions. But also our small, light glider and the easy ground handling of the new a-frame helped me a lot to feel safe on take off. In the air, apart from a whole lot of tandem gliders, there were maybe 4 or 5 other people flying.

I avoided some big rain showers and went up to Bulli to wait there in the sun until the showers had passed. It was a lot of fun to race up and down the ridges, it reminded me of my record tandem flight with Tomas Suchanek some years ago! So easy to fly fast and straight in those great little gliders, I can´t wait to bring the RX 3 over to test it in the Alpine conditions.

It was funny - when we landed, I thought Kathryns glider is better because it had less bar pressure with VG full on and was really easy to fly fast and be in control of the glider, even in strong wind conditions with our little weight. Kathryn thought my glider is nicer, because the handling in slow flight is easier and even faster to roll. Anyway, a great flight with friends, followed by a great Sunday night dinner at Molly´s place with the whole big Moyes family