PARAGLIDING IN SA  |   FLYING SITES  |   REVIEWS  |   AIRLORE  |   STORIES  |   GALLERY |   CARTOONS GRADIENT ASPEN 2 by Greg Hamerton. Greg has been flying since 1992 and has flown over 100 wings. He prefers responsive handling and agility but rates passive stability highly as he enjoys taking photographs and snoozing whilst gliding.  You might also like to read: Other paraglider reviews on this website. Lightweight wing Steady turns Don't miss out! Get the next paraglider test as soon as it's released, by JOINING OUR MAILING LIST. Introduction Gradient has a reputation for top performance with their Avax competition gliders often in the lead gaggle. Their wings are known for speed and performance in a straight line, but sometimes don't have the most finesse in a thermalling turn.  I was interested to see if their latest sports class (DHV2) release would have refined the handling of its predecessor, the Aspen. Construction This wing is noticeably lighter than anything in its class that I've flown. The pack volume is small, and it weighs in at only 5.2kg on my scale (Gradient says 5.4kg). For the bivouac pilot, hill-climber and wilderness tramp this is great news. Standard construction gives only four risers (no split A's) and thicker webbing than necessary. The brake loops have a thick insert and are reasonably comfortable to use. Nice stuffbag - slightly bigger than needed so very easy to pack into. The top cascade of lines is unsheathed, which gives you a slight boost in performance and reduces weight without much sacrifice, except I found that small sticks like to tangle in the unsheathed lines. Launching Because it's so light it's easy to launch in light winds. In strong winds it smacked up, steady and straight and simple. Feels calm and is quite stable In the air Moderately agile and moderate energy, there is nothing 'hot' about it. Now and again I wanted to turn tighter than it was turning, but there is a benefit to the calm turning behaviour - it makes you fly efficiently, and you never get caught out by dropping your inside wingtip too deeply in a turn. This is the kind of wing that will teach you to fly while you're doing your first cross country jaunts. Keeping the wing overhead in rough thermic conditions is easy - this is not a particularly agile wing, and yet it is responsive. I very seldom had to use the outside brake to control the roll rate, as the wing will turn to a certain amount and generally not go much further. Performance The Gleitschirm mag measured it at 8.7 glide ratio, putting it right in the top group of the 2006 DHV2 class. In my experience the glide is not quite that competitive, but it will certainly keep you very near the leaders. You might be able to find something with slightly more glide amongst the 2007 releases, but it is always the combination of performance, safety and handling that matters, and when you consider how calm the Aspen 2 is, and how reassuring it is to fly, you'll see that this is a great all-rounder.  Safety What a nice wing. I tried to induce big front tucks, but these mostly resulted in smaller tucks than I expected. The recovery is simple and spontaneous. The brake travel to stall point is moderately short, and the brake pressure doesn't increase that much, so you should be careful not to be too heavy-handed on this wing, and to allow stalls to recover with a hands-up approach. Asymettric collapses were impressive. Often they would smack out without really crumpling, but those 50% collapses that folded under didn't turn the wing much. Even when leaning into the collapse, I didn't see the wing turning more than 180 degrees, most of the time it just flew on straight. This is fantastic behaviour for an xc wing, because you can often be up against a turbulent ridge and don't want to be swung in towards it during a collapse. Big ears were awkward to get in because there's no split in the A riser, which is a pity. Once they are in its easier to roll the glider and get rapid height loss with wingovers. The approach to spin average and fairly easy to induce. It's simple to recover from a spin if you go hands up at once, but the spin itself is fast, it whips around. The recovery from parachutal stall and full stall is the nicest I've experienced, which is a big plus for acro. It pulls out with a moderate pitch. When considering a glider for bivouac use, I always ask myself, "Would I be comfortable flying this wing without a reserve?". With the Aspen 2, yes. No problem. It is reassuring and has no worrying weak points in the way it flies. Its tendancy to dampen out rolls and pitches make it safe. Speed I've only managed to race against an equal-weighted pilot on a Swing Mistral4 (DHV1-2), and we were neck and neck. Glide was a fraction better on the Aspen at trim speed. I'd say the Aspen 2 flies at just over 50. The speedbar travel is 16cm and it is not a linear progression - the A's and B's are kept close together (for stability) which usually degrades glide performance slightly. I did have a few collapses on speedbar in grumpy air, so the wing isn't rock solid on bar, it feels lightweight and in need of a bit of attention, but its calm nature means you don't have to worry much. Summary I could get over the top of the wing with wingovers but it took a while to build up the energy to that point. The wing prefers to dampen out rolls and pitches and will absorb the energy very effectively. This makes it a very reassuring xc tool. If I was planning any kind of adventure or trip where I wanted my pack weight and volume to be small, this is the wing I'd take. It's got good performance, nice handling and robust safety features. Well done, Gradient, this is a well-designed wing with a calm turn that makes a great all-rounder and is in the top group of the class for 2006. Additional Comments I found the brake settings to be 8cm too short, which causes the trailing edge to be slightly pulled down on glide, more noticeable when on speedbar. It also makes launching with crossed-brakes tricky. I would recommend lengthening the brakes slightly from standard position. Gradient decided to do shorten the brakes after many Aspen1 pilots complained that their brakes were too long.  Aspen 2 has a good glide performance. Colllapse! Recovers easily, returns to centre You don't get a hook turn, when you steer, you veer Technical specs : GRADIENT ASPEN 2 (2006) Rating : DHV2 Flat area (m2) 26.4 Projected area (m2) 23.2 Aspect ratio 5.7 Proj. AR 4.6 Wing weight (kg) 5.2 Length of lines (m) 7.46 Speedbar travel (cm) 16 Weight range (kg all up) 80-100 Reviewed at (kg) 93 More information Try the Gradient website For a test flight in South African get hold of James Braid at Freeflight Para2000 for more detailed specs. Glide ratios : Jerome Daoust Gleitschirm Mag report