04/15/2008: "New Toggles Reduce the Chance of a Toggle Release on Opening"
I recently had a swooper in Michigan come to me trying to find a "better set of main riser toggles" that would have a reduced chance of coming unstowed during canopy deployment. His complaint with all the main riser toggles in the U.S. is that they are susceptible to coming unstowed with a slider grommet hit on opening or during stowage of the slider below the toggles.
The Michigan swooper, Sergey, saw a design that addressed those issues on a Russian rig. But Sergey also liked everything else about SunPath's main risers with their Easy Grip Dive Loops. So we decided to combine the best of both worlds for Sergey and below is what we came up with.
A set of SunPath Risers with Easy Grip Dive Loops (red dive loops, black risers) were combined with a set of toggles from the Russian manufacturer Paraavis. The toggles have a straight pin for the brake setting stow. The toggles have two tabs (one pointing down and one pointing up) for the lower toggle stows.
The type III for the SunPath toggle stows was removed from below the guide ring. The excess steering line stow was removed from the back of the riser. New type III to fit the new toggle stows was sewn below the guide ring. Excess steering line stows were sewn on the back side of the riser. The type III toggle stow above the guide ring was sewn to hold the straight pin.
The result is a toggle system that cannot be released with a downward hit from the slider grommets or during stowage of the slider because of the tab pointing down on the toggle just below the guide ring. It also is a slimmer toggle, which doesn't add bulk to the riser. See the photos below.
Response has been favorable for this setup and we have ordered more toggles from Paraavis. We can modify most sets of risers to use these toggles. Price is $30 for the modification plus $35 for the toggles. You can send us your current risers or we have new risers in stock from SunPath, Mirage, UPT and Velocity Sports Equipment. Contact ChutingStar at mike@chutingstar.com or 678-231-2752 for more information.
