Gear Choice Thoughts

[flipfloplife]

My place in line is coming closer. I am now trying to nail down all the details of the order sheet. Can I get some reflections on gear choices? It seems that there are three options -- traditional cabane, grove spring gear and the monster shock gear. I'm not sure I fully understand the difference between the cabane and the monster -- i'm sure the monster has more damping, looks cooler and costs more(?). Anyway, there are a couple threads about this sort of thing -- i'm trying to see if time and use has changed anyones thoughts.

I know it's all about mission -- my mission is trips out west on wheels to check out backcountry flying, wheels and floats to Bahamas and (potentially) teach a kid to fly. South Florida based. Hangar will be a trailer. It may take a little time to get it on floats. Only because it matters for this discussion I will say that I believe in hitting your spot as a significant priority over "smooth and soft landings" -- some of the scariest landings I've ever seen have been plenty smooth and soft.

So. i'm wondering if the grove gear is significantly more "sproingy" than the other options? Yep, made that one up right here and now. Sometimes the 172 I fly feels like it just might re-launch me --- the cub i sometimes fly (when I FINALLY get all the energy off) does not really ever feel like that. I am poor at flying both planes. and low time. but the premise remains.

I'm not a great flarer. Which set of gear when you're not a great flarer?

Do tires play into this discussion? Could I take the advantages of grove gear and then throw moderate size bush wheels on there to function as some level of shock absorber?

I THINK that i'm comparing a bit more weight and "sproinginess" (on the grove side) versus a significant speed penalty on the cabane/monster side. I'm inclined to take the speed and simplicity of the grove. but if the cabane or monster is going to make me feel really good about myself (completely undeservedly of course) then i'm 100% sure I could talk myself in that.

[Hawkertech]

My understanding is the normal cabane gear is bungie cord damped. More springy if dropped in and more maintenance. The monster shock is cabane, but with the shock absobers, that provide mor damping and less bounce. And grove gear in spring Aluminum that can be repositioned the either tricycle or tail dragger, tri gear comes with the grove gear. Also check your insurance from reading on here, that a low time pilot with a taildragger the insurance can be rather high

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[GuppyWN]

Buy the spring gear and move on. Maintenance free. Clean. Faster.

[flipfloplife]

Hawker -- that's kind of my analysis as well -- the monster is like an upgraded cabane. and i think the regular cabane can get eliminated. I got quoted $1500 on conventional gear at Falcon -- my underwhelming amount of tailwheel time probably hurt me? But I don't think that's too outrageous. In the ballpark enough to go ahead and do the build anyhow.

Guppy -- that's kinda where i'm headed here... just don't want to set myself up to be a kangaroo if there's a choice. but you're right -- when 10mph is 8% of your overall airspeed it makes a big difference.

anyone flown both?

[efwd]

I agree with littlecricket. I put the tires on that came with the kit and they detract from the appearance IMHO (unless your putting wheel pants on). I think the 22" tire is the point where the plane appears correct. If your doing real back country stuff I bet the 27" would be great. I like the way they look too. I would buy those myself but I am not able to justify the increase in cost just to make the plane look a bit better and more capable in the back country that I don't do. S&R uses 27" tires. They certainly felt good on the unimproved strips that I got to land on while training there.

[ratc]

Blimey, that's some solution!

[jiott]

I agree, the regular cabane gear can be eliminated, mainly due to susceptibility to damage in my opinion. The Grove is super tough, simple and not that bouncy. Due to the super high cost and speed reduction, my opinion is that the monster gear only makes sense for those whose mission includes lots of rough Off Airport landings (the Trent Palmer kind of stuff).

[jiott]

I think the S&R tires are AK Bushwheels 26".

[Av8r3400]

I can positively confirm that Stick and Rudder uses 26” Alaskan Bushwheels Airstreaks on their planes.

[DesertFox4]

Stick & Rudder flight school in Idaho uses Grove gear on their Kitfox training aircraft. Hundreds of students have mastered the Kitfox taildraggers in some real challenging backcountry strips.