Unfortunately, if there is insufficient slack in the brake lines then lots of other parameters suffer for it - the wing becomes too slow, and the performance on speedbar suffers, because the aerofoil is deformed by the too-short brake line.

What this means is that when we wish to sharpen up things without introducing any of the negatives, our best bet is to reduce any unnecessarry distance between the brake handle and the trailing edge. On the Trango XC3 this was initially accomlished by abolishing the swivel, which otherwise would have added some 30 "unproductive" mm to the line. On gliders aimed at less experienced pilots, such a solution isn't desirable; on these wings, having a swivel does make sense, plus their slightly thicker brake lines do tend to twist more.

This has lead our R&D team to rethink the way brake handles are designed, and we're very pleased with the solution they have come up with. With these new handles we save around the same distance as the swivel adds, meaning the glider can have a swivel and still handle the same as without one - without adversely affecting the performance. The new handles are delivered on all new Makalu 4 and Kibo wings from now on, and we hope you'll like them as much as we do!