The lightweight Mantra 5 cleaned up at the Red Bull X-Alps. But is it any use to us mere mortals? Hugh Miller finds out in Cross Country 151…
Pick up an LM5 in one hand and an Enzo or Icepeak 6 in the other, and the difference is staggering. At 3.35kg, this is a super-light bit of kit. I first flew it on a barely soarable day.
The wing is almost translucent, the cloth is so thin, and soars beautifully over your head in the gentlest of breezes – handy when you’re scrabbling back up the hill from a slope landing.
As a three-liner with none of the long rods and boxy cell designs of its two-line brothers, its simplicity directly translates to super-easy behaviour on the ground. Indeed, the LM5 is a seriously ‘stripped down’ design, with lighter cloth on unsupported ribs and diagonals that only run partially through the chord instead of the full length.
In the air, the wing feels much like a Delta 2 – brake pressure is a tad lighter, and it’s perhaps 10-15% more agile. It feels less tensed, and it flexes and bananas more than other modern wings – almost like it’s doing an aerobic work-out to shed yet more flab.
However…
Find out what happened next in issue 151. (Clue: Hugh took it to Quixada, flew the bones out of it, and landed 300km later. Oo-er!)
The full review is in Cross Country 151.
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