BGD BASE 2 LITE

Technical data

Colours

Standard colours: Moon, Sun.

Package

• Paraglider
• Giveaway
• Manual card
• Stickers
• Rucksack
• Repair material
• Stuff sack
• Riser bag
• Compression strap

BGD BASE 2 LITE: free your mind

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!” Bob Marley

Feeling tethered to the nine-to-five or crushed by the daily grind? You need some lightness to free your mind. Grab your Base 2 Lite, hike up to a launchable place and take to the open skies.

The Base 2 Lite is a high-performance sports class paraglider that is easy to handle and a joy to fly. It has the same great handling and feel as the standard Base 2, and pilots say they feel at home on it straight away. It speaks your language with clear, understandable feedback and ‘feely’ wingtips that tell you about the air. It’s relaxing to fly, leaving plenty of mental bandwidth for you to be working out where the next thermal will be, or whether that grassy ridge would make a good camping spot.

Its light sail makes for an even easier launch than the standard Base 2, and the brake pressure is slightly lighter. Base is in the name and the nature of this wing. It thermals beautifully, is smooth and relaxed in the turn, and will get you up to the wispies in no time. For gliding on bar, the C-steering handles are light to operate for effective steering.

Target

A lightweight sports-class EN-B, the Base 2 Lite is the perfect match for cross-country pilots who enjoy the hike to launch, for vol-bivouac adventurers looking for high-end safety, or anyone who wants a fun, performant lightweight wing. Pilots stepping up from low-B category will not find it too taxing to fly, yet its performance will impress XC distance seekers.

Bruce's notes

The Base 2 Lite keeps all of the design features that make the Base 2 such a great wing. It has the new arc design, double leading edge, and the fine-tuned sail and line tension that make it so well balanced in the air. But we have optimised weight wherever we can without compromising functionality. It has been a labour of love!

It is made from Porcher Skytex 27 with 32 on the upper leading edge for durability, and unsheathed Edelrid lines throughout, which brings benefits in terms of both weight and performance.

We created new lightweight hybrid risers. We chose narrow webbing for its handling, and mixed Dyneema and Kevlar to play to the strengths of each material. Dyneema is very light but it can stretch, so we used it for the C-risers and C-steering which don’t take heavy loads. For the load-bearing A and B risers we opted for Kevlar, which holds its shape well. Soft links have come of age now, and for the first time we have fitted them as standard on the Base 2 Lite. (Maillons can be ordered as an option for pilots who prefer them). They are light and user friendly, and the riser feels nice and cohesive without the metal link in the middle.

The speed-riser C-steering is similar to that on the Base 2, but the handles are slightly smaller and we’ve reducing the padding to save weight. Even the brake handles are optimised: they are still padded and comfortable but we’ve reduced the stiffening. We kept the snaplock keepers but did away with the brake swivels.

Designing the Base 2 Lite has been a lot of work and effort focussed on many small details, and we are very happy with the result. We hope pilots will love it as much as the BGD team do.

Features

ALULA Simulation Software

The future of glider design depends largely on simulations. Instead of designing and producing prototypes one by one, BGD unique in-house structural / aero simulation program, ALULA, enables BGD to accurately simulate hundreds of virtual prototypes. They test over 200 virtual prototypes for each paraglider, using 50 million iterations of the structural / aero calculations.

B/C Speed Steering

The risers are equipped with a new ‘speed riser’. It attaches the back of the speed system to the front of the C-line steering handle. This balances the load on the C-steering handle, making the C-steering system simple and light to use. Because the force is on the dimensionally stable Kevlar-reInforced riser and not the pulley, the glider stays in trim.

Maximised unsupported cells

Optimised unsupported cell groups are designed to match the span-wise load distribution influenced by the line layout. Coupled with a strong internal structure, the line layouts that create more span-wise tension can support more unsupported cells. While maintaining a homogenous wing, this helps to minimise line consumption reducing drag thus improving performance.

Airflow tufts

During development, many small tufts of fabric attached to the top surface of the glider can help them to visualise the airflow over the surface. By filming their movement and playing the film back in slow motion, BGD can study the airflow over the surface.

Unsheathed lines

The Base 2 Lite features only lightweight, drag-reducing unsheathed micro-lines that have been manufactured at the highest standard by Edelrid and Liros

Softlinks

Softlinks are strong and light and avoid the hard points in the link between pilot and wing. Maintaining flexible materials from the riser though to the lines and up to the wing simply makes sense. It is both lighter and more elegant. It’s not often you’ll need to undo the soft links, but BGD made a video to show how quick and easy it is if you need to

Speed bar attachment

The Base 2 Lite is a high-performance EN-B paraglider, yet it weighs under 4kg in size M. BGD saved weight where they could without compromising functionality, and one of the ways is that there are no metal Brummel hooks on the speed bar. But it's just as easy – easier, maybe – to attach your speedbar without them.

Lite speed-risers/C-steering

For lightness, easy handling, and resistance, the Base 2 Lite’s risers are made with a careful mixture of Dyneema and Kevlar webbing. The risers are equipped with a new ‘speed riser’. Using an extra riser, their new "speed riser"attaches the back of the speed system to front of the C-line steering handle thus balancing the load on the C-steering handle making a lighter, simpler, and easier C-line steering system, and avoiding a design where the pilot hangs from a pulley.

Progressive stability

Using ALULA, BGD gliders are designed to have a stable and solid center with progressively softer tips. This teaches pilots to predict and avoid deflations and stay aware of the air.

Triple finger diagonals

Triple Finger Diagonals create a more solid and durable wing. Across the whole chord of the profile, three-piece diagonal supports pass through holes in the ribs. They ensure structural integrity by avoiding the cloth being loaded in the bias direction. This is particularly important near the trailing edge where the profile is thin and shallower diagonal ribs supporting high loads.

Review

"If you are looking to move up from a low or mid-B the Base 2 would make a great choice. It won’t put too much extra demand on you in terms of flying and at the same time you will be able to get to feel the finer control on offer. The B/C-control system gives you most of the feel you will get on higher-level wings and you can get used to this method of control, confident that you can translate this knowledge as you step up. You will quickly find yourself naturally wanting to use the rear risers when not thermalling.

If you are moving down from a higher class the Base 2 will give you a lot of control, good performance, EN-B passive safety and a relaxed nature. In short this is a wing that combines experience, the latest computer modelling and carefully-crafted handling and it shows. I am sure we will see this wing showing up on the online cross-country leagues once things open up again.”

— Marcus King, XC Magazine, (full review)

Materials

Downloads

• Manuals