ParaShop.co.uk Suppliers of Apco paragliders, Walkerjet paramotors and paragliding equipment

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APCO Aviation is one of the world's biggest producers of paragliders, harnesses, parachute rescue systems and accessories and has been producing world-beating gliders for over twenty years, with more than 60 dealers worldwide selling more than 30,000 gliders since 1982. 

"We were the first to use Gelvenor cloth on our paragliders, extending the lifespan of gliders to new, previously unseen limits. We also were the first to offer a 3 Year/250 hour warranty in the mid-90's (showing our confidence in this cloth) - this was big news at that time. For the last 15 years we have been firmly identified with Gelvenor's cloth and for most of this time we were the sole defenders of this cloth. Gelvenor has become famous for its legendary durability, strength and previously unseen porosity readings, which never deteriorate even after very intense use of glider over the years. Despite its clear advantages, the cloth had a hard time making its way onto the market and at the beginning was not popular with other manufacturers (mainly for price reasons). Gelvenor's cloth was introduced at a time when many gliders suffered from poor, fast deteriorating porosity readings - causing early stalls, difficult launch and other undesirable phenomena. Use of Gelvenor cloth completely overcame these problems. But still the Gelvenor cloth had reputation for being expensive. It was heavy and difficult to manipulate when producing gliders as it is very slippery, due to the secondary silicon coating, applied on top of the regular PU coating. These factors + costs were shying away many manufacturers. We learnt how to handle the extra weight and slipperiness of the cloth so that our gliders would have no disadvantages in their safety and launch when compared to competition on the market , but probably this was too difficult a task for some other manufacturers. Only a few who were ready to invest began using the cloth too. Now, finally, we have even better news - we together with Gelvenor have further improved the cloth. The new cloth is exactly the same as the well known, time-proven original Gelvenor paragliding cloth, but is lighter by 10gr.-11gr., making the cloth as light (or lighter) as cloth from competitors.

This breakthrough was possible  due to newly installed sophisticated coating equipment at Gelvenor. The new cloth is not only lighter, but also significantly thinner, dramatically reducing the bulk and weight, without sacrificing any other properties of the cloth. This will put an end to all complaints and claims of cloth being too heavy and bulky. Our intensive testing over a long period of time confirmed that the cloth is superior in all aspects and we are now fully confident of its advantages and we are gradually shifting all our production to use this new cloth. To show our confidence in this newly developed cloth, we have started using it on all our wings. Its porosity measurements are 3 to 4 times better than the previous Gelvenor cloth, measuring 3,000-4,000 seconds on JDC porosity meter - truly unbelievable results. Washing and tumbling results unprecedented too, showing previously unseen durability and resistance to elements. APCO will offer on all gliders produced from new Gelvenor cloth, a revolutionary 5 Year / 500 Hour Warranty against porosity deterioration which in our opinion is equal to a life-time warranty on a paraglider."

Apco Aviation

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Interview - Mike Campbell-Jones - Reflex wings

Article - Steve Uzochukwo - Paraglider Lines

Article - Steve Uzochukwo - Paraglider Cloth

Choosing a colour: Some colours enjoy greater resistance to ultraviolet light.

Here is a brief guide:

High resistance to UV light:
White, light grey, pale green, light blue

Medium resistance to UV light:
Dark green, deep blue, yellow, violet, orange

Low resistance to UV light:
Fluorescent pink, fluorescent yellow, purple, fluorescent orange, black.

You can also be assisted in selecting a colour if you see the Ultra Violet degradation, after 720 hours of sun exposure: For Light grey the quality left is 24% , for White 16%, for Green 15%, for Sky Blue 13%, for Medium Blue 13%, for Violet 11%, for Yellow 7%, for Purple Blue 7%, for Orange 7%, for Purple 3%, for Pink 1%.

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