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Windtech «Bali-2»
His name does justice to this wing, bold as a Hindu demon, Bali God usurped the sky and endeavored to please all desires. And Vishnu impressed, he allowed him to visit us once a year ever after rising from hell.
The sky of Bali 2 are its performances and the harmony of its handling and reactions. Easy for a B*, with a amazing performance for an intermediate B. It displays all the tricks and technology of the current days: shark nose, crossed rods, mini-ribs back, double 3D pattern and very low drag on the line plan. A 3 riser hybrid wing with a modern accelerator (that does not penalize at all the performances) and makes you want to use it with its great stability and glide.
The brake is precise and homogeneous, it is neither too nervous nor too lazy, it turns well, it banks and it shoots what you ask for it, it behaves well in a dynamic slope as well as in thermal, because it is agile and goes up in a great way thanks to a larger size. The profile is thin and the trapezoidal opening catch the flow well at any regimen. Very few lines, the bottom floor is in Dyneema with sheath and top floor is in aramida unsheathed. Only two lines per side in the front riser (each range of different colors for better preparation). It is allowed to pilot with the Ces riser and the brake handle has a ball to take it with precision and to be able to carry the control a little long (something necessary to allow the good work of the accelerator).
It is the best Windtech wing that I have flown in the about 25 years of this Asturian and international brand. It enjoys the best performance-easeness ratio of all its models. Congratulations to Álvaro Valdés, Gabriel Cañada and the entire Windtech family. If the first Bali was dominant in the Club class, Bali 2 expands its range of users with more performance and balance.
Bali, King of the Sky
Bali was forged an enviable reputation at the hands of Borja Rodríguez and Gabriel Cañada in the last Spain National Championship for their performance and results, to the point of hearing "that the sail should be rigged" by how it performs. However his new Bali-2 even glides more than first version.
And it is easier also, more homogeneous and solid, super-all in thermal and turbulence. It maintains a good twist, which lets it buckle, bite and turn comfortable with any radio or bank.
The inflation is a little technical, because it has only 2 lines in the A front riser on each side, when it goes up without wind, the stabilo (ears) tend to stay hanging, which is favorable when there is more wind to smooth the loading and reduce the traction, but it demands a little more time to fully inflate the canopy when taking off, as the center inflate ahead of the wing tips.
Its design offers all the technology of the moment: a new profile with shark's nose, in which the mouth has a gap of only 2 cm. Usually it is 4 cm in the other models. That leaves the profile clean and efficient. In addition, the accelerator goes up in the back more than normal, which changes the profile and it gains stability. If there is something in which the Bali2 excels is in its glide in accelerated flight. It even glides more than when flying it hands up and maintains a very high glide all the time up to its maximum speed (50 km/h).
The canopy has double 3D ballooning on the leading edge top surface, it has mini-ribs at the trailing edge, the hook up points are well separated and the brake ones also, the result is the paraglider with less meters consumption of lines of the whole category. This also results in its good glide ratio and minimum sink rate.
It combines sheated lines with unsheathed lines and minimize the number of lines that go down to the risers. Although in the Bali-2 has little more meters of lines, which makes it more homogeneous and solid.
Made of Skytex fabric and lines in Dyneema and Aramida, it has good materials and bottom lines are sheated (which is welcome in our take-offs).
They have removed the rear rods (to lighten and simplify the packing).
The trapezoidal mouths are of generous size and the stabilo has a new cut and twist. Inside the diagonals and ribs form a structure that feels rigid.
In flight
Surprising, on the one hand it is easy to fly, it does not differ much from what you can expect from an intermediate B wing, but you can feel right away note the high performance point they have wanted to achieve. With a lot of brake input, in turn or straight flight, you feel some bending or movement of the planform with respect to the pilot on the vertical axis (wink). Needs little brake for normal piloting. It responds early to rolling and does not shoot forward too much. Its profile is very narrow if we compare it with the old profiles (less than 16% of thickness compared to 17.5% that had the Fenix).
Its spiral stability does not accelerate the spin but does not kill it too, so it is easy to keep rolling and turning in steady bank angle. At the most it will be necessary to release a bit of the outer brake to close the turn or you can release a little bit both brakes at the same time to avoid slowing down the turn. It is very easy to fly for its performances and does not require a lot of attention in spite of having a accurate and precise handling but it is not as demanding as a B+ and it doesn’t move as much. This wing is not in the top of the category for piloting skills.
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Elliptical shape with aligned and stretched straight wingtips (with a rod tip). Large mouths, sawtooth. 5 ribbons transverse load.
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It invites to fly hands up because its great glide and does not oscillate at all. And if you like to push the pedal you will glider even more.
It is possible to pilot with the back risers, in the test unit it carried a small handle that will be replaced in the serial one by a ball or another piece in the risers. It also carries another ball in the brake handle to shorten the extra centimeters of the brake travel (necessary for proper speed system operation).
There will be a light version Balilai 2, which will weigh between 3.5 and 4.5 kg (according to size), is about 1.5 kg less than Bali-2.
Its four sizes have narrow and overlapping weight range, so it will be easy to find one that fits your load preferences well. We have tested the large size 5 kg below the maximum weight and it is perfect, it climbs well in thermal and being a model with the surfaces of a little big in the planform, it allows to slow the flight and provides an excellent performance when soaring a slope and thermal flying.
If we have something to criticize are the big ears, because having only 2 lines, they are big, noisy and move a lot. They do slow down the wing and open alone very quickly, but do not compromise the piloting or change direction.
Bali-2 has it all the points to be a great success for Windtech.
| Technical Specification |
Marks out of 3 |
| Inflation : Inflated, light, only 2 cords in the A's |
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| Initiation of the turn : progressive, non-aggressive |
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| Turn reversal : gradual, homogeneous |
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| Turns in very slow flight : medium physical, easy |
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| Handling |
Marks out of 3 |
| Slow flight : long brake, hardens |
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| Normal flight : stable, muffled |
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| Accelerated flight : maintains the best glide |
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| Pitch : climbing a bit, positive moment |
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| Roll : easy banking, staying well |
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| Turns : balanced, comfortable, without correction |
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| Stall : control very down, predictable |
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| Tension : solid, somewhat flexible in yawing |
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Performance (Bali-2)
| Wing loading |
115 kg (3,75 kg/m2) |
| Minimum speed |
24 Km/h |
| Sink rate 50% brake: 1,15 m/s |
34 Km/h |
| Maximum glide speed |
39 Km/h |
| Maximum speed (100% accelerator) |
50 Km/h |
Manufacturer Windtech (Gijón, Spain) Designer Álvaro Valdés |
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