BGD Riot, lightweight EN-B

The Punk’s lighter sibling – Another great all-rounder.

BGD describe the RIOT as: “Lightweight, fun and performant, the Riot is your ideal companion for vol-biv missions, overseas travel or home-site playtime.”

At St Hilaire a few weeks ago, BGD introduced their new semi-light weight, Hike & Fly, and general all-round EN-B wing the RIOT, the slimmer brother of the popular Punk. The Punk has been very well received and so it’s younger sibling should be a great addition to BGD’s range.

Following feedback at St Hilaire, Bruce has announced that the colour schemes will be changed from the ones shown in the video above.

Construction:

BGD haven’t used extremely light materials, they are quality, robust, semi lightweight choice, with the top surface fully in Porcher Skytex 32g/m² universal, well known for it’s durability, and Porcher Skytex 27g/m² universal for the bottom surface.

The Riot is around a kilogram lighter with the XS=3.7kg, S=3.9kg, M=4.2kg, ML=4.4kg and the L=4.7kg.

The risers and lines are identical to the Punk with sheathed main lines and brakes and unsheathed middle and top lines.

During certification, the Riot’s weight ranges were extended in the upper range to offer greater choice to pilots: Available on 4 sizes of Riot, they are XS=50-70kg, S=60-95, M=75-100, ML=88-113.

The wing has relatively short reinforcing rods with none in the trailing edge which means a lower packing volume and more compact to pack.

https://www.facebook.com/flybgd/videos/250170008980156/

Flying:

It is very similar to the Punk to fly mainly due to the reduced weight of the canopy making it easier to inflate; coming up steadily and smoothly with less inertia overhead. The brakes feel a little softer, reaction to inputs are quicker and more direct giving the Riot an agile and responsive feel, perfect for precise thermalling and efficient soaring.

To sum up, BGD now have a very sweet lightweight and compact, easy EN-B Glider, with top performance and safe reactions…. plus of course, the awesome manoeuvrability and climb rate of the Punk – The perfect all-rounder?

We expect demos and stock gliders to be delivered in mid to late November.

Here’s a Cross Country interview with Bruce Goldsmith about the Riot from the Coupe Icare, St Hilaire in France (Note that the colour schemes have changed!):