Gyro vs Trike

[ZS-NEL]

The question: What makes a Gyro so much more expensive than a trike?
You can buy almost two GT450's for the price of a new Sycamore, Ela, MT03 or RAF.
Lets hear from the pro's

[Eagle]

The question: What makes a Gyro so much more expensive than a trike?
You can buy almost two GT450's for the price of a new Sycamore, Ela, MT03 or RAF.
Lets hear from the pro's

The Rotax 914 Engine alone is R300 000 plus at the moment - Then you have Rotor Blades which
is also very expensive and then if you add the rest you easy get to the selling price. Also if you
ever flown in a Gyro you will never ever want to fly in a Trike again !

[Vertical Tango]

"Also if you
ever flown in a Gyro you will never ever want to fly in a Trike again !"

That has nothing to do with putting the price up !
Rotax has had a good and easy life until now. We think that by signing a fat cheque we are safer... Rotax fails as much as any other engine. And the list of warnings that we are bombarded with by the Rotax Association puts the onus onto the owner for all Rotax weaknesses.
Why there are so many designs flying with Rotax is simple. It is the best power to weight ratio available. Many engine designers could have done the same if they did cut corners like Rotax did. The 914 is a very thin aluminium casing that cracks all over the place. However the Gyro designer does not want to battle with his heavy design. He puts a 914 on, has resolved his weight issue, now if the engine cuts it is because the pilot did not follow the long list of DONT's.
The gyro designer is still seen as a brilliant man. I want to give a better chance to the Subaru which by the way we never hear of any failure ! Yes it is heavy !
Where are the designers who can design a light gyro which can take a Subaru ?

[Cloud Warrior]

Because fools and their money are easily parted..........

[saraf]

Hi guy's

Hope you all are well. Trike flying on a nice crisp morning , you will have to go far to beat that feeling...........

My opinion on engines, allot of the guy's say the Subaru is to heavy, I don't think so. You have 165hp on the Ej25, with a good rotor system you can have a little heavier gyro. Take the RAF for example it is almost 100kg heavier than the other designs BUT has a payload of 350kg almost 100kg more than the other designs.



Regards

SARAF

[Learjet]

The question: What makes a Gyro so much more expensive than a trike?

I struggle to understand how gyro manufacturers arrive at their prices but I suppose the foillowing all adds up:

Engines (four-stroke more expensive than 2-stroke). Rotors more expensive than fabric. Gyro airframe alloys / s-steel etc more expensive than alu tubing. Gyros have more comprehensive carbon fibre / f-glass fuselage / nacelles and tail empenage / rudder etc than trikes. Ditto Control rods & linkages, trim controls, pre-rotators etc etc . Std instrumentation usually more comprehensive than supplied with trike. And lastly, most of the gyros you refer to are factory built ex-Europe. Higher labour costs and far greater build time than your average trike. I suppose the manufacturing set-up costs are also greater for gyro assembly - airframe jigs, fuselage / nacelle, composite rotor, tailplane etc moulds, rotor head machining & tooling. Guess it all ads up at the end of the day. Gyros still darn expensive though!

[Gyronaut]

Perhaps we should look at it another way...
A gyro is 1/10th of the cost of a Robinson R22 and does the same so its relatively cheap!
(except hover which a Robbie doesnt do out of ground effect at altitude either)

Expensive or not, I'm very happy with mine.

Len

[jacester]

I agree with the statement that it would appear to be very expensive, given the fact that the rotor blades alone are about R30 000 which is less than what a wing would cost on the trike. This makes it even more expensive if compared to a GT 450 for example. Looking at the control systems on a gyro they are also very simple in design, all mechanical so no electronics or hydraulics in question. The instrumentation is also pretty basic with the only difference the addition of rotor RPM gauge. The problem is that we all want a fancy new Gyro and it is being marketed like bicycles. You can buy a Trek composite for about R50 000 plus vs normal in the range of R10 000 with the same gear components but the cheaper one is 2 pounds heavier. Unfortunately we do not have this option in Gyro, only the R50 000 model! because we are so obsessed with weight!