Many modern sailplanes have CG (center of gravity) position too much forward, especially with heavier pilot in the cockpit. With front CG position, handling and climb performance in thermals can be very poor. Climb performance and handling of such “nose heavy” glider can be significantly improved with exchange of standard tail wheel, with heavier tail wheel with brass hub.
At LZ design we developed brass hub, with maximum possible weight of 3,1kg, for 200x50mm tyre size. It is equipped with two bearings with inner hole diameter of 12mm (as used on LAK gliders, and also some others). Complete weigh of such tail wheel equipped with TOST-Aero tyre, with 6 ply of fabric and inner tube is 3,6kg.
It is 2,6kg heavier compared to standard LAK tail wheel at 1kg. After installation of heavier tail wheel, new W&B (weight & balance) must be performed (including updated equipment list), so that new minimal and maximal weight of pilot with parachute can be determined.
