Martin writes:

This is my Rotor/Havana "Gizmo", machined out of Stainless Steel,
one off prototype. The divots that the hang strap "truck wheels" sit in on a
stock Rotor Havana rail are very shallow, with the gizmo, the rear truck wheels
are pulled into a much deeper resting spot so the truck stays locked through a
wide range of pitch, yet easily unlocks when you force yourself up. The other
advantage is the block can be positioned anywhere you want for pitch pressure.

BTW, I hear that Rotor has created the option to have multiple positions in the
back plate, also allowing you to tune the balance of the harness.

Gordon Rigg writes:

What you have on the original Havana is two notches, one for each
set of wheels, so you get a sort of double click, when the rear wheels go in the
front notch, and then a bit further back when the rear wheels transfer into the
back notch and the front wheels go in their notch.

Then you can have a look about without it riding out of the notch…so I think
maybe a lot of people haven't set it up to get into the true rear notch
position, if it is coming out easily.

You can see the front notch at under the front of the stainless insert you made,
and the rear notch the other side of it.

I'm not completely sure I want a bigger notch, the clunk to come out of the
notch is already quite sudden.

Mine is also putting a lot of weight on the rope, balancing unnecessarily head
heavy. So adjustment of slider position on the back plate is a good idea.

I have concerns over the extended shoulders on the back plate. Given that the
previous rotor model was already quite close fitting in this area I'm not sure
how much advantage they bring, but I didn't fly the previous model to know if
this is more comfortable. However unless your leg loops are set nice and tight,
when you drop out of prone the extended shoulders on the back plate are up round
your ears and I really don't like the idea of that for pilot safety.

Compared to my matrix, the havana is just as comfortable, and lands easier. The
longer slider means you have less pressure to rotate into upright and can thus
feel the glider trim more easily.

Between the matrix and the havana i had a WV Tenax 3 which was quite a bit worse
for landing, needed lots of mods to be able to get down into prone easily ( I
thought I might brake the base bar trying) but was also difficult to get upright
in. I never really liked it. Now with the tenax 4 they went into some sort of
crazy super wide back plate design which only makes sense for people with two
parachutes or who want to look like a flying air bed, and don't want to put more
than one harness in their car!

Advertisements seem to suggest you can still get the Rotor shadow2, but I know
pilots who wanted new shadows and couldn't seem to get them…

Oh and Martin, check your mod isn't tipping the carriage a bit and making the
hang strap bunch into the corner of the slot it hangs from. You need to look out
for any damage to the strap there.

Martin's responds:

Thanks for the comments, for sure I was double notched… took
plenty of time to document with video. In fact, i noted that the machined
notches were not quite right on my rail and needed to grind out a small area of
the end of the rail to get the truck to sit in both notch points.

Again, even the slightest heads up with relaxed heel tension would result in the
slider popping out. My gizzmo, with one aggressive notch does make for a real
solid "klunk" but with only one set of wheels sitting in the notch, creates a
very positive lock/release feel. In the photo, I ended up moving the rear stop
point nearly 3" forward and still ended up with 35 to 40 pound of pressure on
the hands at the base tube. Thanks for the comment about the "main" and possible
wear in caused by the attachment angle to the truck, I suspect most wear would
be related to going upright and not normal flight loads but something to keep an
eye on…

BTW… I think part of the issue with the double notch not locking is the fact it
is so far aft and the angle naturally pulls the truck forward and the main riser
angle truly loads only the rear truck wheels, so in essences, loads only a
single (rear) notch, so even if you double notch, the rear truck wheels easily
skip past the forward notch.

If they have created a movable rail to tune the fit and balance it might solve
what I found to be an issue.

I also believe, had Rotor chosen to use the Covert system it might have yielded
a nicer lock/release transition as the Covert uses and angled rail (a little
like the Moyes Matrix).

And yes, I agree, the Rotor is a much nicer harness to land.