question about hoyt..

[its my party and]

Strange as it seems when choosing my first riser a few months ago an all day event I may add! My last two choices came down to the Helix and the Eclipse. Both felt steadier than any other manufacturers risers inc all of the W&W risers. Using the same risers and accessories I shot them both with some xx75 1820 arrows indoors for nearly two hours. Findings were that the Helix was quieter and slightly less vibrant, but I eventually chose the Eclipse because at 20 yds I was never out of the gold unlike the helix (I dont know why) But more noticable was the balance of the eclipse it was by far the most neutral weighted riser Ive ever held (it just sits there upright in your hand) it was overall a noticably lighter package and I considered that at the end of a days shooting with stabalisers etc attached it would be less strain on the old arms! And for the £200.00 difference the only yawning factor was its rather bland colour in comparison to the Helix! But I think I have solved that as I know the paint shop manager of an F1 team and he still owes me a favour! His team is responsible for painting the fine designs on the drivers helmets! When I pin him down at the end of the season (less busy) Ill post a piccie. As for progress with the riser Im very happy with my progress and have let a few members at the club have a go and they not only praise it asthetically but are suprised by the whole feel of the thing! Ill stop gushing about my equipment now!

[TJ Mason]

Originally Posted by JohnK

Umm, yes it does. Well, the ones I've seen have.

The perils of relying on an unreliable memory. My apologies for the bad info.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Ffish

Is there a difference? I always thought forging and casting were the same thing?

What it ISN'T is machined out of a solid block of ally/magnesium alloy using a milling machine, like the Helix & Aerotec.

ooh dear, no.
For casting you just take a load of molten metal and inject it into a mould. It doesn't produce as strong a result as forging or machining...
Machined risers just take a chunk of metal and cut away the bits which don't look like a bow ().
Forged risers take a block of metal, heat it up a bit then hammer it into a (harder) metal form, to get the general bow shape. After that there is generally machining to finish off. Most of the W&W risers are forged and machined.
Forging is normally considered more expensive than machining. The Yamaha Superfeel was a forged bow and used to retail for £1000+ in the UK... On the other hand W&W seem to have applied some economies of scale to get their prices down.

I've seen a number of arguments over which method (forging or simple machining) is better. They mostly centre around the way stress is produced inside the riser, and the likelihood of the handle bending over time. Proponents of both methods say that their version is better, of course...

[jojo]

What you have got to remember here is that hoyt have always been successful with magnesium risers, even today after many years Hoyt still sell the Gold Medalist riser. Magnesium Risers are cheaper to manufactur, however downsides to magnesium risers are the weight of the riser and also the paint finish is not as high standard and is easily chipped. Pros of magnesium risers are the way they are cast, if you imagine you could cast a piece of wood then when you look at a cross section of the piece of wood then the grain all runs the same thus making the piece of wood stronger, so with a machined alloy riser the grain has been cut into thus in theory making the riser lighter but not as strong. Magnesium risers tend to be more forgiving but the modern alloy risers are lighter. There are all sorts of pros and cons to magnesium over alloy. In the past Ive nearly always shot magnesium compounds as they are more forgiving, and interestingly enough nearly all the compound or recurve risers that Ive seen snapped or fractured have been alloy risers.

[Timid Toad]

I always thought that mag risers were lighter - my alpha-ex weighed 1000g, and Him Indoors' huge long riser weighs 1100g. Most modern risers seem way over 1200g or so. I thought the only difference is that they are not so stiff, therefore wasting energy, but giving a very forgiving shot, so modern risers should be much more snappy. Have I got that right?

[rfitzgerald]

What are the advantages of shooting a Helix riser verses a Gold medallist Riser.

I have been shooting with my GM for just over a year and wonder what more you get for your money with the other risers in the Hoyt range.

There must be some advantages otherwise you would see more GM risers at the larger tournaments I have been to this summer..

Any view on this would be much appreciated.

[Kae]

Originally Posted by rfitzgerald

What are the advantages of shooting a Helix riser verses a Gold medallist Riser.

I have been shooting with my GM for just over a year and wonder what more you get for your money with the other risers in the Hoyt range.

There must be some advantages otherwise you would see more GM risers at the larger tournaments I have been to this summer..

Any view on this would be much appreciated.

You'd think that people would use something cheaper if it was better wouldn't you...............

[Rik]

Originally Posted by rfitzgerald

What are the advantages of shooting a Helix riser verses a Gold medallist Riser.

I have been shooting with my GM for just over a year and wonder what more you get for your money with the other risers in the Hoyt range.

There must be some advantages otherwise you would see more GM risers at the larger tournaments I have been to this summer..

Any view on this would be much appreciated.

I've been told (never having shot a Hoyt riser) that the GM feels "softer, woolier" and that newer machined risers feel "crisper" to shoot. I'd guess that it's a personal preference thing. If you can't feel the difference...