Pilots who are outside the middle slice of the "normal" bell
shaped curve for height (and weight) often have a difficult time getting a
glider that "fits" then well. Smaller, lighter pilots may find that the control
bar is not very high off the ground when they lift the glider up onto their
shoulders. This can make for difficult foot launching conditions, or at least
for the perception that the glider has a "better" chance of hitting the ground
during launch.

I asked Steve Person, Wills Wing designer, about this issue with respect to the
small version of the
Wills Wing Falcon 3 (the 145). Here is what he had to say:

There is not a smaller control frame for the Falcon 3 145, but
there is an option that makes it easier from small women (e.g. 5’ and narrow
shoulders). The downtubes on the 145 are already pretty short at 60 inches, but
one of the changes that I made on the Falcon 3 was to make the round and
Litestream control bars interchangeable without wire or hardware changes.

The Falcon 1 and 2 were configured with a very narrow control bar apex (with the
round control bar configuration) that was more effective at increasing basetube
clearance than a couple of inches of downtube length. I had to widen the apex on
the Falcon 3 to allow the streamline tubes to fold without interfering with the
keel. On the earlier Falcons, that required different wires and top hardware.

Anyway, I can retrofit the Falcon 2 top hardware on the Falcon 3 145. I’ve done
that for a few of Lookouts customers and it solved their problem.

When using the Falcon 2 top hardware the Falcon 3's are restricted to round
tubes. Then pilots have to swap the keel saddle and control bar top elbows to
install Litestream downtubes. The wires are compatible with both configurations.

Regarding requests for smaller gliders, say in Japan, we’ve had great
representation from the same dealer in Japan for over thirty years. I’ve had a
few requests for a smaller T2 (not just from Japan), but not for other models.