A hard landing is going to spread the skids apart and bend the cross tubes, especially the rear. Most of the weight of the Helicycle on the ground is carried by the rear cross tube. That is why Eagle R&D added the cable. Some of the earlier Helicycles showed signs of the tail rotor getting closer to the ground over time. It was because the rear cross tube was slowly bending and spreading the skid further apart. The cable was added to keep the rear cross tube from spreading, or at least help it spring back.
If you are worried about the Helicycle having a hard landing, I would carefully inspect the rear cross tube for cracks. You can also measure the distance between the skids at the front and rear cross tubes. If the distance at the rear is significantly different, I would suspect the cable is not tight, or the aircraft has had a hard landing.
I will post the measurements from my as yet un-flown Helicycle after I get home from work.
As a side note, the UH-1s at Fort Rucker had the rear cross tubes filled with rubber. This helped absorbed the shock from all the full down autos and made the cross tube last longer.
