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Zippy8
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KRD/Chris Goff "Element" review

Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:36 pm

After the initial hype the trail seems to have gone a little cold on this one. We're a fickle bunch, ain't we ? :P

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I was going to pen some sort of review about two weeks ago but a cancelled trip to work meant I had more time with the kite. I'm glad I did as that review would have been substantially different to this one.

Let's deal with the build first: the usual quality we've (or at least I've) come to expect from Kite Related Design - all properly put together with areas such as the wingtips, LE cutouts, centre-T all dealt with in the same manner as their Fury range - but with some new seemingly bulletproof material at the nose and the sail standoff reinforcement. Sparred mostly in SkyShark P200 but with Aerostuff Blue S LSs. All quite conventional, no corners cut, all very nice. It's a light wind kite; not a UL and the max. wind is limited to how fast you want your kite to move. I certainly stopped flying well before the kite/frame started complaining.

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As for design, this is one flat kite. The (four) standoffs are a bare minimum of 7cm shorter than would be considered "conventional" by today's standards. Combine this with a wide-ish nose angle and the standoffs being quite distant from the spine you've got something that is considerably different to the majority of today's offerings and seems to harken back to designs from over a decade ago. But with tail weight and multiple yoyo stoppers.

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To be honest I'm no fan of the stoppers; they work well but are just four tie wraps on each LE and look tatty in comparison to the rest of the kite. I just wish they could have come up with a more elegant solution.

So let's fly this sucker ! \:D/

I have to say that my first few flights were distinctly "uh-oh". :? I had a horrible feeling that it as to be Stefan Furter's Challenge all over again - a kite he can fly like a God but no-one else can. The Element is very conversant in Old School - flat slackline rotations are the order of the day and plenty of them but I couldn't get it to gel at all. It was back to trick flying rather than freestyle; no flow, no cohesion. Flic Flacs were not coming together either. I couldn't nail the basics and I certainly couldn't string them together.

Frankly I didn't much care for it. :-(

But the extra time finally made it come together. For one thing, ditch the long lines. 20m is plenty and 10m is more than usable at a pinch. And for another you are going to have to get your eye in for this kite's profile and learn what it looks like when it's ready to be flipped or spun. And it does look different. Once I started down that path.... oh very much yes :-D

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In addition to those unconventionally-flat-by-today's-standards rotations this bugger rolls up like nothing else I've flown. Other kites describe a mathematically interesting orbit about a point in space, this thing folds up on itself. It takes no room and, if needed, precious little time. And it'll go either way - forwards or backwards - with pretty much equal ease. As the kite uses such a small amount of space to trick you end up working it right down to the deck. I swear I removed some dandelion heads with Yoyos.

After a little musing I think what we have here is a kite that Harry Turtledove might have come up with. It's a "What If ?" kite - what if after the Stranger and Box of Tricks the design fashion hadn't been for the deep kite but everything else had occurred ? You've got the back in the day Axels and oh-that's-why-they-are-called-that Flat Spins but you can Yoyo this all over the place and, once you grow accustomed to it, you can mix and match.

I'll be honest, I don't think anyone is going to pick this kite up and within 15 minutes pull off a strong repertoire of their own moves. There's a learning process to make your way through. It is a bit different :wink: but I think it's worth getting to know. I don't think this is remotely a kite for everyone and I'm not prepared to call it My New Favourite kite yet but it offers something other when so many of today's kites are variations on a very narrow theme.

Mike.
 
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Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:19 pm

Have to say, it looks MUCH better with the design in the center black area...which it too big on the 'regular' versions.

Nice review, Mike.

obi
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Zippy8
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Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:51 pm

An' anudder thing !

I've been doing some tricks I actually had forgotten. Because the Element flattens out fast and can be made to rotate more than once per "pop" I've been doing Genie Pops again. I'd forgotten how damn cool they look. And Multiple Axels, which I haven't done in years. And Tornadoes (Backspin takeoffs). And Torpilles that look they way I remember them.

As I said... it speaks Old School very well when asked nicely.

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Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:32 pm

At Hinckley I was struggling with some ground recovery and Chris said "Just backspin it straight off the ground".

Tornado, I thought. Never done one.

Worked instantly and provided one of my many grin-factor moments with the Element in a short fly. It's got bags 'o fun built-in, you just need to access it.

@Mike....Middle section eye or not, that's damn nice colours :)

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Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:01 am

Nice review, thanks Mike.

I'll admit that on the couple of times I flew it I had trouble liking it. We all know it takes several hours/days flight to lock into a kite so maybe my testimony isn't qualified, but I felt it flies it a very simplistic manner, it's small, it's flippy, it's ok at drawing lines, but so is my "Specter 1.5" that I learnt to not crash on (yes I have flown it recently). That is what it reminded me of!

Disappointed: it doesn't address the faults in the .85. Chris might be able to fly it well, but anyone else, nope, get a deep sailed proper kite.
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:10 am

Infinitive wrote:
I'll admit that on the couple of times I flew it I had trouble liking it.

Trust me, after more than a couple of weeks flying it I still had trouble liking it. It is sufficiently different that I'd suggest it demands longer exposure before you get an idea of how it actually works.

Disappointed: it doesn't address the faults in the .85. Chris might be able to fly it well, but anyone else, nope, get a deep sailed proper kite.

I doubt it was meant to "address the faults in the .85". It's very much it's own thing. And, having got to know it a little better, I think it's a proper kite :P

Mike.
 
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:15 am

I flew it for a few moments only and bear in mind "I love my fury (full size)".

It was so radically different it brought to mind the level 7! but I did like it, just I didn't think it would get much air time with competeing competition & demo practice demands.
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:44 am

Zippy8 wrote:
I doubt it was meant to "address the faults in the .85". It's very much it's own thing. And, having got to know it a little better, I think it's a proper kite :P

Mike.


According to Chris, the starting point was a list of things the Fury didn't do well.
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:52 am

......and then to add to that list............;) (only teasing)

Good review.
 
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:53 pm

Vee wrote:
It was so radically different it brought to mind the level 7!

I don't think it's quite that far out. Level 4 at most. :wink: And for those of us that remember how kites used to work it's got some familiarity too.

Keithgrif wrote:
According to Chris, the starting point was a list of things the Fury didn't do well.

I really would not have guessed that. :shock:

Mike.
 
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Re:

Sun Aug 15, 2010 12:09 pm

Vee wrote:
I flew it for a few moments only and bear in mind "I love my fury (full size)".

It was so radically different it brought to mind the level 7! but I did like it, just I didn't think it would get much air time with competeing competition & demo practice demands.


I remember trying one of these at Margam some years ago, bonkers!