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Infinitive
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Atelier Transfer XT.z

Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:49 pm

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Atelier Transfer XTz

I recently acquired a baby Transfer. (Sorry Craig, Bilboquet sale was irresistible!) I quite like it and I’ve written a little review.

Construction


Compared to his bigger brothers, the Z has been given a few small but appreciable fixes: the nose has finally been cut square, the tiny winglet spars are now protected by a rubbery coat rather than just mylar, the centre T is a neat hard-rubber dome thing, and the tail is a neat little slot in ferrule with a T on the end, rather than a piece of hosepipe cut and drilled (which works, but doesn't look all that pro). The stitching is as usual, nicely done 3step zigzags. Chikara forms the LE panel, they claim it makes the kite more reasonable in rough wind. Trailing edge nicely reinforced, which is just as well as it is going to need it with all those lazies. Unusually, the coloured nose panels and the white TE panels are doubled up (TE is mylar and white icarex), just for visual kicks. The frame is Sky Shark Black Diamond Nitro, except the miniscule upper spreader. It is a stiff old frame, very stiff. And heavy. Without tailweight (and with roll bars), I weighed the kite at 320g. On the tail comes a 19g weight, and they give you a 12g one too.

Finally, yes this kite has “yo-rings”. In one word, I would describe them as lame. They are made of what looks to be 1.5mm carbon, going through an APA on the LS, and through a hole on the TE. They look ugly, and extend too far out back from the kite. OK they hold the lines perfectly well, until they break that is. I broke one within the hour. The yo-stops are fine as back up, but of course I immediately converted them to roll bars (2mm carbon), using their own hole on the TE to connect it to. At first glance that hole looks a bit too far down the TE (and the bars aren’t as upright as they are on a Deep Space or converted Akujis), but they work incredibly well this far akimbo. But really, they should have paid homage to Benson/Wardley by carbon-copying the design, rather than making a hash of it.

Flight

It needs a lot of wind to keep this kite happy. My estimate is that less than 6mph is the bottom end… though its trickable range is a lot higher than the XTr or XTs. It gives plenty of feedback, and I found the precision of the kite to be top notch. I’ve had more practice with the Frenchies, but in direct comparison with the Fury .85 (a kite of nearly identical size), the XTz won hands down. Really impressed. It is a little kite, and it can tight turn well within its own wingspan, unlike the R or S. It is virtually silent in flight unless at the top of its range, which I find to be a good thing.

So to tricks… Firstly, the 19g weight is odd – I used it initially, but then realized that the kite easily wraps up without any weight at all. Then I found out why it is there – to hold the kite in a fade better. With 19g, the nose is just a touch higher than horizontal, and requires careful tending. With 10g, a fade is perfectly flat, and requires more perfect tending. With none, the nose is lower than the horizontal, and though holdable, it’s difficult. This was disappointing, both the R and S can keep an indefinite fade, but it will take some practice and perfect wind to hold a sixty second fade on the Z. I eventually elected to put 10g on the tail, as the roll up speed is quick with any of the weights - 10/12/20g.

The stiffness and weight of the frame gives this kite loads of impetus – it rolls up as quick as an Akuji, and lazy susans like no other kite I’ve flown. It’ll do double lazies off a single input, which is amazingly good fun! Axels are crisp, yeah it’s all there, and the usual Transfer problems are there – cometes need to be soooo delicate to stop them ending up on their back, and backspins (though plenty easier than on the R or S) are difficult to do without losing altitude. Basically it is - shock! - like a very forgiving, fastforwarded XTr. It’s plenty of fun, especially with all the yoyos it hands out. Extended combos really do roll off the kite well, its a joy to fly these moves. The S and R, tricky for their size, are difficult to fly well - the Z is just the remedy, being forgiving and flippy.

All this comes at a price – which is that the kite is unimpressive in low winds. I’m even tempted to try lighter leading edges – though I’ll leave that until I know the kite better.

Verdict

I think that Atelier have done the Transfer dynasty well and made a very competent freestyle kite. It's poor in low winds, I’m not an expert but I think it could lose some flab off the frame and still perform nicely. If you like lazy-based tricks and enjoy flying in brisk breezes, its a great kite. If you want to learn cometes or enjoy low winds, it’s not right.
-------------------------------------- Al --------------------------------------
 
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fworley
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Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:19 pm

Great review Al and a good looking kite.

Will you use it for the next VF ?

-Frazer
 
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Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:28 pm

Yep, I certainly will. It'll excell at some unusual combos, so I'm hoping to get that down for VF. I've only had the kite a week (seven days of blue skies and perfect wind, dreamlike! I've even got sunburn in February!), so I've still a lot to learn about the kite.
-------------------------------------- Al --------------------------------------
 
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Doc James
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Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:28 am

Is that a custom colout scheme?
Kite Bag: Deep Space, Solus, Widowmaker, Gem UL, Akuji SUL, Lynx Feather, Rev 1.5 exp
 
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Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:37 am

No, that's a standard colour scheme. The Chikara panels are very opaque. When front lit it is white like the photo above, but if the sun is behind it it looks black compared even to the black icarex (as seen below), since the Icarex is so translucent. Nice effect. But it doesn't flash like Icarex does.

Image
(photo from Atelier's website).
-------------------------------------- Al --------------------------------------
 
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Tony S
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Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:07 pm

I also bought one from the bilboquet sale - first flight was this afternoon.

First impression is that it covers the same ground as the Nirvana FX does for R-Sky - it may well be more tricky than it's bigger brothers, but what you do get is more fun, and a more "freestyle" feel.

For specific tricks, it wap's nice - similar to an Akuji but seems to look better doing it which is strange for a smaller kite .... I haven't been able to cynique before, but I can now :D It's quite an aggressive move, and would probably be a bit scary if the frame was not so bloody stiff. Flapjack cyniques looked good too - is there a name for that one yet? Normal lazies are nice - you can pull gently for the first rotation, then hammer the next one and get if flying round at a stupid rate ! nice to get a choice of speeds - reminds me of super fast backspins on the deep space.

It does share the Atelier family feel - some moves are quite sensitive to slack / timing, and I could make it look ugly in the same way that I can make the X-masque look horrible at times, but the XtZ seems a little more like "other" kites than other ateliers.

I didn't like the way slot machines sort of flopped around. Nothing like as nice as Nirvana / .85 Fury, and hard to get a clean exit to pop another one. Couldn't Taz it either, but that could be me !

Definitely a nice addition to the bag - it does some things that no other kite I have can do, and has a nice mix of these and more general tricks that are still accessible.

Tony
 
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Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:02 pm

FYI, the frame is
LE - Nitro Standard
LS - Nitro Strong Clear
US - 6mm (structil?)
-------------------------------------- Al --------------------------------------
 
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fworley
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Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:34 pm

So, if its a heavy-STD or strong-STD how do you rate with with the wind
up - 15mph say ?

I know a flier in the US who's planning on making wind screens for his as
it gets a little quick and err "wobbly".

-Frazer
 
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Mat
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Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:13 am

Infinitive wrote:
FYI, the frame is
LE - Nitro Standard
LS - Nitro Strong Clear
US - 6mm (structil?)


:o LS are Nitro Standard with clear aspect.

bye
 
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Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:53 pm

oh right - bilbo said that they're strong. thanks.
-------------------------------------- Al --------------------------------------