Sport, Trick and Freestyle Kite Flying Forum

Moderators: Craig, Andy S

 
User avatar
Dave A
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:28 pm
Location: Adelaide, Australia

Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:30 am

Zippy8 wrote:
...given that it sports Aerostuff Gold S lower spreaders, seems an odd match up. A super light sail and build combined with a hard-as-nails frame - curious.

Zippy8 wrote:
...Now these LE cutouts look a bit suspect to me on an SUL like the Ghost. On a standard weight kite intended to be hammered about madly... they look misguided.

Zippy8 wrote:
...And while it's an exceptionally trivial point, for a kite commanding a £260 price tag I don't expect to see any building faults like a misapplied stick on reinforcement beneath a yoyo stopper.

Zippy8 wrote:
...Considerably less trivial is the sail tension. The sail is drum tight everywhere but at the inner standoffs the sail practically screams. I really don't like the look of these in terms of longevity. I've taken a close look and, frankly, the sail looks stretched already with the inboard straight seams looking distorted even when the kite is disassembled. It's been a long time since I've worried about putting a kite together and taking it apart (probably the Prism Illusion was the last) but this concerns me.

Zippy8 wrote:
...As delivered it had heroic oversteer, bordering on the design fault. I've ended up with the bridle set as wide as it can go and it'll still spin within its own wingspan. This is a trick kite; so trick it and stop faffing about with "figures".

Zippy8 wrote:
...but ownership might come with a heartache or two.


Bloody hell, first you showed praise for a Prism Kite (the Zephyr), now you're being critical of a Kitehouse kite :shock:
You will find yourself banned from this forum the way you're going [-X
You know the rules.
 
User avatar
Zippy8
Posts: 4865
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: Vihtavuori, Finland
Contact:

Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:41 pm

Dave A wrote:
Bloody hell, first you showed praise for a Prism Kite (the Zephyr), now you're being critical of a Kitehouse kite :shock:

You might want to look away for a moment. :?

Image Image

I was thinking about this whilst at work. I concluded that Kitehouse were too good to make such a schoolboy error that We would have flayed, for example, Prism for making.

They put the standoffs in the wrong way around on the right side of the kite :-( . There's only 1cm difference and I'm a bit sick at myself for not noticing it (shows what a delicate feel on the lines I have) but I once I swapped them around the tension is better. I still reckon that the sail has suffered because of this though but I'm not sure if it's really up to it anyway.

Frankly... disappointing doesn't quite cover it for a £260 kite.

Mike.
 
User avatar
Craig
Site Admin and Supporter
Site Admin and Supporter
Posts: 5241
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Epsom Downs, near the red cross.

Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:11 pm

No excuse, that's not good. I guess it just goes to show that you should always check your kite thoroughly.

I never normally check kites before sending them out, however from now on I shall start doing it before delivery.
 
User avatar
Infinitive
Posts: 1099
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:05 pm
Location: Bristol

Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:50 pm

They deserve a damn good spanking for that. Come on, these are the most expensive kites in this solar system.

Craig wrote:
I guess it just goes to show that you should always check your kite thoroughly.

I never normally check kites before sending them out, however from now on I shall start doing it before delivery.


That's why I am happy to pay a lot for a kite, so I don't have to worry about it being made correctly! And it isn't your job either, you don't see Bentley dealers taking a spanner to the wheelnuts "just in case those numptys at the factory forgot to tighten this one"!

Boo. :(
-------------------------------------- Al --------------------------------------
 
User avatar
Sonnenwind
Posts: 89
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:02 pm
Contact:

Wed Aug 19, 2009 7:57 am

Is that really such a big deal for you guys?
Of course I understand: noone than Mike pays so much attention to kite details. Everyone else would have flown the kite not recognizing the failure.

But the difference of the SO length is just one cm, so that can happen to the manufacturer, can't it? It is even easy to correct.

BTW I do fly Nirvana so I am used to it! ;-)
Malte
$0.02
Image
There is style in Freestyle
 
User avatar
Zippy8
Posts: 4865
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: Vihtavuori, Finland
Contact:

Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:31 am

Sonnenwind wrote:
Is that really such a big deal for you guys?

It's worth mentioning under any circumstances but in the case of the CTC XS there are a few other factors; firstly it's damn expensive so I expect it to be right, secondly the sail material isn't (IMHO) up to even such minor mistreatment.

It's still a good kite and I did notice a slight difference in the way it flies.

BTW I do fly Nirvana so I am used to it! ;-)

I LOLed. :-D

Mike.
 
User avatar
Zippy8
Posts: 4865
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: Vihtavuori, Finland
Contact:

Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:36 pm

Well I've been putting the hours in on this kite. Much like my experience with the Element I found Tab A and located Slot B but had a bugger of a time getting them together on a regular basis. But when I did :shock: very nice indeed. :-D

You don't so much pop and yank the lines as simply ping them back at the appropriate moment and then get out of the way. Very small and quick movements. When the wind gods smiled (or more likely were looking the other way) this little bugger was about as much fun as I can imagine ever wanting from a trick kite. Epic and lovely. Yes, the FlicFlac is a bit... curious... but just work around it. There are plenty of options available.

And then the wind would change microscopically and.... it didn't fall apart so much as wander off :-( . The various tabs 'n' slots suddenly didn't fit and it was all very disjointed. If ever a kite presented a more compelling case for moving to the coast then I've not come across it.

I think I can offer a reason why it behaves this way: mental stiff frame combined with a drum tight sail means it's very responsive to the wind. A little change in the wind speed and you need to make a different input for your flying. Unless you have a divine touch on the lines (and I don't) then variable winds just mess things up. At one point I had trouble getting Fractured Axels into a Fade to work at all and that's really pretty basic.

Do I like the kite ? At times I frickin' love it. When the stars align it goes to 11 and proceeds directly towards 12. I can live with the crappiness as long as I get some of the good stuff now and then. That's not to say it can't be unbelievably frustrating.
Is it worth £260 ? Ooooh. Difficult. In many respects; no, not by a long shot. In others; yeah, why not ? Can't take it with you.
Could it be better ? Yes. Ditch the Ghost material, stick with Nitro LSs, fit rollbars as standard, drop the price. That would be a borderline essential purchase.

Continuing kudos to the FA Shop for making this sort of highly specialised toy available. :thumbsup:

Mike.