Fractured Axel

Surprise. Nice letter from Didak asking if I could review their new budget 6ft kite, the Peak. And of course the kite attached.

Interesting. Deepish sail with wide set stand offs, a fgenerous 6ft span, active incut trick line (removable) and reverse dynamic bridle. Frame 6mm Carbon tube. Build quality - well far east - but everything fits together okay. Clever zip up bag and dynema lines inlcuded, unstretched/unequalized - but par for the course at this price range.. and that range is £48 all in I hear.

So, flight. Well the wind is non existant and the best flying field nearby has a fair on it, so I trapse to the alternate tree lined field and have a go.

Interesting - when the wind picked up the Peak is a responsive freestyle kite. Axels are not very flat, but it cascades well. You have to get the slack right to get the best looking moves.

Try for a Fractured Axel to fade and the thing kind of Barrel Rolls. I repeat this half a dozen times (cant remember the name of this trick) and then adjust my movements. Yeah it gets into a fade, and flic flacs okay. Flatspins are okay too. All the basic stuff you want to learn on a first kite.

I soon realise though that this kite is very pitchy. Perhaps due to the light winds, but it would wrap up and un-wrap pretty nicely. Okay this isn't a yo-yo moster, but you could learn on this.

Backspins are a lot harder - requiring the right level of pitch, and they are not very flat. You could just about learn to backspin on this kite but it would be tougher than some others.

Lazy susan type tricks I struggled with, but the wind was very poor. It certainly went from fade to backflip without any hassle at all. Maybe with the trick line off (the bridle is short enough that it is unlikely to catch the tail) it will be easier.

This is by no means a full review - 20 minutes in bad wind seldom is - but I am interested in this kite. It may be a challenge to the Addiction in the sub £50 market. It is certainly stiffer and heavier, which can be a pro or a con depending on the winds where you live.

Full review and maybe a mini vid to follow when I get back from Poland.

It also makes me wonder about producing a leaflet to give to retailers when they sell a kite with links to freestyle websites. If more and more entry kites are capable of more and more tricks then maybe we can get a few more people into this game.

It actually retails at £48