High end materials...

[jkrug]

i suspect rider weight has a lot more to do with longevity of our kites than the materials. most brands use good materials these days. i use my kites till they start to rip, and i've never had one last 4 years (i've ridden various brands). i feel i'm always trashing kites before others do, but i weigh more than average (about 215 lbs). i'd be curious to know if those saying they're riding 2007 kites (or older kites in general) weigh over 200, or under 180.

(i'm assuming regular kite usage...old kites used under 10 times doesn't count here).

[H53Driver]

i'd be curious to know if those saying they're riding 2007 kites (or older kites in general) weigh over 200, or under 180.

Neither, I weigh 185'.

(i'm assuming regular kite usage...old kites used under 10 times doesn't count here).

I think I have about 150 sessions on my 13mtr, maybe 75 on my 9mtr.

[truthonwater]

@sq......:
That's kind of interesting. From which companies did you guys licensed what exactly?

We license from several companies as well. There's a lot of it about.

[skinnergy]

remember the Hellfish?
not always high end materials are better...



and it was quite expensive as well:
http://www.extremekites.co.uk/main.php? ... sh_details

[tautologies]

ahh yes, choose any color as long as it is silver. The kite looked pretty good for about 1 session.

In any case, it is hard to know, but I suspect leaving the kite on a windy beach in the sun is probably the worst thing it can experience.

[tilmann]

stainless steel:

[Andres_Santacruz]

What is new with Kite materials?

[sarc]

North claims to have a superior canopy material technoforce D2. Not sure if any others are using it yet.

No point of having superior canopy material if valves fail all the time.
I know some North importer who claims that, for years, every single kite he sold had valve failures.
Hoping North have sorted the problem out by now.

I do also hope that Ozone has superior canopy material now. A couple of years ago, they would not last a season under the tropical sun.

Yes North fixed the valve issue. Myself and all other North users at our beach had 100% failures up until we got 2012 kites; since then all good (we used to consider valve replacement part of the cost of ownership of owning a Rebel.....)