3 bars from 3 manufacturers ? Or not

[flyingfishza]

I really like the look of these bars, yes plural cause as far As I can see they are all made in the same factory with some different paint.

Clean design with btb swivel and atb depower.
ikon
Gin
Bws
Now which one is better

[flyingfishza]

Lol , "ride the different" on the Ikon
Btw , anyone know if its possible to buy only the chicken loop and swivel with the centerline?
Looks like the nicest swivel I have seen, anyone actually had one in hand?

[alexeyga]

You're forgetting at least one more - that one is from Caution which replaces the Royal's clone (which was a North's rip-off) that they were using since like forever:

[ORSales]

You can ad a 4th mfg to the list but with a significant asterix.

All of these bars are made though one common design house in China, the 1st to work with them was BWS but we've since partnered with them as well.

For the new Control Bar from Ocean Rodeo we made use of the common CL head with below the bar swivel that helps make all these bars look the same and we made use of the front line Bit that lets these bars rely on a single front line re-ride but all other aspects of the bar were built to spec for us over the course of the last 1.5 years with multiple generations of prototypes to get to the bar we will formally be announcing in 1-2 week's time. Photos will inevitably leak from Surf Expo this past weekend so I just wanted to get ahead of it here.

I won't get too heavy on the details but for us it was important that the bar itself be new as the common bar lacked bar end line wraps and had a very soft bar end that made line management tough. We also worked for quite some time to tighten up all rigging so that the 1st couple hours of riding didn't result in a bunch of loose components that don't line up or which cause bar trimming issues.

John Z ~ OR

[juandesooka]

Nice! I have been using the BWS bar for 3 years and really like it. Great to hear my local brand is going that route too.

The lack of line end wraps is inconvenient, but you get used to tying that half hitch pretty quick.

The depower rope wear was a weakness, but appears to be better with rubber coating now ... haven't tried that yet.

Another small weakness is the ATB depower rope getting pretty long and dangly when at maximum depower. I have had it swing around and wrap on steering line. No drama, but could see it getting ugly in wrong situation. Some kind of bungee or attachment would be an improvement.

I have also had the safety line lodge hard in the clam cleat ... which is difficult to fix one handed. Again, no drama, but means no depower and no punch out until fixed. Learn pretty quick to check that before launch!

Pretty minor feedback ... overall a great bar. Stoked!

PS I went on Alibaba to see if I can order my own in bulk, direct from factory, but no luck.

[ICP]

A couple of notes on the new Caution bar in the pics above:

This is an early sample without all finish details!

Bar Ends: Included line managers - EZ bungee system - Also a reinforcing has been added to improve durability and line winding stability
Bar Finish: Pictured bar is missing embossing on the grip - finished bars have embossed logo/intuitive grip

More pics to come! The new kites rock and will be available starting October 1!

2016_CAUTION_BAR_for press.pdf

(357.04 KiB) Downloaded 195 times

[flyingfishza]

So that makes it 4 kite companies using the same system in essence?
Does that make it a industry standard?
Ordering the ikon for myself , $450 online compared to bws which is $510.

[alexeyga]

With OR - there will be 5 companies actually. All in all, the original BWS bar felt very nice. The only con I could think of - is the lack of adjustable bar ends.


The best bars I've seen lately are the ones from Core, Zeeko and LF, which are all following the same trends:
-Adjustable bar ends
-Thick, stretch and wear-resistant lines
-These all come with some kind of stacked lines, like 20+4 - which in combination with adjustable bar ends - actually makes the bar usable with any size kite
-Reversible pig tails - which makes these virtually compatible with any kite models on the market.

We're still far from THE industry standard, but it's getting there...

[flyingfishza]

I fly all my kites 6,9 and 12 on the same bar, no changes
I know lots of people change the bar length down as sizes go down but I personnaly get the same effect by changing rear line attachment positions on the kite and never have to change settings again.

[ORSales]

Press release will follow shortly but our new Control Bar which we showed at Surf Expo will begin shipping to dealers by the end of this month. I'll post pictures here shortly too.

So that makes it 4 kite companies using the same system in essence?
Does that make it a industry standard?
Ordering the ikon for myself , $450 online compared to bws which is $510.

Our new Control Bar will retail at $429 USD and - again - will feature different overall bar rigging.

I suppose you could say that this CL head is becoming a form of an industry standard and we feel this is a good thing. Your safety matters and this release system has proven to be reliable over the last couple of seasons it's been available. Already this year we have seen some major players have to withdraw their designs due to safety concerns, this was a priority for us to avoid.

With OR - there will be 5 companies actually. All in all, the original BWS bar felt very nice. The only con I could think of - is the lack of adjustable bar ends.

The best bars I've seen lately are the ones from Core, Zeeko and LF, which are all following the same trends:
-Adjustable bar ends
-Thick, stretch and wear-resistant lines
-These all come with some kind of stacked lines, like 20+4 - which in combination with adjustable bar ends - actually makes the bar usable with any size kite
-Reversible pig tails - which makes these virtually compatible with any kite models on the market.

We're still far from THE industry standard, but it's getting there...

Our Control Bar will feature
- Rear line adjustors (to retune your bar once front lines stretch)
- 850lb 21m, stretch and wear resistant lines
- Reversible pig tails for compatibility with any company's kite

Regarding line extensions, we include those with our kites not our bars but obviously, they are not hard to come across.

John Z ~ OR