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hi ive just bought a north evo 9m without bar can i use my ozone bar to fly it my north is set up as four lines

North's are a high Y where as ozone are very low....I think it would affect the flying characteristics....it would fly, I just don't know how well.

I've actually tried an Ozone bar on Evo kites. It flew OK but felt sluggish and had less power compared to the higher V North bar.

Check this compatibility chart

First off, change the title to say "Ozone bar with North Evo" and add "compatibility" if you want to be specific.

Second, tell us the year of the gear, or at least take a pic and post it so we have a chance of figuring it out.


1. Older North Quad bars had a MID "Y" up about 15 ft or so. North 5th Element bars had a HIGH "Y" almost half way to the kite (if I am remembering correctly). So which bar you actually have (you could have converted a 5 line to a 4 line and wound up with a HIGH "Y") is extremely important.

2. Where the "Y" point is, does affect kite shape. But not in the way most others think about it. The easy way to explain this is to think about putting a long line set on the HIGH "Y" bar. This will give you the same angle between the 2 front lines as you would have with a shorter line set on a low "Y" bar. And yes, this is only for the front lines. The back line angle (only controllable by total line length since the bar is the "Y" point, though bar width matters too) can affect performance too, so this is definitely a 2 variable equation. But as far as bridal/leading edge shaping from front line angle, the angle of the "Y" is the controlling factor. And again, that is controllable with line length.

Jwoo wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 13, 2018 1:44 pm

I've actually tried an Ozone bar on Evo kites. It flew OK but felt sluggish and had less power compared to the higher V North bar.

3. Just because you tried another bar with a different "bar to 'Y' distance", does not mean that you can assume "Y" distance difference was the reason the kite felt different. It could have been:
a. Bar width specification by manufacture is not exact. I have come across lots of 52cm bars that had a longer distance from "steering line to steering line" than a bar that was specified as 55cm. So actually lay your bar over the bar you are comparing to and make sure this distance is the same before you just believe it is.
b. Line set length specification is also not always what you think it is. Some Manufactures take into account the leaders, some do not. If you put the same line set on a HIGH "Y" bar with equalizing leaders, you would have a longer "distance to kite" than with that same line set on a LOW "Y" bar. And "distance to kite" is one of the biggest influencing factors for feeling "sluggish" or "fast" on a kite demo.
c. Trim setting and depower throw can really add some serious confusion to using an unfamiliar bar with a familiar kite. Most modern inflatables still fly well if the trim is off. An over sheeted inflatable will still fly fine (that is how I fly mine - with access to stall half way up my 19.5" bar throw). Or you may just prefer a more sheeted out trim for easy of use and just use the bar depower to get rid of unwanted power. Again, I can fly both ways, but a kite sheeted out more, without access to stall, does not feel right to me.

So this means that for comparison, you are looking not at 2 variables, but up to 5 variables. But I like the compatibility chart for making it less technical, though I would recommend checking line tune/front/back difference before flying any kite on a different bar than you are used to.

Also, the high vs low split changes the distance the line has to travel to reach the kite so effects the line length as well. On the older North Fuse, there were 2 knots to attach to to compensate for this.

ive got a 2011 9m evo and the ozone bar is from my 2016 ozone c4 13m kite