Liquid Force Solo - 9m and 15.5m Review

[Olas!]

Hey Guys,

Got the chance to demo the 9 and 15.5 Solo kites in Hatteras last week, I was only looking for a light wind kite, but now I am replacing my whole quiver! 6.5, 9, 15.5 and hopefully a foil board for the really light local stuff. I primarily ride strapless and a small twintip when I get overpowered to boost big.

You would think Hatteras would be the worst place to test a light wind kite, however it ended up being a breezy week. On the afternoon I had access to the 15.5, the wind was so marginal I almost didn't bother rigging up, despite my objective being to test the low end of the kite. Ignoring better judgement I tried anyway - this kite stays in the air!

The Solo was easier to control and flew in lighter wind than any other kite I have flown, providing enough power to get up and ride easily while being fast enough for downloop transitions - I am SOLD!

The kite is super light and had a short pullyless bridle - I couldn't believe how well the kite reacted despite the fact there was almost no wind! Here is a photo of the session:

I had two days on the 9m Solo, I love this kite! It was very responsive and turned super fast. The bar pressure was low but delivered really good feedback, and like the 15.5m it stayed in the air extremely well - slowing falling from overhead and drifting great while surfing. This kite is also a demon going up wind! I spent most of my time on a surfboard but the kite also boosted shockingly well with the twin tip, which I was not expecting as a Rebel owner!

Here are some session photos:

[Olas!]

Lastly a short clip of an ocean session. Most of my footage did not turn out due to the way I had the camera mounted. I picked up a line mount and will get some better footage of the foil and kites when they are available.

[IanNJ]

I have the whole quiver except the 4.5 and love them! We Sell a decent amount also at www.atlanticKiteboarding.com

LF is crushing it this year!

[fcwatersports]

The New solos are epic, we had a couple of demo weekends and out of all the 4 brands we do, LF, Naish, Cab and Wainman the Solo stole the show.
I would also say that make sure you guys get the new bar with the kite, and don't purchase it with the old bar!.. the New bar is amazing.
And Olas! what is that attached to your Spreader bar????

[john a]

Nice review! Got to test the 9m myself, and was very impressed. Transitions was so much fun! Not really my type of kite as I prefer unhooked riding (even though I manage to land a couple of mobes on it, wich I would not believed) but a great kite for hooked riding. Soooo much windrange it blew my mind!

[flipper231]

Hi john

Sorry to use your precious time here. I am just starting backrolls, working on the fronts aiming to basic unhook like raileys and S-bend (not goig any further thant that). Do you think that the 12m could do the work in 12-20knots for 185 lbs? I might go for 15.5-12-9 and hope to covet 10-30knots... Do they lose a lot on the top end?

[Olas!]

Thanks fcwatersports, On my harness is a sliding spreader bar I made out of a bent aluminum plate, short length of rope, and carabiner with small pulley. That week was the first time trying it out. It makes riding toeside really comfortable with much less torque being imparted laterally. The other bonus is that the spreader bar does not rotate upwards as much as a traditional hook when the kite is flown high.

The issue was the added distance to the bar takes away too much bar throw for my liking. I am switching to a steel ring attached to the centre of the spreader bar with a very short loop of dyneema to clip the CL into. Hopefully this will give the benefits of the sliding bar without the added distance, much like the Board Riding Maui controller but retaining a conventional CL to enable unhooking sessions as well.

I agree about the new bar, it looks awesome! I much prefer above the bar depower and the width adjustments look really slick. No doubt my current north bar's (2010) width adjustment work... but definitely not on the fly and I end up tearing up the floats when use them. I have seen some other companies width adjustments and they seem pretty gimmicky to me, hopefully liquid force has a solid solution!