2016 North Rebel

[John Bryja]

Here is the review of the 2016 North Rebel from the Fall issue of Kitesurfing Magazine.

The Rebel is North’s best selling kite and most recent seasons have been marked more by refinement than redesign. North has positioned the Rebel as their kite with the biggest wind range, best hangtime, highest jumps and the best sheet-and-go performance. Based on North’s marketing literature and our preliminary testing it would appear that 2016 marks a year of significant change. Changes throughout the sizes are aimed at boosting performance and set the Rebel further apart from the more all-around/accessible Evo. North has made significant changes to the aspect ratios of the bigger and smaller sizes. Larger sizes will have a higher aspect ratio design to deliver better upwind and jumping performance (although no doubt at the expense of ease-of -use), while the smaller sizes had their aspect ratio reduced to increase stability and turning ability. On the water, as with previous Rebels, the 2016 retains Rebel’s notoriously powerful and rigid feel. The Rebel is clearly one of the most stable and powerful feeling freeride kites on the market and the 2016 model stays true to this reputation. What’s interesting is that the 8 meter is significantly more turny and offered noticeably more depower than the 2015 model. If the 8 meter is any indication of what the rest of the Rebel line feels like, they have taken a truly legendary kite and tuned each size to offer better performance for the conditions they’re intended for.

The Trade Off

Presumably, as a higher aspect ratio design, the Rebel will trade some user-friendliness for performance in larger sizes. You can’t really test a Rebel without commenting on the fact that it remains one of the only non-pure C kites with five lines. Is this a negative? It is if you’re looking to fit a Rebel into a mixed quiver of four line kites.

Best For

Riders looking for a high performance freeride kite with class-leading power and stability.

- See more at: https://kitesurfingmag.com/2016-north-rebel-review

[Do-it]

At the north demo a few avid rebel riders commented about how it was a big f*** up like the 2013.

[morhall]

A buddy of mine, a diehard North rider, just bought a new 9m Rebel. He's been struggling on it and complaining about a lack of power compared to his 4/5 year old Rebel. I've been riding my 8M Aeneema and he's been unable to stay upwind with me on his Rebel.

We checked his line setup and that was correct. He changed the steering lines to a setting with more bar pressure. I hope for his sake that he just thought it wasn't producing power because of the lighter bar pressure. I don't think he's ridden the new line setup yet.

The old Rebel 9 of this that I flew of his had an immediate powerful hit right off the bottom. From his description of the new kite, it doesn't have this.

[clydesdale]

Anymore feedback if new 2016 changes made the new rebels lemons like the 2013 rebel/fuse screwup?

2015 better than 2016 rebels?

Looking for that old rebel power of 2011/2012

[Toby]

that it remains one of the only non-pure C kites with five lines

Rebel is a C kite???

[flipper231]

Lol Toby, you are overheating In Cabarete?

[lindseym]

Anymore feedback if new 2016 changes made the new rebels lemons like the 2013 rebel/fuse screwup?

2015 better than 2016 rebels?

Looking for that old rebel power of 2011/2012

This is an interesting point. I can't speak for the 2016 Rebel but this comment and a few above mirror my thoughts about the 2016 Evo. I purchased a 12 and 9 Evos. I really love the kites but did notice a significant reduction in hangtime and lift in comparison to the 2014 model. The surface tricks in particular were tough but I adapted by doing things faster. So for example, on a doubleback roll transition I would adjust by executing the first rotation as quickly as possible, something I did not EVER have to worry about on my 2014. Friends and fellow kiters told me that "its just a new kite, it probably has the same power but you have to just get dialed in." Wrong, once I got on other kites and had that additional hangtime, I was hitting tricks I could never do on the new Evo unless I was super powered up. Speaking of, this is the good thing about them ... the range on this year's Evo is absolutely incredible. I'm barely 160 and was easily holding down the 12 in 33kts. However, when i think "Evo" I think of something that keeps you in the air. I simply found this new model insufficient. Sorry for the sidebar rant but its interesting to see this parallel with the Rebel. My guess with the Evo...by reducing the bar pressure and making it more of an "all around kite" they stripped out that raw grunt. Kind of reminds me of what Cab to the Switchblade in 2013. My guess - the marketing team for North will be pitching the 2017 Evo as a boosting kite, getting back to its roots ... or something like that, time will tell.

[K3rM1t]

hm, interesting. It took me some time to find the low-end of the Rebel 12m when I switched to them in 2014. At first I thought they had no low end but eventually figured it out and got used to it. Never needed anything bigger than my 12m Rebel once I got dialed. Upgraded to 2015 with no issues. Rode the 2016 12m at a demo and could not tell any difference from my 2015.
However, I did switch to a 2016 Evo 12m for a change this year and have been surprised at the lack of low end. I feel like I should have ordered a size or two bigger to compare with the Rebel 12m. That said, it's a significantly different kite than the Rebel so I'm hoping that, again, it will just take some getting used to to find the bottom end technique.
I also picked up a 9m Mono after demo'ing one. I fully expected to hate this kite but have completely fallen for it! While it may be billed as a beginner kite, it is awesome for surfboards and foilboards. Something about the fast turning, swinging around to generate power to get up and plane/foil and then a super easy kite to manage once riding. I caught both overpowered and underpowered days recently in Maui on the Mono and loved it. Local shop kid told me I'd need a 14m and people were out on 12m's struggling while I was fine on the 9m Mono and a normal 5'11" surfboard. Wasn't boosting huge airs or anything, but plenty of power to cruise, catch some (tiny) waves and get back upwind. It's a different kite for sure from Rebels, but wasn't hard to get used to. It's totally worth a demo.

[Toby]

Lol Toby, you are overheating In Cabarete?

A valid question. Try to kiteloop the rebel...a C will turn much tighter.

Explain please

[flipper231]

@Toby: he wrote it was the only non-pure C kite with 5line and you read it like if he said the Rebel was a C-kite. He actually said it was not a c-kite.

North Evo 2016 Lowend. Funny, I can ride the 10m in much less wind than my friends on Reo 12m, Core GTS3 11m and HifiX 13m. We are all similar weight except for the HifiX rider...I ride the 13m from 10 knots with a 44cm wide core fusion to 24 with my clash 40.5cm.

The 10m around 13 ish up to unknown so far...