jats2k9 wrote:I guess the " not older than 3 years" is for all of you rich people. I learned on a Best nemesis HP 2008 (5 years old) and still ride it since is my only kite.
If you are on a low budget check out Switchkites.com best deal you'll find for brand new gear.
rich? kite's aren't *that* expensive. if you can't afford a kite at retail price over the course of 5 years, you are probably doing something else wrong.
2008 isn't too bad. But 2011-2013 kites are a pretty big upgrade.
I just started kiting this season, so I haven't been saving over 5 years for a kite. Plus living on your own and being a college student doesn't leave much money to spare. Anyway in my personal opinion I believe that kites are getting ridiculously expensive. There are brands scraping prices around $ 2k just for the kite. Definitely they are trying to make a fortune out of this sport. I'm sorry but this is the sort of sport to make a life style, not a fortune.
One thing I suggest to people who are starting out and trying to save money is to get a new bar and lines with mini 5th line but a reasonable used kite (get some help with purchasing the kite- no old c kites but that Nemesis or something similar would work).
Some control systems have become very good in the last few years, and a lot of your safety is going to be based around having a good bar and lines and having good judgement and education.
Taking over on someones used lines is like taking over on someones used skivvies - you might use them for a while without a problem but you just don't know enough about where they've been. You'll feel much more confident on each launch or in high winds when you have popped for new lines.
geopeck wrote:One thing I suggest to people who are starting out and trying to save money is to get a new bar and lines with mini 5th line
mini 5th will not flag kites with short brides (ozone cat, slingshot z, rally). You can look at a kite and tell if it will flag mini-5th the bridles are long and have pulleys. When you throw the bar all the way out on a z or cat or any c kite they will fly on the front lines instead of depowering like you expected.
Could be dangerous if you try to fly a ozone cat on a cabrinha bar and expect the kite to fall into the U position that cabs normally do if you pull QR1 and now your kite is still in the sky pulling you but the bar far away and about the only thing you can do is ditch the kite with QR2.
A fully single line center flagging bar like the slingshot bar will however fully flag any kind of kite. Liquid force by the way flags to a single center line, but if you look at the kite, you'll notice it has the long bridle and pulleys that will let it flag properly on a cabrinha bar --- though there is also the issue of the "high Y".
It's really difficult for a newbie to know all this stuff when they start out.
kiting is not expensive. But what it does is have a barrier to people living paycheck to paycheck. They can afford to go bowling and have beers twice week, $20 at a time. In a year that's $2,000. But there is no way in hell that they can ever actually save up $2,000 in a year. It gets spent.
jats2k9 wrote:I just started kiting this season, so I haven't been saving over 5 years for a kite. Plus living on your own and being a college student doesn't leave much money to spare. Anyway in my personal opinion I believe that kites are getting ridiculously expensive. There are brands scraping prices around $ 2k just for the kite. Definitely they are trying to make a fortune out of this sport. I'm sorry but this is the sort of sport to make a life style, not a fortune.
No one is making a fortune out of this sport.
What are you studying? I'm just done...but I've been working a lot along the way and can afford kites. You can set yourself up for being able to afford what you want.
Basically kiting is expensive if u want to fly name brand gear & boards that u think helps the top riders perform at there best or if u Believe everything you read on this forum lol
If you buy 3 year old gear you are probably going to spend more money on repairs & new bladders & looking for parts for bar & kite this is from my previous experiences been kiting since 2000 and until I started riding Switch kites I was constantly looking for parts for kites & bars it is a fact kite gear breaks no matter what company it is but they won't tell u about it on this forum
With Switch Kites you can get a 10 meter V2 Nitro with bar,pump,bag & complete TT board for a lot less than 2K that will cover u for most wind conditions the durability of Switch kites far surpasses a new name brand kite or 3 year old kite plus if something does break Switch will warranty it if not u have a whole warehouse of parts for kites & bars available at wholesale prices.
When people ask me why I ride Switch it's because I was looking for a high performance durable kite without the high performance price $$
Last edited by KAWIKA on Thu May 02, 2013 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
KAWIKA wrote:
With Switch Kites you can get a 10 meter V2 Nitro with bar,pump,bag & complete TT board for $1500 that will cover u for most wind conditions the durability of Switch kites far surpasses a 2K kite
You can get deals like that on most brands if you look. I don;t think that was the point here.