2010 Rebel and Fuse

[Stefan]

Hey Stefan, Do you have any experiences or thoughts about the 09 Rhino vs the 2010 Rebel in the 9 or 10m sizes......... Thanks..

Rhino is too much of a horse....great for flat water cruising and boosting but too grunty efficient for waves -rides too far forward and holds wind, and feels heavy handling in light wind. Rebel 2010 jumps better and is more agile, turns better, depowers much quicker and hangs better in light wind(doesn't drop). I haven't really liked the Rhino (except small sizes) since 04. Hey I rode with your friend Jim Gray on an easterly the other day, he was on a 7 so you know it was windy.LOL

[Stefan]

If the kite is so similar to the Rebel I wonder why they couldn't have made the Rebel with an optional 4 line bridle so you had the option of 4 or 5 like the Evo.

Interesting that North have taken this route though and it mirrors comments I read in an interview with Ozone's kite designer. Ozone had decided to ditch the loaded 5th line setup as on the Instinct for a 4 line config because it was "what the market wanted" even though he seemed to suggest the 5 line was superior.

I really hope North doesn't go this way until they can build "the Rebel", not something "similar" with lags and all the crap bads bridle kites have. The Rebel has reached a point that it is so good that there is no way "back" direct, agile, power, depower, fast, at least as good as 2010 is the minimum.
And i am amazed that the 5th line is a reason because there are so many North kites in the water... By what the pic shows, the fuse bridal seems soooo complicated... In the waves wash-machine, i prefer 10x the 5th line than a bidle like that tangled in the kite...

There are simple things that could be improved... ANYTHING except "screwing" the rebel!

Sugestions:
Why not put one pump in EVO instead of bridle in the Rebel?
Or just more 5 cm in the 5th line to handle center line stretch after 2 years of intense use
Or change the bar end so that it does not wear the cable after 1 year of use
Or choose nicer color schemes (there is always that pink & grey that no one wants, what it the goal?)

Rebel is not going anywhere, Fuse was certainly market driven but Ken wouldn't release it until he was satisfied with safety and performance of the bridle. A large majority of Evo kiters did not want one pump...that's why it's not on 2010 kite. My understanding is it was gonna be on there until North started asking riders. Bridle or 5 line is a pick your poison kind a deal, neither system is without flaws. I agree about some of the colors, we call the pink "man-genta" .......but that one I kinda like

[Stefan]

A couple things I'd like to address here:

First of all, the Fuse, like all other North kites for the past several years, will have an optional nose line that will allow it to be flown on the 5th Element. Stefan may have been misled at the HR Expo (by the way, thanks again for all the help), as all the Fuses were set up on 4 lines, he probably assumed they would not have a 5 line option.

-Dan

Well, I have pie on my face don't I...LOL! I wasn't misled, I just was focused on the 4 line bridle and didn't think any further ahead than that! Thanks for clarifying Dan....that only makes sense!

[Kobrin]

Indeed please no one pump on vegas or evo.

To me and a lot off my friends onepump doesn"t add something to a kite.

I want to inflate every strut and the leading edge rock hard.

Repairs are not so easy on single inflation systems.

Thanx

[WndRdr]

From my experience, the rebel 09 was very powerfull at the highend and so you either changed size or you had to pull the depower more than it "should" be. So at the highend, with the depower very pulled, the kite was not what it should be. This might explain the situation you describe.
The excess of power of Rebel09 (specially 6m and 7m) is the only reason i changed for Rebel2010.
In case you didn't notice, i am really glad i did

Yes, Rebel09 feels very powerful when overpowered and much more than 08. Somehow all the power did not just materialize to huge airs and when depowered. It just pulls hard but is somehow soft to get you high in the air. I prefer 08 feel when the kite is overpowered. 08 goes bigger the more you have power and the more wind there is. Maybe 09 just may handle close the same wind without depowering as 08 when depowering so it is just smart to change to smaller size and not depower too much.

What you and Dan-at-North have said about year 10 model I am very interested to take those out.

[Don Lester]

Thanks Stefan for your input. I pick-up a 09 10m Rhino while waiting for the new '10 stuff to come out and I agree with you it is a horse of a kite. I'm riding in Sherman's end of the year conditions, which are light wind, flood currents and smooth water, so the Rhino works for that. If the '10 Rebel and or Fuse is that much better than this kite ............... whoopee...............I can't wait.............. I'm still keeping my Evos though.

So was Big Jim getting 40' footers like he was telling me ?

[Stefan]

...... I'm still keeping my Evos though.

So was Big Jim getting 40' footers like he was telling me ?

Evo is a great wave kite, glad your keeping those. Rode the 2010 Rebel 8 at the coast today, .....that kite is so much better at hanging in the air than previous years models....no worries letting lines slacken. Jim was absolutely getting that high, he's 40 ft tall ......correct? LOL !!! He is definitely a big boy and hard to miss on the water with his white hood, looks like a white shark standing upright...ha ha! Take care, Stefan

[dazza5172]

I really don't understand the need for another kite with such great Rebel, Vegas and Evo. If there is some fundamentalist for 4 lines, Evo is the answer...
@Dazza: i bet you will be amazed with the 7m

Wow not kidding, I got to try it in 25-35 knots and in 6-8ft swell, pumping, this kite is so much better than the 'mystic 07 7m' as you rightly put it. I still have mine, it needs a bladder repair, I never wanted to sell it.

Well the 7m 2010 was so stable and a perfect mix of that full feeling in a small kite with instant depower but not into the instability issues with the 07 7m. It was great at one point I tried to force it to over fly and fall out of the sky in gusts and lulls but it would not. Grreat kite

I added it to the review

Dazza

[Wawando]

I really don't understand the need for another kite with such great Rebel, Vegas and Evo. If there is some fundamentalist for 4 lines, Evo is the answer...
@Dazza: i bet you will be amazed with the 7m

Wow not kidding, I got to try it in 25-35 knots and in 6-8ft swell, pumping, this kite is so much better than the 'mystic 07 7m' as you rightly put it. I still have mine, it needs a bladder repair, I never wanted to sell it.

Well the 7m 2010 was so stable and a perfect mix of that full feeling in a small kite with instant depower but not into the instability issues with the 07 7m. It was great at one point I tried to force it to over fly and fall out of the sky in gusts and lulls but it would not. Grreat kite

I added it to the review

Dazza

I am now waiting for the 5m (and the wind to use it). I never go to the highend of the 7m. 35 knots was the top i got (with some 40 gusts in the outside) and it is not the top end (half depower still left).

5m is for 30-40 with 50 gusts (the wind here is can be so bad that the real conditions are something like 25-55 knots ) that we have here frequently during the summer.

I got back to the 9m this weekend and the 9m is more sensible to bar pressure in the lowend than the 7m.

See you!

[bojsen]

Quote from Wawando:
"From my experience, the rebel 09 was very powerfull at the highend and so you either changed size or you had to pull the depower more than it "should" be. So at the highend, with the depower very pulled, the kite was not what it should be. This might explain the situation you describe.
The excess of power of Rebel09 (specially 6m and 7m) is the only reason i changed for Rebel2010."


Wawando and others regarding the Rebel... Does the topend differ between the 2009 6m and 2010 7m in trems of being rideable in the same windrange? Can i use the new 7m in the same wind as the 2009 6m when now it has improved highend depower?
I want to to go for 2010 5m and 7m but still keep my 2009 9m..

Only rides waves and weight 68 kg.