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[Pump me up]

Ram air kites are widely recognised as being inferior to inflatables. What are the reasons for this?

[foilholio]

When flying lines break, the shock will also break bridle lines. The risk associated with a swim home way outweighs the risk of a bridle line catching a pig tail.

And the time saved not disconnecting and connecting lines and dealing with tangles, especially setting up, way way outweighs the cost of extra bars. The kites out last the bars any way so it's a false economy. About the only time having one bar makes sense is flying all over the world, even then having a least one spare would be wise. And if any of the brands pull their thumb out of their arse, they could make a bar plus lines weighing circa 400-500grams, then the weight is not really an issue to fly with them.....

[foilonfoil]

When flying lines break, the shock will also break bridle lines. The risk associated with a swim home way outweighs the risk of a bridle line catching a pig tail.

And the time saved not disconnecting and connecting lines and dealing with tangles, especially setting up, way way outweighs the cost of extra bars. The kites out last the bars any way so it's a false economy. About the only time having one bar makes sense is flying all over the world, even then having a least one spare would be wise. And if any of the brands pull their thumb out of their arse, they could make a bar plus lines weighing circa 400-500grams, then the weight is not really an issue to fly with them.....

Foiling puts more stress on kites and lines having personally destroyed 3 separate front lines last season. Buddy destroyed his Elf on a failed tack - Blew three flying lines and bridle lines separating his kite from his bar together with tabs pulled out of the kite. That's the nice thing about Flysurfer - the LCL's protect the kite.

[foilholio]

I don't get exactly what point you are trying to make? The standard pigtail on flysurfers is as strong or stronger than the flying lines, as long as the lines aren't being removed there is no issue as far as wear. The people I know of who broke "lines" recently are new to foil kites and were removing their lines every session, the pigtails broke which is obviously a result of wear. I have heavily used foil kites that are 12 years old, with lines that look like a 6 month old single bar inflatable users lines. The "flysurfer" way of doing things can look far too weak and light at first hand, but in actual fact is very durable and perfectly strong. The main problem with inflatable riders is they drag their lines across the ground as they pack them up. Not an obvious problem but I would attribute it to being the single biggest cause of wear on lines for them. With foil kites if you leave the lines attached you are force to wind then up in a manner minimizing wear, and as a result the lines last a truely very long time. The issue with race gear is the margins for gear to wear and then break is becoming slimmer and slimmer. So if you handle the gear poorly it won't last very long at all.

As to the LCLs they are a very good idea, and in actual fact worked much better many years ago. Flysurfer upped the strength on the LE and trailing edge ones and as a result the bridles and kite are more likely to be damaged now, especially considering the reduced strength of bridles on the sonic. Not to mention if you do need to replace a bridle on the kite, LCLs make it very strait forward, although you could just cut and tie a bridle in on other kites. One negative to LCLs is they can wear holes in the kite when packed after many years of heavy use. But I feel the benefits far out weigh that. Bringing a dozen spares on a trip is far easier than making bridles, I even attach a few extra on the kite to use. I do wonder why other brands haven't followed, even the cheapest brand Pansh has had them for many years now.

[sabraxas]

I own a FS Speed 4 lotus 18m. Its dirty with some mud and very little mouldy. I would like to wash it. Any advice? Some items?

Thanks.

[sabraxas]

Ram air kites are widely recognised as being inferior to inflatables. What are the reasons for this?

Cause world is widely inhabited by ignorant people.

[foilholio]

Bleach, try searching.

[sabraxas]

Bleach in lotus fabric... ¿Are you serious?

[Nem0]

Why you don't just use normal warm water!?

[sabraxas]

That sounds better.
Soaking? Spraying? Hose?

There were instructions in flysurfer web about the way of cleaning the kites. This information is gone and i cannot remember.

Thanks.