It was me who recommended to wash the lines and stretch by hand. it worked for my Rebels. Seems like it helped somewhat for you too, if true then great!rjh wrote:Hi
I have been having issues with my 7 & 9 Dice with what I call lazy wing tips. They are not engaged when the kite its on setup, the tips just flap around aimlessly. When the bar is pulled in to power the kite the canopy looks nice a taught as it should do...all the time. But when the kite is de-powered the tips flap around and cause the kite to be rather slack in response to steering input, and flaps about through the gusts.
I have read through the notes here on other Dice issues and find some useful replies, the best and most accurate was to wash and stretch the bridle!! What? I had a bit of trouble understanding how it could have shrunk! Stretch, yes for sure.
I removed the pulley line, measured all other bridles whilst still attached to the kite.
I suspect North will have a tolerance on line lengths and within reason expect this to be 5.0mm
The main bridle line which the pulley rides on is at fault. Luckily North have put tags with the measurements on the whole bridle system. All the smaller bridle lines were as measured and at factory settings, but the larger bridle was near on 40mm shorter than the stated dimension attached to the bridle.
I managed to stretch out about 15mm whilst it was dry and then decided to soak both bridles in plain hot water and achieved another 15mm. The end result is the bridle is still 10mm of stock measured length.
The effect the bridle has on the wing tips is very important. The pulley will find its natural position on the pulley line, this is a set distance as per design requirements. Now if the line has shrunk this will effect the tips. The distance from the pulley to the wing tip is a set distance and cannot be changed by expecting the pulley to re-adjust its position on the pulley line, this distance has now been made effectively shorter , pulling the wing tip inwards.
I suspect the pulley line will shrink again in hot dry condition, which is uncommon here in north wales, but none the less i reckon it will. So, the fix is to make a new attachment pig tail at the leading edge with a moveable knot, measure up and set it to the distance required to gain the factory set length as per kite size bridle.
I suspect north have not used the best quality of Dyneema.
Armin put a great post on Kiteforum a couple of years back explaining that Dyneema does not stretch, it shrinks when salt, sand and dirt get trapped between the fibers and make the line fatter = shorter. That is certainly true for my Rebels (and bar lines too). So mild soap and a good wash (in a garment bag on the washing machine, line needs to shake well to lose the dirt) always gives back at least 20mm on my Rebel lines/pigtails.
p.s. I always check ALL my Rebel lines (I had a few over the years) and they were NEVER exactly the same as printed. Always at least 10mm difference. I make up the difference with Q-Power line, I should actually replace all lines with Q-Power but I'm lazy.