Vintage kites that are still relevant

[Kosh]

Not that old, but love my Cabrinha Nomad 2011 11m2 a lot and going to keep it as long as possible!

[Craz Z]

Vegas 2006, all of the sizes! Now thats vintage! Mine with loads of TLC still serve me well!
On my second 7,9, 12, 14 still ok but 5 just blew up, user error!
R H

I second this one by far the best kites i've ever owned. The range was huge and the safety is still being used today. I think north was one of the first kites to have push away safety. With the 5th line the 2006 actually depowers far better then some of these newer kites. The only issue I ever experienced where on light winds if the kite ever inverted you were in trouble.

I don't have these anymore but still have an 06 rhino 16m that I fly occasionally. I've had many riders that know about these wishin they could get an 06 and say how awesome they were. North had many failures after 06 and I wish they would do a retro return of the famous 06 kites. Look at the Fuel it is still going strong after all these years. if it works don't fix it.

The Nano was a good kite too. its too bad eclipse went down in a ball of flame but the epic renegade is somewhat like the nano.

I think alot of these older kites if slightly modified with new bar technology or 5th line attachments could easily be brought back from the dead.

[geopeck]

It's kind of funny that a thread about vintage kites has so many references to kites from 2011 and 2010. There were some pretty damn good kites being made at that point- I think that a lot of brands had some dogs in their lineup at that point but also some good kites got snuck in. I think the biggest difference now is that there are fewer really poor kites being produced, for instance spectacular relaunch is par for the course at this point as well as resistance to inversion. I flew a students 2009 OR Rise (I think it was the Rise) yesterday and was stunned at how unstable it was - haven't felt that for a while.

One of my favorite kites is a 2011 kite x from the brand that cannot be named unless the brand owner pops up - you know who I'm talking about. It's still the kite that I'm most comfortable with in terms of intuitive use. I've flown kites that matched it, but that brand like many others seemed to go backwards in their yearly tweaking.

Here's a good kite that's really vintage - 2006 best yarga. It was peak C in my opinion - I would totally use it if I had had a 5th line setup.

[SENDIT!]

The Naish X2 was a groundbreaking jumper when it came out. I loved it SOOOOOO much. Hard as hell to relaunch, though. I got really good at NEVER dropping the kite.

[Rorke]

These have already been mentioned......

Waroo '06 made kiting so much easier. I borrowed one when my c kite blew on vacation.
My pal still seeks out Vegas '06.
A crew of locals all pushed it more on Cabrinha Crossbows '05-'06

What was the "quantum leap" in this era? - Depower.



My personal favorite kite that I owned was the Eclipse Kima '09.
While not necessarily a "classic", it was a 3 strut Delta. One of the first of that design combo.

[William Munney]

What's a good five line setup for a 2005 Fuel?

[marlboroughman]

Airush Vapors, discontinued but still better than anything in the Hybrid class on the market today.
Original five line Ozone Edges. It would still be my choice for Airstyle today. Those were inflatable versions of today's Flysurfer Speed.

[edt]

What's a good five line setup for a 2005 Fuel?

first get a piece of line leader, maybe a piece of q-powerline and attach it to the leash pump connector / 5th line attachment at the kite whatever you want to call it, this way you can use a 5 line equal length line set. If you didn't have an leader on the kite you would have to make the 5th line longer than the other lines.

if you want slack lines and are using it only for the 5th line safety and relaunch give the 5th line enough slack that it dont flop around too much but that it has a few inches of slack no matter how you turn the kite. It doesn't have to be exact, just make sure there is not so much slack in the line it catches on your bar.

If you want it some tension in the kite with the 5th line then give it just a little bit of tension. Adjust the tension at the bar until it just barely unslacks the lines. If you put too much tension the kite will fold outward and not fly right. So adjust this at the bar until it is right. Once you get the right line length, measure the length you have set knot or cut the line to this length for the line attachment at your 5th line attachment at the kite. Now the kite is set and you don't have to reset it each time.

There is no set of published line lengths that I know of for the fuels, but if you are flying a fuel you probably know all about this kind of stuff and are comfortable with making a 5th line leader yourself that is the correct length.


I run the 2005 fuels on 4 lines and use old fashioned relaunch techniques. If I wanted a 5 line kite I would probably get a vegas or torch instead, those kites are designed for 5 lines. When they design a kite for 5 lines with a tensioned 5th line this means they rely a bit on the 5th line for a bit of the shape of the kite, so the can reduce the size of the leading edge on these kites, giving it better upwind and faster looping, and less drag. so you can't really fly a vegas or torch on 4 lines it won't fly right.

[bipolarbear]

2009 Best Waroo Stealth LTD 7m. Awsome looking kite that even made me try kitelooping. Regret I sold it, will definitly try to get it back.

+1 for Yarga..

[L0KI]

The original Slingshot Octane C kites were pretty great.
Split strut.
5 line C kite
Half strut tube and half batten per strut
A kite ahead of it's time IMO.
Flew better than many other kites I've flown since.