Vintage kites that are still relevant

[windyway]

Year after year I buy new kites. New stuff is fun.
But a few of my old kites were really good.

In 2008, I had a six meter Eclipse Nano, that we called the bumble bee.
It was scary fast, well balanced and had no problems. Sorry I sold it.

Recently I bought an old 2010 Slingshot Key in good condition, for cheap.
You probably never heard of it !

It was only manufactured for one year and was offered in 7 - 10 - 13 meter sizes.
In 2011 the 3 strut Slingshot Rally debuted and the 5 strut Key was discontinued.
Hm-m-m-m. That made me think it might have been the first Rally.
As a 5 strut, the canopy it is more stable than the 2011 - 2012 Rally.

I have owned the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Rally.
The performance of the 2010 Key is up to par with my new kites.
If you need a good kite for low cost, this kite is a classic.

One of my buddies, won't give up his ancient EH Ripper.
Do you have an old kite that is still a top performer?

[Starsky]

Great thread.


The game changers were probably my original 9m waroo my First gen 10m Royal Era and 9m F-one Bandit. The Waroo solidified Best in the market, the bandit started the delta breed, but the Era was my favourite. Light fast powerful, simple with good feel and range. It was the first low end biased kite I had in sharp contrast to many higher end oriented kites out at the time. It was a way better kite for 90% of the time as it was fun as soon as it started working and got you jumping so early. Light built but held up. Was a handful at its real top end but no inversions or anything. Rode it ridiculously over powered so many times. Ruined me for big kites, and I have tended toward med sized fast low end biased kites ever since. It didn't unhook very well and hence I moved on.

[JGTR]

The EH Rippers were awesome kites, pretty much the holy grail of C kite feeling with bow kite usability, relaunch wasn't great on the early ones but still great kites. Never really that popular though

GK Sonics still rock, the 06s tended to fall apart and were a bit quirky but the 07s were well built - maybe not great at everything but for lighter winds and boosting they are still up there with the latest kites.

Naish Torches, I have a 2007 10m that I still fly and would be flying a 07 12m if it hadn't worn out - also got 08 8m, 09 6m, 2010 12m and 07 14m - they still perform better tha a lot of modern kites

As for the Waroo - maybe not the 06 but the 07 is still a kite that is rideable against today's kites.

[Toby]

I have:

Dyno 2011 18
Rebel 2010 16
Dyno 2011 13

Guess why

[Bille]

I have:

...

Guess why

We all could take up a collection and purchase you something Newer
if you would like Toby ? I got the first $10 !

The 2008 Ozone Edge was notable !
Also the 10M Peter-Lynn Venom was a good kite for the land buggy
and high wind stuff on the lake & on snow also. Think i got mine in 2005 ?

Bille

[Saami]

I don't know if you would call it a "vintage" kite, but my go-to kite for stormy conditions is still my trusted 2009 Naish Cult 4.5m Sport Edition. I've tried a lot of kites but that thing is a wonder of stability and forgiveness in strong and gusty conditions. I get a lot of comments about the sigma-shape, though, now that that shape has disappeared from the market.

On a related note, I've noted that the Wainman Rabbit kites visually look a bit similar to the old Wipika kites. I have however never flown a Wipika, so I don't know if the similarity is completely superficial or if the Wainman retains some characteristics of the old Wipikas. Is there someone who has tried both kites and who can comment on that?

[shawn13]

We have a 2002 Cab Blacktip kicking around. I picked it up a few years back in new condition. I ended up just buying new kites to learn on due to the lack of safety. I had a 5th line sewn in to attached to the leash. I would like to actually take it out and try it. I never understood 2 sizing - 12.2/16m2.

The first photo of kiteboarding I ever saw happened to be a blacktip.

Anyone have experience with it?

[heinzbush]

Best Nemesis HP 2008, 2009 and 2011!

[ozchrisb]

The sizing is projected/actual. For a while time this was thought be a big deal. All the early kites had two numbers one for the "projected area", which was supposed to be a measure of the area you saw while flying the kite, i.e. it ignored the tips. This was partly because as the AR went up and the shaping got better the projected area went up proportionally too. So you might have a 12m with a projected size of 7m and another 12 with a projected size of 8m. The 8m should have had more power and been more efficient as there was less "useless" wing hanging around. The concept got dropped around the same time as those Cabs came out. It got too hard to measure at different bar throws, and it was too easy to just lie, and it become less meaningful as the kites got better. Here endith the history lesson.

[GTC]

I vote for Airush Vapor. I owned a 7m Vapor V1. Great kite, awesome hangtime, amazing windrange and good at almost everything (waves, freestyle, freeride).