Why are kite companies such crap???

[FredBGG]

all because you lack the basic skills to make your fins fit
....which is ok because professionals dont charge much to do what you cannot.

Hmmm I seem to have no problem fitting fins to my other boards.

[FredBGG]

fred,
in the past you were always friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic.
now you're just a pompus arrogant twit that mimics all faults of the people you are criticising.
did kiting do this to you, as well?

my appologies.
-bill

Call me a pompous arrogant twit and then say sorry in the same breath......

that's funny......

I can assure you that I'm really quite friendly and helpful.
Last Sunday I spent about 1 hour and a half helping a guy (total stranger) straighten out the tuning of his kite.
While the wind was blowing and I had not been out in days.....
New guy at one of our local beaches. I had driven 30 minutes... he had driven almost two hours


Lets say I'm a pompous twit when the crap side of most kite companies gets under my skin.

[fourperf]

fred,
in the past you were always friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic.
now you're just a pompus arrogant twit that mimics all faults of the people you are criticising.
did kiting do this to you, as well?

my appologies.
-bill

Call me a pompous arrogant twit and then say sorry in the same breath......

that's funny......

I can assure you that I'm really quite friendly and helpful.
Last Sunday I spent about 1 hour and a half helping a guy (total stranger) straighten out the tuning of his kite.
While the wind was blowing and I had not been out in days.....
New guy at one of our local beaches. I had driven 30 minutes... he had driven almost two hours


Lets say I'm a pompous twit when the crap side of most kite companies gets under my skin.

Fred is not a pompous twit. He is a good dude.

[L0KI]

all because you lack the basic skills to make your fins fit
....which is okay because professionals don't charge much to do what you cannot.

Hmmm I seem to have no problem fitting fins to my other boards.

A friend of mine got a 2014 Nugget to replace his 2013 Nugget which cracked and was replaced under warranty.
The fins would not go in easily in the 2014.
I cleaned out the crumbs and crap in the box and then had to shave the base of each fin a bit here and there to get them to fit in.
The good part of that was, that after I got them to go in, they were nice and tight in the box.
I think fin systems for surfboards are shite.
The FCS are fragile crap.
The Futures are slightly better but not much.
I like the Mini Tuttle on my 2011 SS Dialer much better.
Slingshot had it right and then caved to the pressure of having the universally available FCS.
I hate that stupid set screw running at an angle from the side, really crappy.

[SupaEZ]

A friend of mine got a 2014 Nugget to replace his 2013 Nugget which cracked and was replaced under warranty.
The fins would not go in easily in the 2014.
I cleaned out the crumbs and crap in the box and then had to shave the base of each fin a bit here and there to get them to fit in.
The good part of that was, that after I got them to go in, they were nice and tight in the box.

You did a great thing to help out Coleman

And he just put his Nugget for sale today Saturday 9/6/14 on Ikitesurf
http://new.ikitesurf.com/classifieds/10 ... rderby=dsc

I had to do similar customizing work with my 's Nugget 2014 5'2"
Totally wobble free

[mikelet]

IMHO, i can understand on stronger ,bigger and deeper fin systems i.e : Tuttlebox ,should have a SLIGHT (not more) tolerance ,boxes are plastic material and can be deformed just a litlle while box fitting on foam or epoxy curing process ...adjusting or not it's up to you and i don't see quality problem here..
That said ,as having owned more than 15 directionals from all brands,and never found one i have not to adjust some fin or another...
I have to say it's all about money.I see companys very proud of announcing Future fins in their boards and yes they come with original Futures ,but the boxes are a chinesse cheapy plastic imitation that fit terribly bad with the fins , others also save money on the fins and they are not original Futures ( but Hex core and with the logo of the company) that haven't the exactly thicknees of the base ,same goes for FCS 's and Minituttle ( a very easy and cheap box to copy ) .
I hate the white plastic imitation of a DFS / FCS base ,never again will spend my money on a board with that system.
My reccomendation on that , is always take a look at the boxes, buy only boards with the original boxes no matter if the fins they supply are plastic, you can replay fins on a new board not boxes
Anyway you can't have it all , i'm still searching for a board that feels magic,it's durable, comes with original boxes+ good fins , comfy pads+straps ...hahhhhhhhh don't forget it's a business for them.

[RalfsB]

I hear you. Bought an Airush Sector. First time out, thruster fin fell out.

Something is definitely wrong with their quality control. Today I got my Airush Sector. Tried to put the fins in -- none of them fits the fin box, sanding will be needed. And one of the screws provided to mount fins has a wrong diameter, so I need to find the right kind of stainless screw.

[corbett]

The solution to all this is to buy all your kite gear directly from Amazon. They follow consumer law fully.

And those companies who do sell to Amazon are terrified of me talking about this. They say to me "we have family to feed, how can you do this" blah blah blah.
I give John at Ocean Rodeo thoughts of self harming when I mention Amazon to him. This is what his wife told me on skype one night after he stormed out the house shouting my name.

Of course, never pay cash for any large purchase, always use a credit card. Use a debit/bank card as last resort!

[ORSales]

Fred - Not all companies are the same. Our brand recognizes that we are not able to "lead" the industry with hype due to our size so we put our efforts into innovation to help gain recognition. Witness the Duke, the Jester and our new Stick Shift bar that gained a lot of attention. I can also honestly tell you that we never ship product we aren't proud of. Too many of our local friends and family ride our gear and our local conditions are just too gnarly to mess around with cutting corners.

Many major kite brands located or distributed here in the US have their own "stores" and offer "Direct Retail". Here's just a few...
Airush
Best
Blade
Cabrinha
Dakine
Epic
F-One
Firewire
Flysurfer
Gaastra
Liquid Force
Ocean Rodeo
Ozone
Slingshot
etc... (trust me there's quite more)

Just to correct Yoda here... our site offers direct to consumer sales that are 95% fulfilled by our local retailers. When you make a purchase on our site, the system puts it in a cue and all our stocking retailers can elect to fulfill the order if they have the gear in stock. We also sell with Amazon who are a stocking dealer. For those customers, we ask that if they have warranty concerns, returns or exchanges though that they get in touch with us directly to help them out. As Madworld says, we offer an unconditional 1 year warranty and we offer a 60 Day Guarantee that is unmatched in the industry.

JZ

[corbett]

Simply put right,

Amazon responds with returned goods by way of full refund or full replacement because they don't do the spare parts thing.

Ocean Rodeo like all(well see below) kite companies only replace the part. So by using Amazon, you get a whole new bar, by using dealer or direct from OR, you only get a little spare part replaced under warranty.

Some companies such as Slingshot in USA do not provide any warranty at all and I tell the little woman at Slingshot I talked to, I haven't finished with you!