2015 North Neo 1-2 sizes smaller?

[dontbealolo]

North advertises that you should buy the 2015 Neo 1-2 sizes smaller then what you normally ride. Anyone have experience with that claim?

bp

[IanNJ]

I have no experience with North.

That being said, every few years companies come out stating this type of thing. Its been discussed at length. SS admits to having larger sized kites then printed on the wing tip (not a lot but a little) for instance the kite may say 10m but really is a 9.35m then the next year they say its a 10m and its a 10.87m kite. So if that was happening it may feel VERY different. BWS did this when they came out originally. I did a back to back test with the 12m Wainmann Boss and that 12m BWS and the Boss had more power...I got the 12m BWS because it was supposed to have the power of a 14m but did not...

The Neo is a surf kite. Lots of Surf specific kiters rig a size or two down because they are on the surfboard and they are doing more downwinders (at least in this area). They still have enough power to get around but when they get in a wave they can dump all power and more of a true surf experience.

Its hard to say what is actually intended by the marketing. Best bet would be to try the size you are interested in compared to the size you currently ride.

[ThickAir]

North advertises that you should buy the 2015 Neo 1-2 sizes smaller then what you normally ride. Anyone have experience with that claim?

bp

Not my experience. Possibly, if comparing a 2013 Neo to 2014/2015, but certainly not as compared to the Rebel.

[Dan-at-Duotone]

For the record, this relates only to the 2014 and 2015 Neo. 2013 and earlier were a different designer and I haven't ridden the 2016.

Also, the Neo came on very strong this year as one of our top selling models so there are a lot of customers out there with time on these kites... If anyone has thoughts on the relative low end of the 2014 or 2015 Neo please chime in... I don't mind being told I'm wrong.

This is definitely up for debate, but from experience at demos and with riding the kites myself, I highly recommend going 1-2m smaller for most sizes. The biggest complaint I get at demos is from people who come in on a 9m non-neo and take a 9m Neo and bring it back after half an hour complaining that it doesn't have enough top end and they're getting blown off it. You put them back out on a 7 or 8 and they come back much happier, going on about how much low end it has instead of bitching about the lack of high end.

Ken's original plan when taking on the Neo project was to make the kite as powerful as possible specifically so you could ride a smaller kite. Nowhere else is turning speed as important to most riders as in the waves, so it makes sense to have an extremely powerful wave kite so you can have the smallest, quickest turning kite possible for a given windspeed.

However, I've also heard some people say what Thickair says, that the Neo is not noticeably more powerful. Mostly I was getting this response in lighter wind areas like Seattle where people are on 11s and 12s. I actually have a theory on this...

What I've found is that this added low end seems to be more noticeable the smaller the kite, so a 12m Neo pulls more like a normal 12m (I consider the Rebel to be the base for 'normal'... it seems fairly on par with most other kites on the market in terms of raw power) while the 9m Neo may pull more like a 10m Rebel and the 7m may pull more like an 8-9m Rebel.

All this being said, I highly recommend you try to demo one before purchasing.

Hope this helps.

-Dan

[dontbealolo]

For the record, this relates only to the 2014 and 2015 Neo. 2013 and earlier were a different designer and I haven't ridden the 2016.

Also, the Neo came on very strong this year as one of our top selling models so there are a lot of customers out there with time on these kites... If anyone has thoughts on the relative low end of the 2014 or 2015 Neo please chime in... I don't mind being told I'm wrong.

This is definitely up for debate, but from experience at demos and with riding the kites myself, I highly recommend going 1-2m smaller for most sizes. The biggest complaint I get at demos is from people who come in on a 9m non-neo and take a 9m Neo and bring it back after half an hour complaining that it doesn't have enough top end and they're getting blown off it. You put them back out on a 7 or 8 and they come back much happier, going on about how much low end it has instead of bitching about the lack of high end.

Ken's original plan when taking on the Neo project was to make the kite as powerful as possible specifically so you could ride a smaller kite. Nowhere else is turning speed as important to most riders as in the waves, so it makes sense to have an extremely powerful wave kite so you can have the smallest, quickest turning kite possible for a given windspeed.

However, I've also heard some people say what Thickair says, that the Neo is not noticeably more powerful. Mostly I was getting this response in lighter wind areas like Seattle where people are on 11s and 12s. I actually have a theory on this...

What I've found is that this added low end seems to be more noticeable the smaller the kite, so a 12m Neo pulls more like a normal 12m (I consider the Rebel to be the base for 'normal'... it seems fairly on par with most other kites on the market in terms of raw power) while the 9m Neo may pull more like a 10m Rebel and the 7m may pull more like an 8-9m Rebel.

All this being said, I highly recommend you try to demo one before purchasing.

Hope this helps.

-Dan

Thank you Dan. Im out on the North Shore of Oahu. By chance do you know if any of the North dealers here in Hawaii demo kites?

My plan is to buy an 11m or 12m Neo. I currently have a 2015 9m Neo and am stoked on it. Im 185lbs just trying to figure it all out before I make my investment.

[BigBafana]

Dan, your theory might have some truth to it as I bought a 2015 Neo 11m blind before testing it. I came from a f-one bandit III 13m (perhaps comparable to a rebel?) and bought it two sizes smaller. I'mat 85kg/188lbs and it def feels like it's 2 sizes smaller and its absolutely not anywhere close to my 13m. I know they are different style kites, so take it with a grain of salt.

[Da Yoda]

Dan, your theory might have some truth to it as I bought a 2015 Neo 11m blind before testing it. I came from a f-one bandit III 13m (perhaps comparable to a rebel?) and bought it two sizes smaller. I'mat 85kg/188lbs and it def feels like it's 2 sizes smaller and its absolutely not anywhere close to my 13m. I know they are different style kites, so take it with a grain of salt.

+1
When I first demo'ed the Neo (2014 model) it was the 12m. The 12m had the equivalent power (if not a bit more) than several other 13-15m kites I'd just flown. So when I heard that this kite needed to be sized down, I fully agreed with this assessment based on my experience. Several months later I needed to replace my 2013 10.5 Envy. I wanted an 11m, so due to my one-time experience with the Neo and North's recommendation to down size on this kite, I pulled the trigger on a 10m. Big mistake! The 10m was way less powerful than my 10.5 Envy. I really loved the kite, but I should have got the 11m instead.

[Westozzy]

Pretty simple. The delta in the design kicks in when there is a lot of power in the wind. You start getting up to the 11/12 and beyond mark, the power in the wind drops considerably and the delta becomes more of a hindrance (less efficient). Wind power to wind speed is not a linear relationship.

[Kitelover69]

North advertises that you should buy the 2015 Neo 1-2 sizes smaller then what you normally ride. Anyone have experience with that claim?

bp

Hi,
I have to confirm the new neo is very powerful so if you switch, for instance, from the Rebel to the neo you've to choose a size with a meter less.

I'm 84kg and my rebel quiver was 7-9-12 with 24m lines, now my neo set is 6-8-11 with 22m lines and is perfect.

If you wanna try the neo at north shore of Oahu you should ask to John Amundson, you could find him everyday at Mokulea park.

I hope this helps.

[BigBafana]

You are being very contradictory to the previous two statements. Are you affiliated with North? And if you say that 'they' are very powerful, are you referring to the smaller size Neo's or all of them as I've only had experience with my 11m and it isn't at all more powerful than any other 11m kite, well at least not noticable.

Generalisations are counterproductive when trying to nail down the specifics which the OP is probably looking for. Please mention the manufactruring year too.