Adapting North Click bar to other kite brands.

[Idrinksaltwater]

Hello all! So I pulled the trigger on a click bar earlier this winter and have been enjoying it thus far. Very clean look and I really like the front line pu untwist method. Maybe not end all be all of bars but a great concept. Now I just purchased a 15m Cabrinha Contra to get out on the lighter wind days. Being as I have only used kites with their brand specific bars I was looking for some experienced info on combining the two. I get that most 4 line bars are adaptable with 4 line kites, depending on high or low Y, but some kites just don't seem to fly well with other bars. North says this bar is compatible with any kite, kind of another selling point for me. Has anyone reading this tried the click with a Cabrinha? Do you need to adjust the back line lenght at all? Is it just a throw it up in the air and tweak it to whatever feels best? Which seems like it could take a considerable amout of trial and error time as I haven't flown the Contra yet and am not sure on her specific feel and what the right tune she sings at. Any and all advice on this subject, not even necessarily click bar specific, would be much appreciated! Thanks!!! Warm winds!

[danidr]

Can't speak of your combo, but the V lines on cabrinha bars are quite low on the 2016 and 2017 models, so I guess you could try the open V setting on the click bar. As for the line lengths, the cabrinha bar is equal lengths on all 4 lines, so if the click bar on the open v setting is equal lengths also, you should not have any issues. You can also compare the amount of trim both bars have. If the click bar has more trim length than the cabrinha bar, you could run into issues, probably backstalling the kite in some conditions (edit: check next post, this would be a non issue), although the contra's are quite good on that respect and don't think it would be something too bad.

I'd suggest to get someone with a cab bar to lay it out next to your click bar so you can compare accurately. I'm not sure about the connectors on pigtails and so, just have in mind that if they're not compatible between kites you will have extra rigging time rigging from one kite to the other.

[Dan-at-Duotone]

The Contra should fly exactly the same on the North Click Bar as on a Cabrinha bar. Just use the Open-V setup.

All North bars (and I'm guessing all Cab bars) ship with all 4 lines the same length when at full power. Note that you will have significantly more range with your Click Bar (8" of 1:1 depower on the Click Bar means you'd need 16" of the 1:2 depower on the Cab bar to get the same amount of depower), but this just means more top end, it does not affect low end or backstalling tendencies. The only possible downside is that if the kite is not designed for that much depower it could cause hindenburging (overflying), however in my experience this has never been an issue with Cabrinha kites, especially in the higher winds where you'd be likely to be using all that extra depower.

Danidr has lots of good info above and is mostly correct, but his information on backstalling may be misleading... Backstalling happens when you oversheet (pull the backlines so they become shorter than the front). Since the Click Bar, like the Cab bars, comes with all 4 lines equal length when fully powered, and depowering is done by lengthening the backlines on the click bar (or shortening the front lines on the Cab bar, same effect), there is no increased likelihood of backstalling with one bar over the other.

Hope this clarifies, and if you have any further questions (or want to chime in with your personal experience) feel free to post here or pm me.

-Dan

[danidr]

Danidr has lots of good info above and is mostly correct, but his information on backstalling may be misleading... Backstalling happens when you oversheet (pull the backlines so they become shorter than the front). Since the Click Bar, like the Cab bars, comes with all 4 lines equal length when fully powered, and depowering is done by lengthening the backlines on the click bar (or shortening the front lines on the Cab bar, same effect), there is no increased likelihood of backstalling with one bar over the other.

Hope this clarifies, and if you have any further questions (or want to chime in with your personal experience) feel free to post here or pm me.

-Dan

You are correct! I got it backwards, thanks for noticing!

[Idrinksaltwater]

Hey wow, thanks for the quick detailed responses! This clarifies the set up quite a bit! Dan I have been reading your posts and I appreciate the unbiased and in depth responses. It has helped me appreciate the click bar to the fullest, which I am very satisifed with so far. I will post more about how it's working with the Contra once I receive it in the mail and get one of those lighter wind days. Thanks guys!!!

[Megaloop2021]

I want to fly my gts on my clickbar but the stopper ball restricts how low the v split can go. Roughly 3 meters higher than that of my core bar. Do I need to take the safety line off and turn it round? Anyone else had this problem. I know you can take the split off completely. I guess 3 metres over 22metres might not make a huge difference?