evan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 12:45 pm
Besides that, a 6m on a 50cm bar can be a bit twitchy/too fast for some riders.
Smaller bars are a great "crutch" for those just just starting to go down in size, and up in wind speed. They can make your initial experience much more comfortable because they limit ultimate turning speed. Later on in your experience, you may want to play around with maximum turning speed allowed by a small kite. At that point, you may want to try your biggest bar with your smallest kite.
For using a wide bar with a small kite, there are ways to train yourself to handle a small kite on a longer bar. The best way to train is to buy (cheap used, of the same make as your 6m)
(oops! EDIT - buy a 4m in the same make as your 6m) and fly it on land with the biggest bar you have. If you train this kite hard by doing drills such as not looking at the kite the entire session, crossing the window and trying to do instant redirects, and multiple loops, you can get used to a faster tempo than you will have to use on the water with your 6m. This is the fastest way I know of to train yourself to push the limits of a smaller kite.
For line length - I used to use different lengths, but since I have the same model kite across my entire quiver and use the same bar width, I have found that different line lengths just add another factor to compensate for when changing sizes. If you can reduce the number of things that change when changing kite sizes, you can fly more instinctively without as many mistakes. So my recommendation is that you pick a line length, and stick with it. Given ther largest non-light wind kite for a rider of say 14m (if your light wind kite is a 17m) I would size to that. If you are going from 6m-14m, and you use a 9m more than an 11m, then 20m lines across all kite sizes may work. But if the 11m gets more usage than the 9m, then 23m for all kites may be better. If the 14m is the most used, go with at least 23m-24m lines. That said, I seem to be very much in the minority in this view, so take it with a grain of salt. I personally use a 55cm bar with my 3.5m kite (surfboard, not hydrofoil).