Today i received a new Reo 9m. I am replacing my beloved V4 9m with the V6 version. I am not new to Reo’s and have been using ozone since 2011. My first impression on launch was there was something wrong with the kite. It seemed to steer to the right more easily than left. The bar pressure required was considerably more than i was used to and the kite seem less responsive. So i landed the kite and checked my connections and bridals and all was correct, both sides were rigged the same…
I went In the water despite the weird handling. Wind was 20-25 with 4-5’ wind swell. The kite seem really sluggish to turn and bar pressure felt like a Switchblade, not good. I kept riding thinking maybe it needed to break in and bridals needed to stretch?
After about thirty minutes of muscling the kite around I decided to come back in and change the bridal setting. I moved to the longest knot of the bridal to the “onshore” setting. I also switched the steering lines from the middle attachment point to the tip setting for faster steering. This decreased the bar pressure significantly and steering improved slightly. It still didn’t handle like my V4 however. It still takes considerably more steering input than the older version and it still seems to steer more easily to the right than left. The kite doesn't race to the right if you let go of the bar…..what you would expect if it was really screwed up or uneven.
So i went back out, wind was building. After kiting for another 30 min the wind was about 25-30. I wasn’t expecting handling to improve when overpowered…bar pressure was tolerable but steering input was still way heavier than the old kite. Next step is to rig them both and ride back to back…
Anyone have any bad experiences with the new Reo? Not sure if i have a lemon or they fucked up the new version? My old 9m rips through the sky with little effort and this one feels like a slug.