Old North 5 Lines bar mandatory?

[PusherII]

Hi there, i ve been gifted with 2 nice but very old Rebel. I think 2008 or 2010
I am instructor, i will.do everything safely, condition of kites are very good, i repaired all valves. I have no bar, Is the 5th line structural in theese kites or i Just can try a normal 4 line bar?
Many thanks

[ham-er]

I was in very similar situation, bought a bunch of kites and 2 were thrown for free. 1 of which was 2008 North rebel 12m which is 5 line kite. I tried it with my ozone 4 line bar, and believe me I tried all sorts of things, shortening, extending lines even connecting lines to different pigtails, but you need 5 line bar setup to fly it. I managed to get it airborne, but it was impossible to control. If i find cheap 5 line bar on ebay, might give it another try as the kite although is old, is still pretty good condition

[edt]

Hi there, i ve been gifted with 2 nice but very old Rebel. I think 2008 or 2010
I am instructor, i will.do everything safely, condition of kites are very good, i repaired all valves. I have no bar, Is the 5th line structural in theese kites or i Just can try a normal 4 line bar?
Many thanks

sure try it, the kite won't fly right you'll notice it immediately. It's easy to convert a 4 line bar to a 5 line bar. What you want to do is replace the spinner/V/block that thing that splits the lines from a 4 line set to a 5 line set then make sure that the flagging safety line is swtiched from a the left or right center line to the 5th line. Old Rebels need a high Y to fly correctly also, so keep that in mind too. It won't fly much at all on a 4 line bar it will fly better on a 5 line bar with a low V and flies best on a 5 line bar with a high Y. Locating that 5 line splitter might be tough though. 10 years ago they were easy to find but now everyone is running 4 line control bars. I make my own V splitter so for me it's easy to make a 5 line bar whenever I like.

The main reason you might want to fly those kites with a low 5 line V instead of a 5 line high Y is that a control bar especially made for a 5 line high Y kite is going to cost worth more than both of those kites put together, while you can do a quick mod converting from 4 line low V to 5 line low V for pretty cheap (if you can find or make that one part) and that at least lets you fly the kite around until you decide it's not worth it and go back to modern kites.

I used to have all kinds of 5 line kites, 5 line foil kites, 5 line C kites, some rebels, but I eventually got rid of all of them. Just too much of a hassle having both 4 line control bars and 5 line control bars. I didn't like having to maintain the lines on so many bars.

[PullStrings]

It is mandatory if you want the kite to fly as designed

The kite will sheet in & out properly and require 1/3 less of bar input to power & depower as per intended design

The leading edge must be supported precisely by 3 lines fixed on a high Y near halfway up the total lines length

The middle line above Y called also the loaded 5th is attached to a central nose line on leading edge acts as support for proper shape

Looking for a used North 5th element bar to buy is truly the best option

Still riding all my Rebels from 2011 and 2014 and they each have their individual bars/lines attached...yes 6 bars total and sorry none for sale
Sizes 5-6-8-10-12-14m

So do not spend too much time trying to make a standard 4 lines bar work

Those Rebels are really unique specialty kites

Good luck

Enjoy

The 5th line / center line also acts as the safety line on those bars....quite important
So it has double duty

[PusherII]

Do u guys think any 5 line North bar work? I mean i need same years more or less or It works also with newer models lime 2015ish or even duotone bara?

[BenBen]

Since the Rebel used a loaded 5th, you ll definetly need a 5th line. But you can use a new north/duotone 5 line bar as well.

[edt]

Do u guys think any 5 line North bar work? I mean i need same years more or less or It works also with newer models lime 2015ish or even duotone bara?

Yes any year will work. You can also buy a brand new 5 line Duotone control bar. The old North and new Duotone high Y split is at about the same distance about halfway up.

[PusherII]

nice thanks ya all guys

[evan]

Yes any year will work. You can also buy a brand new 5 line Duotone control bar. The old North and new Duotone high Y split is at about the same distance about halfway up.

not exactly. Current Duotone Trust bar has the split 6m from the Clamcleat, varying the top section in length. The old dedicated 5fth bars had the split 13m from the line ends varying the lower section with different line lengths.

The only bar that comes close is the medium click bar with options to put the split 10m from the bottom. Other option is to put a line splitter at the desired height.

On the newer Duotone kites split height doesn't matter that much anymore as they are designed for four lines only with 5fth as an option.
But I am pretty sure that older ones designed for 5 lines need that extra high split and loaded 5fth line to fly correctly.

[edt]

On the newer Duotone kites split height doesn't matter that much anymore as they are designed for four lines only with 5fth as an option.
But I am pretty sure that older ones designed for 5 lines need that extra high split and loaded 5fth line to fly correctly.

Thanks for the correction. I've flown the old north rebel with a 5 line low V and also with the correct high Y so I know as long as you have a tensioned 5th line it will fly at least of course not as good as with the correct length high Y. Without the tensioned 5th line it won't do anything. Good to know that the Y is so different in the modern kites. I would probably just use the modern duotone control bar if I had to fly those kites. They are pretty old so hard to say how much life is left in them.