A forum dedicated to Hydrofoil riders
-
skyhill
- Rare Poster
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 5:46 pm
- Local Beach: Deer Creek, Utah Lake,
- Favorite Beaches: SPI, The Gorge
- Style: Freeride
- Gear: Ozone, Underground
- Brand Affiliation: None
-
Has thanked:
0
-
Been thanked:
4 times
Postby skyhill » Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:10 pm
I have been on Ozone kites since the Instinct kites in mid 2000's. Most recently I've been riding the Enduro V2 and I was planning to get Alpha V2's for foiling. Well the wait time was too long so I started looking for options. The Naish boxer was my next choice since I had a 3.5m S25 that I liked but again the wait time was a no go. So the new Mono's were available back in June and I have a few friends that love them so I went for it and ordered a 3.5, 5, 7 and 9m. I also went for a small Click bar and small/med Trust bar. For reference I'm 165 lbs and ride a Kanaha shapes with a Lift Classic 170 foil.
After a windy summer in the Gorge I can share a few thoughts. Overall I really like these kites for foiling. They perform exceptionally well in the medium to lower end of their wind range. They turn plenty fast, drift well and don't backstall. Relaunch is really good as well. Over powered they can be a hand full which is probably true of most single strut kites. The canopy is fairly tight and you can control some of the flutter with bar pressure but they are a lot more playful and fun when you're on the right size. I also found that I would really like a 4m in the Gorge. There are a lot of 15 to 25 mph days with higher gusts where the 5m is a little big and the 3.5m is a little small. I didn't find many days when I wanted something smaller than the 3.5. I also found the 7m to be perfect the lighter days and didn't use the 9m much.
Bar wise I'm not all that excited by the Click bar. The square covering on the lower section binds too much for my preference. I ended up using the Click bar with 20m lines on the 3.5 and 5m where the steering angle of the bar isn't as great. I use the Trust bar in the medium length and 22m lines for my 7 and 9m and it works great. To be honest I prefer Ozone bars but they don't have a high Y set up. Just my thoughts your mileage may vary
-
Dan-at-Duotone
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 535
- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:09 am
- Local Beach: The Gorge
- Favorite Beaches: Crazy Beaches
- Style: Kooky
- Gear: Go
- Brand Affiliation: Sales/Marketing/Service for Duotone/Ion in North America
- Location: Hood River
-
Has thanked:
10 times
-
Been thanked:
113 times
-
Contact:
Postby Dan-at-Duotone » Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:04 pm
Good review, thanks for chiming in.
I also don't love the way the depower line can momentarily bind up when sheeting and steering simultaneously, this is exacerbated when riding with little power in the kites, as in foiling with small kites. It's a tradeoff, we used to get yelled at on this forum by Cabrinha fans when we only offered the Trust bar, which has smooth rope depower with easy sheeting and Cabrinha had the TPU covered depower, they claimed the extended lifetime from the TPU covering should be on all bars. Now we have an option for either preference. Personally I eventually got used to that 'bind' and work around it without a second thought now, but I don't blame anyone who says they prefer the rope. There are advantages to each.
On another note, Ken specifically advises using 24m lines on the 3.5. He says it'll give you a longer power stroke and steadier power. Just a thought.
-Dan
-
leeuwen
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 858
- Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:16 pm
- Kiting since: 2014
- Local Beach: Anything in NL
- Style: Foiling around
- Gear: KauperXT 11M Falcon
Ocean Rodeo aluula roam 10m / HL Crave 8m/6m/5m
Slingshot ghost 4M
Sabfoil 1350L,633,699,671/ 83-103 kraken mast / Groove Skate L + Radical / Sabfoil T35 / Microchip
Lieuwe Shotgun
- Brand Affiliation: None
-
Has thanked:
84 times
-
Been thanked:
317 times
Postby leeuwen » Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:26 pm
Dan-at-Duotone wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:04 pm
Now we have an option for either preference. Personally I eventually got used to that 'bind' and work around it without a second thought now, but I don't blame anyone who says they prefer the rope. There are advantages to each.
Other brands don’t have the binding issue with the PU covering though. The PU cover that was used is just way to sticky.
I own clickbar/core/or shift all with pu and I only have an issue with the clickbar.
I am selling my 2021 clickbar because it’s just to uncomfortable to my hands when riding with one hand in the middle of the bar (fingers on both sides of the pu covering) + binding when turning issue. (And safety line wear issue and durability of the bar grip doesn’t seem great)
-
leepasty
- Frequent Poster
- Posts: 387
- Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:27 pm
- Local Beach: porthleven, west cornwall, uk
- Favorite Beaches: gnaraloo,curral jouel, One Eye, Haakgat,
porthleven, Gwithian
- Style: Waves
- Gear: Duotone Pro Wam, Pro Session and Neos
- Brand Affiliation: sponsored by Duotone & Ion
- Location: West Cornwall, UK
-
Has thanked:
17 times
-
Been thanked:
46 times
-
Contact:
Postby leepasty » Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:50 pm
The sticking issue on Click bar will go after time but if you want to stop it right away simply take a bit of sandpaper and lightly sand the square edges off the pu tube.
Once the edges are rounded off you won’t have any probs.
It will round off by itself if you use it in waves after about 3 hours of riding if you sheet in and out lots but on low powered foiling it prob never has enough friction to round off.
if I set up a new bar as spare in a comp then I use the sand paper technique so I know it’s ready
-
rnelias
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 1152
- Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:07 pm
- Local Beach: RJ, Brazil
- Favorite Beaches: Arubinha, RJ
Cumbuco, CE
Barra da Tijuca, RJ
Praia da Bica, RJ
- Style: freeride
- Gear: Boxer 9m for foiling
Rebel SLS 8m or Crave HL 9m for boosting on twintip
- Brand Affiliation: None
-
Has thanked:
292 times
-
Been thanked:
274 times
Postby rnelias » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:09 pm
leeuwen wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:26 pm
Other brands don’t have the binding issue with the PU covering though. The PU cover that was used is just way to sticky.
I own clickbar/core/or shift all with pu and I only have an issue with the clickbar.
I am selling my 2021 clickbar because it’s just to uncomfortable to my hands when riding with one hand in the middle of the bar (fingers on both sides of the pu covering) + binding when turning issue. (And safety line wear issue and
durability of the bar grip doesn’t seem great)
Duotone should sell the bar grip as replacement. It doesn't last accordingly a premium priced bar
Return to “Hydrofoil”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 443 guests