Flysurfer Peak 4

[merl]

About the span line that crosses the kite. I removed mine immediately, but noticed that Armin said in an earlier post that you should _not_ remove it. I did notice some tip issues at the top end so I put them back on for now.

[tomtom]

I also noticed Armin note. I removed this cross line from 3,4,5 without any downsides. Tips looks smoother without bulge from pinching a too short cross line. It wasnt like this when kites were new /bulging from cross line/. Its from some bridal uneven shrink. So i just remove cross line - Maybe best way will be make it longer - but i dont know how much etc.

What is your tip doing?

[merl]

I had a tip folding in and getting stuck there when over powered. Thought it would be good to try with the cross line, but I agree that it feels natural to remove it.

Armin: why keep it in four-line mode?

[tomtom]

Thanks - tip folding overpowered its weird. Im rarely riding overpowered - when it should start flapping im already on smaller size.
i can imagine what cross line should do - keeping cell in shape /same way than strap line/ - but imo this function is compromised by fact that line is sliding. Maybe it will be better to replace it with segmented line - in same manner like line - strap 0 - 4. I think this will be best solution. See picture

[tomtom]

BTW older peaks have nothing in place of B-SAFE line. I think its mostly academic debate as my Peaks fly perfectly without it. Maybe Armin can say more - but hi already says that bsafe add stability in gusty winds which i did not observe. Maybe not gusty enough, but winter is coming.

[Armin Harich]

Yes, the B-safe line improves Tipp stability depowered. That is why we don't recommend to remove it.

That a kite is flying good in light wind is not only the weight. It is also about little drag(Cd), high lift (Cl), ...

Have fun, Armin.

[Horst Sergio]

You cannot remove plastic ring without damage and my honest opinion is that it just isnt worth.

Hi tom,
yes you can open and remove the plastic rings made of two parts with a flat screw driver without damaging but as they also just weight 3 g and as you said it is not worth. And so thanks to

tom, merl and armin to clarify,

to better keep the B-Safe0&1 lines in the kite, even if switched to front line safety, but to check if they started to shorten and if necessay to elongate them. So we all keep our Peaks at peak performance

@armin:
Maybe, if not yet, it would be nice to have 1,5 m of pink lcl line material uncutted in the repair kits in the future. So everybody can elongate the fastest shortening lines himself easier.

[Armin Harich]

Maybe, if not yet, it would be nice to have 1,5 m of pink lcl line material uncutted in the repair kits in the future. So everybody can elongate the fastest shortening lines himself easier.

We add final LCL to the spare set. They are special done, that the flamed end don't end at the know to not increase the breaking strength by "random".
If you want to extend, you can add a second LCL. If you want to reduce it, you can loop the line around the LCL. Here in the picture for example for -8mm.
The pinke line is Liros DSL70, if you want to buy the original one. Dealers can also order it from us, if they need it.

Cheers, Armin

[foilholio]

Interesting loop, I use a half hitch which shortens it more. Basically grab the bridle into a loop and put it over the LCL. The reduction per loop progressively increases a little as the loops gather down the LCL. About 18mm loose for first loop then 20mm for the second etc. After being tightened they are more like 16 and 18mm and could be even less if tightened more. The benefit to loops like that is you don't need to undo the the bridle.

A kit of a few different length LCLs could be useful for some.


A question I and many will eventually want to know is how does flysurfers line plan differ from the intended lengths of the bridles. I know it could be a massive trade secret, but if tuning an old kite and there is significant design for shrinkage then altering to have the kite like the lineplan will likely produce bad results. I do know there is potential as the fabric changes and then every one likes a slightly different kite that in both cases bridles may be better different. My experience mainly surrounds the Psycho4 but on that the Z bridle definitely seems to have been designed for shrink.

Psycho 4 is such an amazing kite, with modifications like no blowouts, zip, fifthline, wac hard/soft, Z tip bridle and when tuned well it is still a very advanced kite and goes very well. I think without jetflaps and some further weight reduction, maybe better materials, or less cells and an even thinner profile, speed is for advanced kiters parking kites is lame, I think with things like that it could be a much better kite. I think the update to 3 bridles rows and the branding as speed4 was just too ambitious. I think the 3 bridle row is quite a possibility I have managed to achieve it myself on a kite, which works better for it. A whole bridle row is a significant amount of drag on the kite, more than a fifth line.

Is flysurfer open to improving the mixer design? To me there is so much wasted in the design, the B SPL for example. I know you used an optimized length for it in the VMG. The flysurfer mixer is though despite it's age amongst it's competition still probably the best design out there. I don't want to sound pretentious but I think I might have even more experience adjusting old kites than you Armin, and the adjustment system of B and C and particularly how B is linked to C is actually quite frustrating and not sufficient to fully adjust kites. My thoughts on a better mixer are to remove most of the B main, so to reduce the entire mixers length on all the mains. To make the B SPL roughly half the length of the C SPL, and attach it to the pulley and not the C main. To keep an adjustment for C. To add an adjustment to either or both B or C SPL. To have either an adjustment on Z main or have it on knots to adjust. B or C SPL will also have an adjustable knot to set the B limit depowering. Sounds complicated, but the resulting intention would be much simpler.

[Armin Harich]

Hi Foilholio

There are plenty of loops, starting from 4mm already. But only Freaks/Competition guys will tune it that accurate.
Especially the Peak is super trimm unsensitive.

The overall linelenght is +-4 mm accurate produced to what it is designed. For sure you need a laser and exactly meassure system with a slider and exactly 5Kg.
If you tune a used kite back to original, it is the best you can do.
But we also try out the protos what happen if they age. We design them that they will for example stay stable as long as possible. For sure, that is a secret we have how to do that.

We work for a update of the mixer. We tested a lot already. Hot it will take a bit more time before any update will come into the products. If we change it, it need to stay longer again.
We can have privat chat about that.

Cheers, Armin