I bought a Flysurfer Pulse2 6m...

[derek440]

So I was buying a Pansh A15 second-hand and it turned out the person selling also had a Flysurfer Pulse 6m (2008) in good condition so I couldn't help myself and bought that too. My idea was that I don't like riding tube kites any more and when it gets over about 22kn I struggle with my other foil kites (R1s and Pansh's). Where I live (Perth) it is often over 25kn through summer so I need a strong wind foil kite and thought maybe this would work. Last week I rode an 8m genesis I have borrowed from a mate and put the jakomixer mod on it, it flies way better with the mod, but the bar pressure with my 100kg and wind gusting over 25kn was a bit much after an hour.

Has anyone ridden a Pulse2 and want to share what I might expect? The old vids on youtube are pretty funny and talk the kite up, but will it actually be any good? If I can ride it with a foil in 25-30kn I'll be happy and if it's rideable and fun in winds below that then even better.

Cheers

[Adventure Logs]

That’s a very old foil kite, I’d be careful riding that on the water. It’s going to need a lot of work getting back to close to new performance and even then, you are talking over a decade old design. Even if it sat in a bag for this last decade, lines still shrink and fabric gets brittle. Might have been better off getting a small Peak4 or something similar.

[jakemoore]

I had a pulse 2 zipper that would open in flight. So I would not ride out farther than you want to swim. They weren't bad kites to fly.

[Flyfish]

That’s a very old foil kite, I’d be careful riding that on the water. It’s going to need a lot of work getting back to close to new performance and even then, you are talking over a decade old design. Even if it sat in a bag for this last decade, lines still shrink and fabric gets brittle. Might have been better off getting a small Peak4 or something similar.

I have to respectfully fully disagree. They are great kites.

Yes they are older, so yes the turn slower and have less depower. But the small ones turn plenty fast and have plenty depower. They are sooo stable they drift amazing. I'll use the small sizes any day still.

Here's not too long ago:


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6QcH1wJD5kE

Also, in my opinion, they tune up really easily. I think cause they are so stable. I've found if you just even the mixer they fly great. I've only had one Pulse 2 that would try to turn on me with bar let out. I streached the bridals and got it back though.

I'm just super on top of changing my spare parts lines and keeping them even.

Not all old kites suck!

[joriws]

I used old second hand pulse2 8m teaching people and I regret selling it to one of my friends I teached with it. It was not exploding on lift (good for teaching) at least on winds I used it but it flew, drifted and looped nicely. Would probably be nice with hydrofoils too.

Video of snowkite student crashing to my kite lines, but shows how it should fly too.

[kitexpert]

Compared to Pansh Genesis it is much higher level kite, it is not even a close race. In its class it can easily be compared to modern foil kites - if it is in tune and fabrics/seams are still air tight.

However I wouldn't say it is best high wind kite because it gives quite a lot power then. But using small enough size should solve this.

[Adventure Logs]

I have to respectfully fully disagree. They are great kites.

Yes they are older, so yes the turn slower and have less depower. But the small ones turn plenty fast and have plenty depower. They are sooo stable they drift amazing. I'll use the small sizes any day still.

It may be a good performer even by today’s standards but a 12 year old kite still is 12 years ago so I would expect more brittle and less airtight fabric, and bridle shrinkage problems. The bridle can be sorted out with time and money but there’s nothing you can really do with the fabric. Since he’s admitted to being new to foil kites and HF, he’s more likely to crash it, and with the fabrics age, tears are gonna be more likely.

It is impressive that the Pulse2 has such high regards by today’s standards though. Compared to today’s performance, I couldn’t say the same about the Speed 3s/4s.

[kitexpert]

It is relative of course, and there is not many low/mid AR foil kites nowadays. IDK how much room there is for development for that type of kites because basic idea is quite conservative. After Pulse2 FS had Unity but it was a bit questionable kite, soft feel with very low bar pressure.

I had couple of years ago a ride with 12m Pulse2 but it felt quite slow and gutless (after using a LEI). So smaller sizes of Pulse should be preferred for sure.

In Speed3/4 kite segment there has been serious development and there is many very good kites available as we know.

[derek440]

Thanks for the replies, this is going to be really interesting, I'll report back when it gets here and I get some strong wing to try it (that might take a while as heading into winter). Flyfish, thanks for the good info, great vid! Adv-log, not sure where you got that I am a foil kite n00b, must be cause I ride R1s Actually I've been mucking around with foil kites for about 1.5 years so sorta n00b but I'm getting the hang of tuning now that I've got about 9 foil kites and the race kites require regular tuning (I have 10/13/17 R1v2) as I ride almost every day (learning how to race and have just started landing race tacks and gybes). The pulse2 cost next to nothing and comes with FS bar and lines and seems in good condition so its really not about cost, more about being interesting and also it might be useful in the 6m size with hydrofoil (Daytona) in our regular summer 25kn plus winds, I'll give it a shot and see, I really don't like riding tube kites any more, they just don't feel right to me any more. The other small foil kite I have is a 3m genesis (I got it to learn) and I tried that in about 25kn one day but only had my race bar and lines and at 100kg with 13m lines it wasn't enough to get my ass out of the water, but will try it again on long lines and over 30kn and see how it goes with the Jakomixer mod, which has made it fly way better - it was almost unusable before mod but now is quite fast and fun. Cheers for the input.

[joriws]

Compared to today’s performance, I couldn’t say the same about the Speed 3s/4s.

Today - there is nothing wrong with Speed 4 IMO.
- I still use 10m Lotus for medium wind TT and HF riding, it is stable and goes in a puff, wide wind range (TT 12kn -> 40ish with my weight), light/small to pack to airplane without kite bag etc so it is my single kite family travel quiver. I laugh at people going abroad with 4 kites with boardbags on large trolleys at airports when I've packed single kite with wetsuit among other clothes and I rent a board.
- I still use Speed 4 DLX 8m, great for hydrofoiling as power can be instantly dumped by bar depower only and still drifts nicely, very dynamic to produce dive power to get going as flies fast.
- I train people with Psycho4 6m on low winds, it can be crashed hard and if it breaks, no loss on money as I bought it second hand years ago (7y? don't remember) for 300eur. Same model/size kite as used in famous "humungus jump" -video so it can perform too.

My view/opinion about "today's performance". I easily won my clubs kite ice race championship last year with Speed4 DLX 8m, this year no ice => no race to defend my result. It was my first ever race in sailing/kite ever, I am just leisure big air booster. I participated just for the fun of getting free sausages from the grill. And I weight 20-30kg more than the opponents. My opponents, most competent racer had 30-40y [he's ~4y younger than me but sailed, windsurfed and kited all his life] sail/kite racing experience and national kiterace vice champ etc, were using modern LEIs like 2020 Duotone kites from local importer etc. They did win only single lap against me, we had 4 races with 3 laps each so I won 11/12 laps, that's OP and I give all credit to my 2013 Speed4 -kite what I bought second hand as I was running wide lines and not well downwind on triangle track. That is real kite power and Speed 4 still delivered aka performed against today's LEI standards at least. But with Speed4 I'd not go against modern dedicated race foils with much more experienced racers than me, like participate at Wissa.. Don't believe me & my writing? Don't worry, my Gopro battery lasted 2 first races and they are on Youtube..

So foil kites lasts, performs and keep their usage value IMO exceptionally well. They do not develop micro leaks on bladders or usually do not burst half on big crash so easy to maintain on that perspective. On old foilkite if bridle goes out of tune, sure it has to be maintained somehow if you want to keep it flying like new kite. If kite does not hold air then it starts to be ex-kite but you can try to re-coat it but it is a lot of hassle.