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Ride Engine Harness

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windtzu
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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby windtzu » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:19 pm

New Ride Engine Harness isn't compatible with Dynabar sliding hooks, or existing standard hooks.

Bummer. That really brings the cost up, especially since I like to use both types - fixed and sliding.

So I'd have to buy another spreader bar from Engine and get rid of my perfectly good Dynabar.

It would have been so simple to create a standardized-compatible set up.

Exclusivity was tried in the windsurfing industry, fin boxes, mast base connections. It was sooo annoying...The products that were most cross compatible survived over the long haul.

I noticed that the "sliding rope" attaches directly to the chicken loop. So the chicken loop slides along the rope. This shares the wear and will wear your chicken loop out faster than just a single fixed hook. I could be mistaken about this, but I see some design issues here.

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby mdksniper » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:39 pm

My spectral line came undone when I was launching on Saturday. I ended up getting lofted 20 feet in the air. Fortunately, everything turned out ok.

The next day, I get an email about a "Ride Engine Harness 'Tech Update' which stated the following:

It has been brought to our attention that a tech update has been released on the new Ride Engine harnesses. A small percentage of the harnesses produced in the first rounds of production were distributed with a rope on the spreader bar that was slightly shorter than it should have been. This would cause the knot to potentially come undone while using the harness.


Basically, the first batch of 10" sliding spreader bars is faulty. So watch out if you got one of the first ones...

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby JessicaWinkler » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:54 pm

If you guys are interested here is a link to the interview I did with Engine at the Orlando Surf Expo with Coleman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4mw9wL0bG0

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby CaptainArgh » Mon Sep 28, 2015 10:45 pm

JessicaWinkler wrote:If you guys are interested here is a link to the interview I did with Engine at the Orlando Surf Expo with Coleman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4mw9wL0bG0
Great interview, Jessica! Thanks for sharing it.

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby JessicaWinkler » Tue Sep 29, 2015 12:52 am

CaptainArgh wrote:
JessicaWinkler wrote:If you guys are interested here is a link to the interview I did with Engine at the Orlando Surf Expo with Coleman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4mw9wL0bG0
Great interview, Jessica! Thanks for sharing it.
thank you :)

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby Johnny Rotten » Sun Oct 04, 2015 1:19 am


Wow that is really unfortunate JR. Is it possible that the mold was not placed correctly or heated enough to really form to your back? Or that up was down and down was up?
Would make a big difference... then I guess it is possible as well that it could have been made up side down. I would really like to compare your harness to mine to see what the difference is.
Have you contacted Coleman about this? Maybe he can offer some advice or solutions.

Really, it rides up as high as your tits? I just seems so impossible based on my experience hard to believe. If mine rode that high up I think i might even have permanent damage to my back...lol
and I am not even that defined from waist to chest....
Follow up:

We did the mold well it's right where I would wear it and dead nuts on my lumbar. I got it back with the harness. it was definitely the right side up (arrow with brain lol) and the right shape. You can clearly see they didn't mold it upside down as the plate matches the mold.

I tried it with the wider spreader bar today tightened the shit out of it and it still rides up. literally an inch below my tits and pinching off my rib cage I was hauling way too much power today so was fiercly uncomfortable and was rocking a windskin wetsuit (rubber with lots of grip) and couldn't just shove it down either with how tight I made it. given the angles involved kite pulls harder up than down so if it's really tight it'll go up (usually after eating shit) but not back down. Actually had to land my kite to readjust the harness, put on a spandex shirt over the wetsuit so I could at least have it slip back down.

I figure it comes down to this, the plate is custom moulded but then they add literally an inch of padding to the inner radius of the custom outer mould. As a result the surface that's against my body is no longer anywhere close to the same dimension as when it was molded. "close enough" for most, but not working so hot for me. I suspect I have a fairly small "lumbar" compared to most,which likely doesn't give it much to grip... when I get in a car with adjustable lumbar support the first thing I do is dial it all the way down and usually wish it would go down a bit more.

I tighten the crap out of it. but can't put near the same load (or want to) the kite can and so kite compresses foam it makes slack, the hook gets some play then when my kite reads lunch time (hey it happens sometimes) up she goes.

My old harness was worn to shit anyway so I needed a new one, this'll get the job done and is no worse for me than anything else out there, so I'm not unsatisfied, but had higher expectations that's all and should let others know it's probably 90% success on the doesn't ride up factor.


.
Last edited by Johnny Rotten on Sun Oct 04, 2015 1:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Eurus
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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby Eurus » Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:04 am

I have a custom Ride Engine harness and will NEVER go to another harness ever. When I molded my harness I moved it very close to my hips and I arched my back while the mold cooled. When Coleman shipped me my custom harness and I put it on it felt like a part of my body that had always been there. I have used it in winds as high as 42 kts and it stays in place...period. I believe becaue I molded my harness while my back was arched (which is the natural stance while kiting) that I created an even better "locked in" posture which is why mine does not ride up at all.

I have also tried the new Hexcore production model but of course I don't like it as much as my custom. I can tell you the Hexcore model is not as stiff as mine and with my custom I can use whatever slider bar I want.

Coleman is going to offer the custom option again but it won't be until next year sometime.

I have seen but not used the Elite model and it is stiffer and lighter than the Hexcore model.

Ride Engine will become the standard. Just make sure you order the correct size.

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby sbckiteboard » Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:03 pm

Here is a review from the Fall issue of Kitesurfing Magazine.

Model Tested: Elite Series

Originally started by California wave kiter Coleman Buckley as a made-to-order custom harness line, Ride Engine is now part of Slingshot’s parent company 7 Nation and has a full range of production harnesses for 2016. Slingshot HQ was kind enough to outfit us with their top-end Elite Series equipped with their Streamline spreader bar. Your writer must admit to some initial skepticism, first Slingshot insisted the harness needed to be fit really, really tight (an interesting challenge considering the ample waistline involved). Second, the absence of a fixed hook was mildly unnerving. Third, one side of the spreader bar is fixed to the harness, the other side is attached by simply hooking the spreader bar to a loop of PVC-enclosed rope. Surely that’s too simple to be secure? Armed with assurances that the harness would stretch out a little (and I’d be able to breath again), that I’d love the freedom of the Streamline Spreader Bar, and this PVC loop would mold to fit the bar perfectly and is completely secure, off to the beach we went.

The Elite Series is a very stiff harness and with a lot of lumbar support and a very tight fit the harness is locked firmly into the small of the back. Having the harness locked in place and the chicken loop traveling effortlessly from side to side really increases your range of motion. Especially in the turns and riding waves. With this harness set-up we immediately felt looser and better able to open up in our turns and wave rides. Personally, except for riding freestyle (obviously you can’t unhook with this set up) I can’t imagine going back to a fixed hook. Some other notes, the harness did stretch out quite a bit, to the point where we even needed to tighten up some straps. After one session I could dial in a nice tight fit and had plenty of room to breath. Also as promised, the PVC-coated hook definitely melded in to fit the spreader bar and the fit looked a little better every time I used it. The rope, a low stretch Dyneema, did stretch a little bit, but a great feature is that by adjusting a simple knot on the back of the bar you can decide how long the rope loop is and how far you want the chickenloop to be from your body. Ride Engine isn’t the first to replace fixed spreader bars with ropes; in fact, if you go back to the early pioneers of kiteboarding, ropes and shackle hooks were pretty common. But by coming out with this product line Ride Engine should be congratulated for bringing a well thought out product to the market.

http://kitesurfingmag.com/ride-engine-harness-review/

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby Flat rock » Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:42 am

windtzu wrote:New Ride Engine Harness isn't compatible with Dynabar sliding hooks, or existing standard hooks.

Bummer. That really brings the cost up, especially since I like to use both types - fixed and sliding.

So I'd have to buy another spreader bar from Engine and get rid of my perfectly good Dynabar.

It would have been so simple to create a standardized-compatible set up.

Exclusivity was tried in the windsurfing industry, fin boxes, mast base connections. It was sooo annoying...The products that were most cross compatible survived over the long haul.

I noticed that the "sliding rope" attaches directly to the chicken loop. So the chicken loop slides along the rope. This shares the wear and will wear your chicken loop out faster than just a single fixed hook. I could be mistaken about this, but I see some design issues here.
This harness needs to be done up tight to keep it in position, when it is - it's a really comfortable harness. The way it mostly sits in position and doesn't ride up is far better than any 'normal' flexible waist harness, it greatly improves the riders comfort and therefore performance.

However, the way that the strap goes through a plastic tube that essentially goes around two corners and back to a buckle - the friction of the strap in the tube and the plastic tube on the corners isn't great design.

Perhaps this production version should have had 2 straps and buckles on each side - like some of the custom Ride Engine versions. This would allow for other bars to be used - like the Dynabar and also increase the strength of the spreader bar to harness attachment.

If, as stated in the other thread with the video review - there was slippage of the strap - could this be a safety issue???

Most other harnesses have wider and therefore stronger straps and buckles. Often 2 straps - so if one slips or breaks there is a back-up. Hopefully this harness has been load tested and this single 20mm strap and buckle design of the Engine harness has been tested with bigger and heavier guys - shock loading in windy conditions and they factored in the plastic buckle wear from sand and exposure to the elements like salt crystals and U.V. degradation over time etc.. ?

Most things manufactured are only as good as their weakest link. I've had a plastic buckle break on me on another harness in the past. There is no built in redundancy or second safety strap on this production harness to get you back to the beach - if for instance - the plastic buckle was to fail - hopefully this never happens to anyone!

That aside, the Ride Engine is a really good harness!

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Re: Ride Engine Harness

Postby jaystore » Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:52 pm

windtzu wrote:New Ride Engine Harness isn't compatible with Dynabar sliding hooks, or existing standard hooks.

Bummer. That really brings the cost up, especially since I like to use both types - fixed and sliding.

So I'd have to buy another spreader bar from Engine and get rid of my perfectly good Dynabar.

It would have been so simple to create a standardized-compatible set up.

Exclusivity was tried in the windsurfing industry, fin boxes, mast base connections. It was sooo annoying...The products that were most cross compatible survived over the long haul.

I noticed that the "sliding rope" attaches directly to the chicken loop. So the chicken loop slides along the rope. This shares the wear and will wear your chicken loop out faster than just a single fixed hook. I could be mistaken about this, but I see some design issues here.
Some customers and resellers asked us to make an adapter to attach DYNABAR to RE harness. I think it is possible using the RE webbing after removing the PA tube, see picture below. What I'm not sure of is how much load the harness plastic buckle can support with this setup (different angles), maybe someone here can test it.
Belt hook adapter can be found here or contact a JAY resellers :thumb:
Attachments
RE adapter.jpg


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