Best bar ever made? LF Mission V3

[mmeyers12]

Anyone got the new Liquid Force bar yet? Looks awesome. Highlight being the simplicity, the high-y adjuster and the solid red on the left side of the bar. What do you guys think? If anyone buys and doesnt need the high-y adjuster please let me know. I would be happy to buy off you!

[grigorib]

I think chicken loop should have seat belt buckle click-in. It doesn’t matter if there’s a weighted piece - Ozone got it right last year (after a decade and a half of chickenloops)
The “other bars” which didn’t slide well were previous version of mission control bar to say the least.

I hope we’ll see some of climbing grade solutions in kiting gear. Check out Enata bar for ideas on elegance and functionality

[dejavu]

Yes. Looks simply light and uncluttered something I like in a bar. The Cabrinha 2018 and 2019 1X bar is also a very clean simple light bar also.

[OzBungy]

It looks functionally pretty much the same as the Cabrinha Trimlite bars.

Apart from being very nice bars, it's easy to inspect and change the depower lines. It's also easy to make new leaders and a longer trim line so you can make a race bar for foiling.

I don't like the "sausage" style float. They can wrap around the bar and can trap the leader line from the other side.

The velcro on the cleat to hold the trim handle is a bit of a joke. I have never seen any of those systems work. The handle ends up flopping about. The Cabrinha bungy trim line works ok. I have had good result from using a handle that can be opened and placed around the depower line. That keeps the trim line tidy and easily accessible.

The one thing I don't like is the use of bungy cord in the safety line. I have never seen a bungy cord that lasts more than one deployment on the safety. They also look ratty after a few hours use. I make my own non-bungy safety lines and they work fine and last forever. The weight of the leash pulls the slack out the bottom when riding with the trimmer pulled.

[bragnouff]

Well, don't bring the Cabrinha bars in discussions about good designs. Please...
The flag line running inside the main depower PU cover is prone to heavy drag when released. And it is also very prone to wind itself coiled tight inside if you keep on looping always on the same direction. And because it's completely out of sight, you might never notice it except on that one time your kite doesn't flag out...

As per the bungy safety line on the Ozone, they do wear out a bit after a season, but it takes a while. And a spare is provided with a kite. Takes literally 2 minutes to replace.

[OzBungy]

It takes seconds to pull the Cabrinha bungy safety line out, check it, untwist it, resettle it. I would be surprised if you didn't have to do the same thing with the LF.

The bungy safety line lasts for ages if all you do is ride around on it. I have had a few accidental deployments recently where the quick release has caught on the board while body dragging or messing around relaunching in light winds (multiple bars from different manufacturers). The bungy snaps every time. I replace them with my own non-bungy safety line. It is inherently twist resistant and easy to clean. It never wears out.

[alexeyga]

Does anybody with real hands-on experience has anything with sense in it to contribute?

I used to kick F-One's butt for their ultra-safe, velcro release - all while owning F-one kites. Problem is - in over 3 seasons I haven't activated the release even once.
Hence - I don't quite understand - what does it matter to people who's riding mostly consists in wacking off on foil boards - if LF's release doesn't quite measure up to what Ozone does? Especially if you haven't even used one.

I had a chance to grab the V2 LF's bar last season when Mac had them at ridiculous discounts. This is my go-to bar for smaller kites and practising looping, main reasons being:
-strong, thick lines
-very simple-stupid and solid overall construction
-fairly smooth, catch-less design
-the bar it-self is actually very light

The only comments I can make so far:
-yes, because of the thick central tube - it's not as easy to roll up. Which goes for most bars with either PA-covered main line (F-one, Airush) or a tubing (Cabrinha). You just learn to roll and store it differently - end of the story.
-yes the bungee release leader gets abused... and so does any other safety release leader fed through the bar. As far as I'm concerned - it's a consumable on any bar and should be replaced regularly along with any other sensible maintenance (if you care about your safety at all - and by care - I mean taking pro-active actions).
-overall I'm more than happy with this bar, it's simple, solid and maintainable. It has been holding up very well. And b.t.w. the release works just fine.

A number of brands are selling variations of that bar with same guts: LF. OR and others. And I wouldn't hesitate riding with any.

[alford]

The LF MC 3 looks great. I too wonder about running safety line through PU tubing. No experience with this. It looks tidy but is it easy to pull out and replace?
Ozone bungee flag line is the absolute best I've seen. Funny how details like this shape opinions. My thinking is if attention is paid to things like a bungee line it bodes well for the rest of the kit. The sausage style floaters are not so bad, the big molded robot style floaters tend to collapse in and get in the way more often in my experience. They also look stupid imho. I also wonder about durability of the skin smooth Eva bar grip on the LF bar. Nice to see red/orange on the left side.
That's my only dig on the Ozone bar, the left side is mostly black. Is it a deal breaker, no, but no reason for Ozone to get cute on what otherwise is a fantastic bar.

[OzBungy]

I think chicken loop should have seat belt buckle click-in.

I would like to see the seat belt thing extend to the spreader bar. Why have a chicken loop at all when all you need is a single big seat belt end on your spreader bar? Instead of hooking in you just snap in.

...Check out Enata bar for ideas on elegance and functionality

The Enata bar looks good. Not sure I want just painted ends on the bar. My first foilboard got lots of dings to the rails from using bars with hard ends. My current foilboard has hundreds of hours and only a few paint chips. I deliberately went out and found a far with soft ends. The new board is full carbon with extra glass on the rails.

[dylan*]

Does anybody with real hands-on experience has anything with sense in it to contribute?

I used to kick F-One's butt for their ultra-safe, velcro release - all while owning F-one kites. Problem is - in over 3 seasons I haven't activated the release even once.

Yeah, definitely agree -- not sure who all these people are releasing their kites all the time that having "the perfect" QR matters so much. Yes, the Ozone one looks the best to me. But QRs have been good enough for me for years, since they are not very often put back together when you have one arm tied behind your back. (Except the 2012-2014 or whatever cabrinha one, f*** that QR puzzle). This one looks great to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The only time I ever need to flag my kite on the water is a situation where I'm swimming in, because my kite is getting smashed in the waves or something.

Re: people criticizing the velcro: I've been using LF bars for a couple years and the velcro has always worked perfectly for me. It's better than the bungee-style trim, since the bungee ends up danging no matter what. The only time the velcro really comes unstuck is in a heavy crash where everything goes underwater or you get smashed by a big wave. I think it's the best solution so far, especially since it's so dead simple. Bungees are too easy to snap if you pull them too hard and they get stuck -- happened to me before and then had a floppy ass trim line since the cab bar i had only sold the replacement as like a $90 kit