Kitesurfing steering lines shorter than power lines

[Crissssssss]

Stretch works and is pretty simple.

I would bet your lines were in tune (all equal) when the bar was new.

The bar was used when I got it

[Crissssssss]

I just attached them to a tree and pulled hard. I don’t know how it happened I believe that when I got it was like that but I was a total beginner

It's hard to believe a hard pull would eliminate a 4 inch line discrepancy. Based on the first photo (showing the 4 inch difference), I would have recommended adding some pigtails to the steering lines to lengthen them.

I wasn’t expecting that either but it worked. Just from pulling they stretched like 3 inches. I have to check them more often

[dylan*]

Riding 3-4 days a week I have to stretch my rear lines about once a month. Its a pain in the ass but it's just part of kiting, there is just way more load on the front lines than the rears. That's a pretty nice bar, I would definitely keep it maintained and not rush into buying a different one.

One other thing is that you should be able to just adjust the rear line length so you don't have to constantly stretch them. From what I understand the newest LF bar will be able to do this, not sure why the older ones gave you knots to shorten them.... you'd never want to do that.

[Crissssssss]

Riding 3-4 days a week I have to stretch my rear lines about once a month. Its a pain in the ass but it's just part of kiting, there is just way more load on the front lines than the rears. That's a pretty nice bar, I would definitely keep it maintained and not rush into buying a different one.

One other thing is that you should be able to just adjust the rear line length so you don't have to constantly stretch them. From what I understand the newest LF bar will be able to do this, not sure why the older ones gave you knots to shorten them.... you'd never want to do that.

They have three knots to adjust the rear line but it was in the last one already

[iriejohn]

Before retuning a bar and stretching lines I first wet the lines.

And don't forget to replace that trim line ...

[dylan*]

Before retuning a bar and stretching lines I first wet the lines.

And don't forget to replace that trim line ...

I haven't heard of this before. What does wetting them do?

[iriejohn]

Before retuning a bar and stretching lines I first wet the lines.

And don't forget to replace that trim line ...

I haven't heard of this before. What does wetting them do?

This was with my Slingshot lines. I don't know why but it seemed to let the lines stretch more - perhaps water is lubricating the individual Dyneema strands?

I've just switched to Ozone SK99 lines so it'll be interesting to see how they behave after a few months of use ...

[nixmatters]

This was with my Slingshot lines. I don't know why but it seemed to let the lines stretch more - perhaps water is lubricating the individual Dyneema strands?

I've just switched to Ozone SK99 lines so it'll be interesting to see how they behave after a few months of use ...

Great tip on wetting the lines before tuning!
How are your Ozone SK99 lines holding up? Any difference in stretching (actually shrinking) over SK75?

[iriejohn]

This was with my Slingshot lines. I don't know why but it seemed to let the lines stretch more - perhaps water is lubricating the individual Dyneema strands?

I've just switched to Ozone SK99 lines so it'll be interesting to see how they behave after a few months of use ...

Great tip on wetting the lines before tuning!
How are your Ozone SK99 lines holding up? Any difference in stretching (actually shrinking) over SK75?

They shrink less, go out of tune less frequently, and feel more direct.

[Foil]

lines shrink not stretch over time.
which makes sense as its the front lines that take the highest load so these will stay as long as when new, as they are pulled hard every session, whereas the steering lines are not loaded to maximum at any time so they shrink back in the sun and wet, (like a T shirt in some way)
some bars are sold with much stronger front lines as they are the ones under loads of stress, the steering lines being thinner, lighter and cheaper.
but they shrink back a little,
so it makes sense to me that heaving back on them will return them back to original length, depends on type of line as well i guess.
a few weeks back i had a situation where one of my steering lines was really pulled hard during a kite down in waves situation, it did not snap but it stretched it out by around 4 cm, I sailed around for the rest of the day with my bar at a silly angle,
when I got home I simply set my bar up on my driveway with all lines secured and did the pull as hard as you can trick on the shorter line to even up the lengths, as it happened i pulled back the shorter steering line almost the right amount, but had to adjust the pigtails to get it spot on