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Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

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stevet25
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Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby stevet25 » Sat May 25, 2019 6:14 pm

Local beaches have had a rash of failing LE bladders on newish kites. And then the replacement bladders have been rupturing on inflation. Is this just bad luck locally or is this a bit of a known issue? Any info? Thanks

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby Barryg101 » Sat May 25, 2019 11:11 pm

We have new ozone at our school the catalyst.
Most the kites have gotten tiny leaks in the struts and some in the LE after just 6 months use, not sure why it's happening as we take great care with the kitea . Also the hard plastic that connects the strut tubes to the strut eventually breaks the bladder connection valve meaning you need to replace that too.

Havent seen this happening before but thought I'd share my experience

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby Kamikuza » Sun May 26, 2019 4:47 am

Consecutive serial numbers, same year kites?

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby Havre » Sun May 26, 2019 8:34 am

Certainly not normal. Never seen an Ozone-kite fail.

The struts do leak though. A bit annoying, but the leaks have never had any practical consequences for me. Not sure if they leak more than other brands? Never owned a kite that wasn’t Ozone.

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby longwhitecloud » Sun May 26, 2019 8:51 am

No idea about Ozone in particular but bladder valves / seals are failing worldwide on a fairly large scale right now.

They were all heat bonded ones. The warmer the area you live in the faster the delimitation happens. If you live somewhere super hot (kites in cars in summer 50c +) I know of people that have had this happen within a year.

If you live somewhere cold sounds like you are winning with this issue.

You can see it in all the adds for kites that say - "just needs valves sticking back on $100!"

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby Kamikuza » Sun May 26, 2019 10:02 am

Havre wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 8:34 am
Never seen an Ozone-kite fail.

The struts do leak though.
I love the contradiction there :lol: leaking struts isn't a failure?

The *only* kites I've seen fail are Ozone. Oh, and an ancient Waroo.

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby NorwayIsCold » Sun May 26, 2019 11:52 am

Havre wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 8:34 am
Certainly not normal. Never seen an Ozone-kite fail.

The struts do leak though. A bit annoying, but the leaks have never had any practical consequences for me. Not sure if they leak more than other brands? Never owned a kite that wasn’t Ozone.

Hahah.. leaking struts - that is definitely a failed kite! Try to do a 4 hour downwinders with a floppy kite.
Other brand kites don’t leak by themselves. At all.
If I were you, I would go back to Ozone dealer and ask them for new bladder set repair.
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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby Regularkiter » Sun May 26, 2019 12:44 pm

Happens every now again, most of the kites are made on the same factories, they probably messed up the chemicals again and bladders are leaking. Heard this stories a lot from kite brands, which sucks as it's not their own fault but factories.

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby JaZone » Sun May 26, 2019 1:12 pm

NorwayIsCold wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 11:52 am
Havre wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 8:34 am
Certainly not normal. Never seen an Ozone-kite fail.

The struts do leak though. A bit annoying, but the leaks have never had any practical consequences for me. Not sure if they leak more than other brands? Never owned a kite that wasn’t Ozone.

Hahah.. leaking struts - that is definitely a failed kite! Try to do a 4 hour downwinders with a floppy kite.
Other brand kites don’t leak by themselves. At all.
If I were you, I would go back to Ozone dealer and ask them for new bladder set repair.

Have to disagree with that assessment. I believe ALL kites will start to leak eventually.

I’ve seen leaking valves on Cabrinha , Naish , slingshot , Liquid-force, Takoon , F-1 , and I’m sure the rest of them are being made the same way.

It’s something that I’m sure the manufacturers are well aware of, but actually don’t give a shit. They would rather sell you a new kite when they start to leak.

The only worthwhile solution is to stock up on aquaseal , so you can glue the valves back when they start to fail.

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Re: Ozone leading edge bladder failures?

Postby Kamikuza » Sun May 26, 2019 1:45 pm

Regularkiter wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 12:44 pm
Happens every now again, most of the kites are made on the same factories, they probably messed up the chemicals again and bladders are leaking. Heard this stories a lot from kite brands, which sucks as it's not their own fault but factories.
Ozone is very proud of having its own factory that it shares with nobody else.
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