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North Kiteboarding 2020

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Blackened
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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby Blackened » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:16 am

Spoiler3000 wrote:
Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:34 pm
Is it just me or what do you guys think...

For all the hype they generated the release of the first product line-up of the „new north Kiteboarding“ seems a bit like a crash-landing...?

I mean... there is no wow-effect at all, right?
Dont they look like average kites, with average materials?
Or did i miss something?!

Dont get me wrong... there are not many of their kites around at our spots... so i was wondering!?
I think there were a lot of delays in global shipping, so people haven't been able to get them. That's an easy way to kill any hype and prevent many of them from getting out on the water.

I've seen quite a few of them (Orbits, couple Carves) out here. They "look" like normal kites. Quality doesn't appear to be any less than my Duotone kites, but I'm not microscope inspecting them. I will admit the light blue colour looks faded, used, and crap, especially out on the water. This may lead to downgrade of opinion. The red ones look absolutely mint though. A lack of defining colour/graphic design may put people off, but I like simple designs.

Anyway, I think we should be concentrating on performance and durability rather than looks. Durability is obviously yet to be tested as it's new. Performance - needs to be ridden. I have yet to ride any of them. From watching the Orbit on the water, it keeps the shape much better than my Evo when overpowered and has noticeably better hangtime. I watched a guy borrow one - going from a 9m Evo vs 9m Orbit. According to his Woo, he was immediately jumping the same 12-15m on a kite that flies/loads completely differently than what he's accustomed. That's pretty impressive. Apparently they have a little more power and stability in the loop. From what I've seen, I think they would likely suit my overpowered riding style better than my Evos. The Evo often deforms at the wings in larger gusts, even when it's pumped to 8-9psi. Again, this is watching the kites performance and asking questions about them. A couple of the guys here went out and bought Orbits after riding them (specifically for jumping/looping in 25kn+, going from Dice/Evo).

As for the boards, I've ridden the Atmos hybrid for about two hours. Good freeride/big air board. It was a little while now, but I remember being relatively impressed with it. Wasn't "wow I need to have that feeling" though. Pop was good, comfort in chop was good, speed was good, upwind was good, grip was good, tracking was good, turning was good, rail control good, etc. It wasn't amazing at anything, but did everything pretty well. Quality/durability I didn't notice any negatives, but they're a hard thing to judge with a new board. Footpads seemed a little cheap and didn't fit me well. I also have size 50 feet. Personally, I wouldn't buy one for myself for a few reasons:
1. Atmos sizing is too narrow for my taste. This is pure preference for the way I ride and the size of my feet.
2. Dull blue/green/black boards are a lost board waiting to happen. I spend about 5-10min almost every session looking for mine when it flips.
3. Premium price for a new untested product... and I'm cheap af.

Bar & lines:
Colour is a bit bland and dull, but I like the perceived quality and especially the bar shape. It looks top notch. When I crash, I just grab for the bar with whatever hand I can reach and hope it's the correct side. Since I usually can't see what I'm doing at this stage, this procedure doesn't always work well and I occasionally tomahawk or accidentally loop. The weird one-sided shape would likely help determine which way was which without me needing to see the bar colours. Line quality is better than what I'm used to on Duotone, but so isn't everything? :D. Also about the lines, they make a weird whining sound when under load on the water. It's really odd. It's handy for me when a North rider is behind me so I know where s/he is, but it may be slightly annoying as the rider having that constant noise. The best way I can describe it is being a really tight fishing line in high winds.

Hoping to have a go on an Orbit in the next couple weeks, depending on wind.

Blackened
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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby Blackened » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:24 am

Kozzie wrote:
Wed Oct 09, 2019 2:27 am
If you want to know why people like them you need to ask to see the shops margins $$$$ pay less sell for same more profit business is business
I've heard shop margins on at least the boards are quite small in comparison to other brands.

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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby kobajagrande » Wed Oct 09, 2019 6:40 am

Hello people,
Sorry if this had been answered on the forum, search result did not return anything useful.
Can anyone who tried the North Carve kite explain a little bit more about the "bar shaking" issue. Is it an issue at all or a feature ? :)
I mean should I be concerned about it, or does it happen just in some particular conditions, or way of handling the kite ? Not an expert rider just a regular strapless guy so I might not even notice it.
Thank you in advance.

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Frankieboy
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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby Frankieboy » Wed Oct 09, 2019 8:49 am

I tried the 9m Carve (back to back with Slash '19) in around 18-20kts and that shacking briefly happened. It is like the tips are not stable and this pulls in the backlines en thus on the bar.
I have the same on my BRM Clouds when overpowered and had the same on my new Naish Slash 7m in a 35kts gust.
It is worth trying on the upper range of the kite, it might be a problem I guess.
Or maybe it is not a big deal and we focus on this because we read about it... as I said I had the same with other kites...
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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby windsuks » Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:50 pm

I've yet to notice any bar vibration on either the Carve or the Orbit, also we've never heard of the lines whining...neither have any of the other guys here (our customers) who use them have mentioned this!?
Maybe just need a few more psi as previously mentioned.

Here's some video from the past week on the Carve


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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby luca » Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:59 pm

I Switched from 2019 Bandit to the Carve and Orbit and they are more stable in the higher windrange. For me no unstable wingtips at the Carve or Orbit. Try a 6m Bandit 2019 and 6m Orbit or Carve in 35-40 knots. The Bandit will have a really shaky feeling in the bar. The Orbit for example is so incredible stable and comfortable.
Quality is much better too than F-One. Starting with the Bag you will get over the kite to the bar. Everything is really nice in each detail.
The Bar is awesome. For example The lines you will get are the best ones on the market.
The Bag has everything you need with very good quality and really nice optics
The Kites are so well done. Check the details if you get one.

Have fun

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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby camiri » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:56 am

I've got a Navigator Bar and Carve. Only gripe about the Navigator is the throw is too long (for me anyway), hopefully the short freeride loop will help. The easy switch from 50 to 55 (for my bar) is pretty sweet. OMG the selt belt click chicken loop system. Why doesn't every brand do this!?

Carve is quite different to what I've flown before (Neo, Lithium, Ultra), initial thought is it's a slower but more in-control ride. The verdict is still out on whether I get the same stoke as on Neo and Lithium. Pumping it up is much better than my Duotone gear, they've done a good job at keeping it simple. Duotone "overengineered" their twist valve and it's a bitch using an adapter on my "other brand" pump.

Bag is much better than the Airush Ultra bags. Plenty of space. I really hate the Ultra bags, the trade-off on practicality isn't worth the gimmick.

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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby Leon van Bergen » Mon Oct 14, 2019 1:12 pm


nixmatters
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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby nixmatters » Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:59 pm

Leon van Bergen wrote:
Mon Oct 14, 2019 1:12 pm
Can we please have this thread for kite related information? Like performance, quality, pricing, customer service, etc. Thanks!

P.S. Now that I've seen Part 2 - way more kite relevant info :)
Curious to hear from someone who compared the 2 kites in some proper boosting.
Last edited by nixmatters on Mon Oct 14, 2019 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: North Kiteboarding 2020

Postby Exal » Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:44 pm

Leon van Bergen wrote:
Mon Oct 14, 2019 1:12 pm
They posted part 2, love those guys :thumb:

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