Ozone Strut Valves breaking after 1 year in tropical climate

[Bille]

I have (3) Ozone Edges, from 2008-9-10 , and all of them work perfect ; so
if the newer ones are breaking, then some Dumb-Ass been-counter , talked
Ozone into making their kites with Cheaper materials, so the profit
margen would be better !

One bad kite, i could understand ; but apparently, it's happening a Lot.
I won't be purchasing any new Ozone kites ; because they Should last
more than one year.

Bille

[biasbilt]

Ozone had a known problem a while back with this happening, which was put down to a bad batch of material that was used for making the elbows. I ended up replacing all bladder in a 12 and 10m 20165 Catalyst, but thought that this had been solved with their more recent kites

[foilholio]

Their foil kites have problems too, no LCLs and too thick bridles at the kite(some models).

[kjorn]

I have (3) Ozone Edges, from 2008-9-10 , and all of them work perfect ; so
if the newer ones are breaking, then some Dumb-Ass been-counter , talked
Ozone into making their kites with Cheaper materials, so the profit
margen would be better !

Bille

I don't 100% agree with you here. I think new kites turn faster than previous ones. Part of this is that the kite flexes a lot more. When the kite twists and flexes it puts way more pressure on those little one-pump tubes and those wiggle the connections ... which over time just start to break.

North use an ingenious little plastic thing that seems to make the tube to bladder nipple a lot stronger.

I doubt the material has changed since the first batch were made. I think it's more of an engineering problem, how to join a stiff plastic tube to a flexible plastic tube and stop the stiff one from flexing and eventually failing.

Why do we even need those silly little tubes? Naish octopus pump was a step in the right direction.

[foilholio]

Naish octopus pump was a step in the right direction.

[flysurfing]

A friend of mine got the same issue on two of it's ozone kites after 7 months.

[elnica]

3 more valves broke on my 7m v8. I haven't even flown it since the other 5 valves were replaced in Cabarete. They said this happens a lot on Ozone. They replaced the valves with slingshot valves so if you are thinking of replacing them, the slingshot valves fit perfectly. I just bought 6 more to replace all of them, wish I had done that in cabarete, now sitting in hood river repairing a kite instead of flying it.

I have ozone edges V1 (the red and black ones) that have much more use and never died. I replaced those older ones recently just because I want more loopy kites but never buying ozone again with their lack of quality control. QA seems to have failed on the quick release too after seeing Ruben Lenten's broken foot after accidental release.

Some asked about storage, I store the kite the same as all my kites, in AC on a rack and this was the one that was used the least living in Florida.

This 7m v8 will be replaced soon, no more ozone for me, all Flysurfer Boosts now

[mr_daruman]

So after about two dozen kite repairs in 2019/2020 due to this valve breaking issue it seems Ozone has completly redesigned their valves including the materials. Quite the difference in the Enduro V3 that just came out.
Previous kites I had to repair included nearly all their kites; including the latest Reo, Enduro V1,V2, Edges, C4s...all the exact same problem. All from different riders, kites from 2016 up to 2019. Tropical humid climate.

[Jamesconn300]

For 5 years, I stored my gear in my car, all year round. None of those kites have this problem -- or any others.

#neverozone

hmmm. I always thought that this was huge no no.. Green house effect in the warm season. I don't have to explain this effect, I'm sure everyone has got into a really unbearably hot parked car before...this effect kills kids left in car seats way too often..

So what environment is your car and kites in?? more importantly.. what brand kites?

[Kamikuza]

For 5 years, I stored my gear in my car, all year round. None of those kites have this problem -- or any others.

#neverozone

hmmm. I always thought that this was huge no no.. Green house effect in the warm season. I don't have to explain this effect, I'm sure everyone has got into a really unbearably hot parked car before...this effect kills kids left in car seats way too often..

So what environment is your car and kites in?? more importantly.. what brand kites?

Two years on, same same. -5'C to 40'C winter and summer, humid as in summer. Kept my gear in the car year round cos we don't have a garage and I came be bothered walking around the property to the shed several times.

Cabrinha has been my main brand, but I've had Ocean Rodeo, Peter Lynn, Flysurfer, North, Core... All treated the same.

Even 5 years ago at the local most kites were Ozone, but they've all been replaced because they've all just failed and fallen apart. Duotone has better support, Fone more reliable. Everyone has jumped ship.