TIME For A Standardized QUICK RELEASE?

[RickI]

A Standardized Quick Release should be:

1. Highly reliable, simplistic, easy to activate regardless of rider position, loading or reasonable direction of pull.

2. Have a history of few problems or failures with proper use regardless of age, (this last within reason) over as long a period of time as feasible.

3. Be affordable and sufficiently unencumbered with patents or to otherwise allow use industry wide use without excessive royalties.

4. Have a sufficiently good reputation to allow adoption industry wide and by kiters at large.

5. Require little to no maintenance.

6. Be easy to reload reliably, even while in the water if feasible.


There are other attributes but does this list include most of the important ones?

FKA, Inc.

transcribed by:
Rick Iossi

[RickI]

Are we at the point where quick releases with the above attributes exist? Or is it still too early?

Why not put up some designs, exchange views on our experience with ease and reliability of use. Maybe we could even vote on a final short list of prospects.

Here are a couple for starters. The first is from Cabrinha and the second from Slingshot and the third from Naish. Lets look at the Quick Releases alone, independent of other components to keep focused, ok?

Have folks had problems with these releases? Are there other highly reliable designs that have been around for a while that we should be looking at?



Cabrinha


Slingshot


Naish

[Toby]

this is one of the most important standards our sport needs.

Don't paragliders have a standard QR as well? How long did it take them to have a standard one?

[RickI]

The three-ring release has been around for 35 years in sky diving and paragliding. More about this at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-ring_release_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Booth

I think it is important that the standard design has been used within kiteboarding for a sufficiently long period of time to establish some of the conditions on the list above. If we go back to prototyping, we are still well before realistic standardization.


So, does a sufficiently reliable QR exist today, one with a sufficient track record to back it up that meets most of the listed attributes?

[Beachbum1236]

I vote in favor for one!

[devin]

i love the older naish chicken loops. extremely clean design (nothing dangling) and very easy to release, even with winter gloves on. also, the release is enabled by grabbing the sheath of the CL and pulling away from one's body, allowing easy re-hooking without fear of accidental blow-outs.

reloading is fairly easy when there is little to no pull on the front lines.

this one has my vote

[Toby]

true, the Naish one is a good one. Simple, clean, no metal, low release forces. But why does Naish uses something like an Iron Heart for 2008? Did they have any issues with it?

[Nino_fs]

I vote for the cabrihna system.

1. Reliable only moving parts are high strength plastics and SS steel. The amount of pull on the kite has no effect on the amount of pull needed to activate the QR.

2. The strength of the moving parts and the simplicity of the design make it unlikely to fail and unlikely a user would assemble it wrong(there is really only one way it can go together).

3. Most of the parts are simple commercially available SS parts.

4. Many companies are using this design and it is quite popular

5. Again SS and high strength plastics nothing that really wears out

6. Reload is a simple process and can be figured out even without ever looking at the manual. And can be done in the water.

I believe the naish and the cabrihna system work on the same principle but the naish system uses webbing and ropes in place of the SS on the cabrihna system. It is also somewhat more difficult to assemble after activation.

The only change I would recommend for the cabrihna system is a wider diameter to it is much easier to find without looking.

Ozone leash is a perfect example. The safety release is larger than the surrounding material so all a person has to do is wrap hand around the leash and push away.
http://www.flyozone.com/gallery/main.ph ... emId=19427

[woodfu]

That naish release you have there is atleast 3 years old. The newer ones are thicker and easier to grab. Simple, no metal to wear or rust, only way to fault them would be that you have to replace the whole setup when your cl line wears out.. definatly my vote.

[blowhard]

The reason I went tot he Slingshot Surefire system was because of the cost of the Naish trim loops
I was spending over a $100 a year on trim loops
Now I use the SS Surefire
and my loops cost about $3 1/4" Spectra
and last 6 months
STANDARDIZATION
Is way past due.
BUT
with every company wanting to sell something NEW
I'm sure we will be seeing lot's more new ideas
And perhaps something that is better .

Remember we can't even agree that colored lines are a good thing