Same as what would be wrong with 21 struts...

Up yer bum Alex
Assuming that anything more than 6 struts is unacceptable - why is 6 ok but 7 not?

Kind of like the 25-30m kites of 6 years ago. Lost to evolution.

High strut count with tons of bridling can make for loads of stability in high winds, but that just encourages riding with too much kite. We have enough of that already. Idiot proof stability is great for idiots. The rest of us want performance and will gladly rig the right size kite for the conditions to get it.

If you can go with 3 less struts and improve the kite why wouldn't you? I love the current trend to simplify kites as much as possible. Less weight, less points of failure, easier quality control. Do you need more than that?

Is all about finding the right compromise
more struts = more rigidity in the canopy = more weight
less struts = less rigidity in the canopy = less weight

I remember an old Naish kite with 10 struts.... Did no fly very well but huge jumping and crazy hang time..

Race kites like to have more struts but some brand is reducing them also...

The no struts kite I saw flying if you look at the canopy just behind the LE you could see deformations on the profile!
Bye Jankie

haha the x10...ultra high aspect. I still have one. Wonder how that would fly compared to the current kites...nah...

LOL
No wonder, big companies mainly do just graphical redesign for their next year's model, because most of you seem to be to much conservative to even think of any changes let alone to try something new. And you are probably the guys, who run to get their new gear, with sick graphics, before they even come to their dealer.
I'm glad someone if always looking out of the box.
Gigi, you probably have same problem as me. The location! To many great designs and not enough wind to do a thorough test on all of them.

i got to ride the x10 again not too long ago, and it's amazing how slow this kite is.
we are so used to the fast turning and stable kites of today that we forgot how bad the kites used to be.
i also rode my friend's 2005 Best Nemesis, which i remembered as a nice kite with good air time, and i found it very hard to ride. tons of bar pressure needed in order to turn the kite and you had to put on extra weight on the edge of the board before you jump.
i think that the boards made some big change and don't fit the old kites.
if you are going to ride old kites, use an old board as well

Sorry for a bit late response, I'm in a bit of other work,

but kudos to those who figured out that the kites with all deflated struts do actually still work good!

This thread was indeed meant as a teaser to check the people minds about strutless kites and from the responses I've got I've hit the hot spot

SO, is useful strutless ILE single skin kite possible? Can it work good? IMO YES Sure it "should" have some issues on some fields, but generally should be cool...

Anyway, I have couple of designs that should work good. Now, I'd like to work with some cool brand, that it is not just a "copy-cat", on this one... So if any interest - here is my contact. I could say that this was the intention of my post...

Video below represents the behavior of one of my designs with deflated struts and a bonus on the end...

NOTICE - Strutless kite design is just rough presentation of the actual design and all the sweet things are hidden away

I should have clarified :
21 struts are unacceptable
7 struts are unacceptable
6 struts are unacceptable
1 strut, any strut is unacceptable
1 inflatable leading edge in unacceptable
bladders and pumps are unacceptable
What remains acceptable ?
I am sure we agree

More seriously, the middle path is not only acceptable but the one to follow.
See Peter Frank's recent comment about pushing to see how far is too far and swinging back to find the right balance... or something like that.
Otherwise we could reason as follows:
Let's admit 7 struts are acceptable. Why 8 wouldn't be? And so on...

...double skin with too many lines...