Yeah, I rode the Airush 17m varial x race kite the other day and that was one pump.

For the original poster, It wouldn't be hard to modify a one pump kite. You'll only have to do it one on a no wind day and problem solved.

Mate, if those hose clips wouldn't have popped off, you would have to swim in anyway. But not because the clips popped off when you crashed your kite hard, but because your LE would have been ripped into pieces. Air has to escape somehow if you crash your kite hard (and I prefer to put a hose back onto the nipple).

Another reason for choosing a one-pump system kite.

Cheers
Caesar

the debate can never be resolved. it's merely subjective. but i wouldn't say most people have them so that's why most companies make them. i think it's the other way around; most companies make them, and that's why most people have them. i think if all companies offered both options, many more kiters would opt for multi-pump systems.

when one pump first came out, everyone was like 'cool!'. but now that we know the pros and cons, i think there's a different attitude. personally, i won't buy another kite with one pump, and so that limits the brands i can consider.

possible that weaker one pump connections blow before leading edge / by distributing load on kite struts/leading edge - hard to say - some one pumps dont have those external connector tubes to blow off tho.

Popping the hose clips off doesn't decrease pressure in any meaningful way- it just exposes the strut bladders which are at the same pressure- no change in pressure for LE bladder. There is no decrease in pressure unless one of the hoses breaks off, and at that point you are swimming in with a totally uninflated kite (and in many cases, ditching the kite to never see again). If I crashed a kite so hard to pop a bladder, I'd rather just replace the LE bladder and still have all the struts inflated so that the kite will float.

That said, I've never seen a bladder burst on impact alone, I learned on a 2 line c kite and crashed that thing countless times full speed onto the water and it never popped. If a bladder pops from impact it is defective or past it's useable life.

WildDuke what do you mean modify a one pump???
Has anyone actually done it succesfully??? My guess is that it's actually not that easy job , you'll have to remove the valves from the LE bladder and patch the holes and also shaw some cloth on to the holes on the LE. Then you'll have to change all the valves on the strats from one pump to one way valves and also shaw some velcro there to hold the valves.
That not only seems as a lot of work but a lot of money as well.

I originally was opposed to the one-pump for a number of reasons. But the truth of the matter is I really haven’t experienced any problems with my system and I never hear or see any one-pump failures (locally or on the net). Other than the Naish octopus system I think the one-pump is a non-issue.

I've patched extraneous inflate valves (my kites have two inflate valves and one dump valve on the LE) when they delaminated, instead of re-gluing them. It is easy- cut the valve out, then patch the hole in the bladder with Tear-aid A or B (use a piece big enough to over-hang the hole by about an inch on each side, also use some sort of backing over the hole or the tape will grab onto the other side of the bladder), or glue a patch of vinyl/old bladder with some vinyl glue/aqua-seal. Then I put a bit of sail repair tape on the inside of the LE fabric to prevent the bladder from herniating out of the opening in the LE, about a 5"x1" strip seems to work. This works well and is easy, but without a way to close off the strut valves, it couldn't be used for one-pump valves.

Does anyone know of any way to put a stopper on the normal one-pump type valves? I've considered blocking off LE one-pump valves and replacing strut valves with U-stick valve but at $12 per valve times 5 valves per kite times 4 kites...

I had it done to my 15m cult. here is a guy in florida that does it for a reasonable price. Great work too.

The conversion from one pump is EASY.

It is fully understandable why a lot of riders don't like one-pump: Repairs ARE a nightmare. To a certain extent, it depends on where you ride too. Crew who ride in sandy areas (e.g. beaches) tend to like one-pump whereas crew who ride where there are a lot of sharp rocks, shells, sticks, weeds, etc, tend to prefer multiple pump.

To convert: Remove the leading edge bladder and replace with a generic bladder. Ensure the one-pump clips are left on the exposed rubber tubes. Attach a nozzle to your pump that meshes with the diameter of the exposed rubber tubes. Voila!

Alternatively, you can remove the rubber tubes altogether and replace with proper valves, but this is more time consuming.

PMU