Postby Dan-at-Duotone » Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:10 am
edt-
I agree with you on the confusion raised by such a redesign of the Evo. I also understand your thoughts that we could have called it the Fuse or something else, but we put a lot of effort into educating our dealers and the public so most people adapted to it fairly easily. I also agree that it's not the norm for North to shakeup the lineup like that, but in my opinion it was needed as there was too much overlap and confusion in design criteria for each model. Now that it's done and we're heading into our 2nd year with the new clarified lineup I think it was worth it and I'm really happy with the line as a whole and I don't expect any big changes like it in the foreseeable future.
In that vein, as others have said, the Vegas continues to be the freestyle/wakestyle kite in our range. It did get a big redesign, but the redesign does not fundamentally change the Vegas' place in our lineup. The Vegas was and will continue to be our wakestyle/freestyle kite.
For those curious, I have two bits of feedback on the 2015 Vegas. The first is from our international team guys. They absolutely love the redesign. They've been asking for a more 'hardcore' freestyle/wakestyle kite for a while and now they have it. They say that on the standard 5-line bar that we've had for years that the Vegas remains freeride friendly enough for old Vegas lovers to still enjoy it. Then there are a couple other setups that make the kite progressively more aggressive and tuned for advanced riding.
The second bit of feedback I have is from a quick session I got on one of the 'medium-hard-core' settings, and I think I have to agree with Westozzy's review... It's considerably more advanced and less forgiving than past Vegas's. Sheeting in and out has much less effect on the power of the kite, but when you get the right pop and do everything correctly the kite really rewards you with great slack. A good raley feels REALLY good, but it's a bit harder to get it, and when you screw up it lets you know. I did not get a chance to ride the kite in the 'freeride' setup, but I would be very surprised if it really is as freeride-friendly as previous Vegas' have been.
On the other hand, I've also got some time on the 2015 Dice in the flatwater/park (haven't had a chance to ride it in the waves yet) and I have to say it's noticeably better than the 2014 for freestyle/wakestyle. It feels very natural, loops are really smooth and powered, and either I've gotten a lot better or it's got all the slack I was used to getting on the 2014 Vegas. I really liked the 2014 Dice, but I stuck with Vegas' as my kite of choice last year because I spend so much time in the flatwater and I felt the Vegas was slightly better in performance and feel. Since we've gotten the 2015 Dice I haven't gone back to the Vegas, so I think there's a very good chance that I switch to being a Dice guy this year (though I definitely want to give the 2015 Vegas some more time).
In my opinion, the 2015 Dice satisfies all of my flatwater needs that I'd previously relied on the Vegas for.
I'm sure there will be some freeriders who will be disappointed in the new Vegas, but I'm going to urge all of those people to try the new Dice. Last year I saw a lot of national level freestyle and freeride riders switch from Vegas to Dice, and I expect that to continue, while those who really need and can use the wake/freestyle ability of the Vegas now have even more performance available. Having Hadlow get involved in increasing that performance, and giving him free reign to make the Vegas as hardcore as he wants seems logical to me considering the performance abilities of the Dice.
It's not that we arbitrarily gave Hadlow the Vegas to do with what he wanted... We had planned a large redesign of the Vegas to make it more hardcore in light of the performance abilities of the Dice, and Aaron happened to join up at a very opportune moment when we were willing and able to put his design ideas into practice. Make sense?
-Dan