Weight of the kite

[IanNJ]

Over the last few months I have been working with www.GreenHatKiteboarding.com . I am super stoked to be doing testing and reviews. We are trying to do comparisons as well... It is my hope that we can get enough people to read them and get some lf these major brands to have a set of standards. Like a lot of folks the brands are using terms that are very relitive like "light bar pressure", light as compared to what? Getting smacked across the face by a 350lb women? "Fast turning" is another, whos openion is it that it turns fast? Because i think its a pig! So what we are trying to do is give a review but more importantly add in some examples from other brands we sell to round out what we mean. I have posted some in the review section already. Currenty one of the things that i am looking at is "light wind" and foiling... I have been looking at the weight of the kite as i am sure that has a factor. I am not intrested in ram air kites... So all this being said i already im stoked on this Fact: LF 9m Solo weighs 6.8 lbs. Cabrinha Velocity 10m weighs 6.5lbs. That might not sound like much, but a 5 strut kite thats a meter bigger weighs less then the solo! Thats crazy to me because i have been using the Solos for foiling for 6 months. Well off to do some more "light wind" (10-14mph) testing. Keep an eye out for reviews. Also if there are any little things floks would like to see please post up.

[aeberl]

Weight is not only important for light wind performance. I ride a BRM 9m C2. I weighs 2.75kg. So far it is the best wave kite I have tried.
I find it great that you started a kite comparison as a more accurate type of review, however I believe it is time for this industry to set some standards. No review can really be taken seriously if things can not be measured.
Many things could be cleared up a little with simple numbers like:
- REAL canopy area
- REAL projected area
- weight of kite
- weight of bar + lines
- Linear acceleration at three different wind velocities
- Angular acceleration at three different wind velocities
- front line pull at three different wind velocities
- back line pull at max. angle of attack before stalling at three different wind velocities
These numbers are easy to obtain with very little and inexpensive instruments and would take out most of the guesswork when deciding which kite to buy next.
I think it will be benefiial to the brands as well since it will open up markets in locations were some brands have no kites for testing.

[Faxie]

Why would the companies bother? Most of them are relying mostly on brand-image anyway.

[alamos_kiter]

Why would the companies bother? Most of them are relying mostly on brand-image anyway.

This, and on top, the results are of no use for the riders: an experienced rider uses a kite and immediately knows if he likes it or not. The feel of it. He does not bother with sheets of numbers. An unexperienced rider wouldn't understand the numbers anyways.

A little test: assume a kite has
flat surface: 9.02m2
projected surface: 6.22m2
l/d at 5º AoA: 5
l/d at 7.5º AoA: 4.5
l/d at 10º AoA: 3
l/d at 15º AoA: 1
rear line pressure at 5º AoA: 32N
rear line pressure at 10º AoA: 50N
turning rate at 80% steering input: 0.5 /sec

Would you like that kite?

[randycasburn]

IDK - is it free?
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p.s. a "rate" requires a ratio (usually distance/time)

Just kidding alamos

[alamos_kiter]

IDK - is it free?
===
p.s. a "rate" requires a ratio (usually distance/time)

Just kidding alamos

Aaaaah, ratio: we're talking rotation here, so it would be rpm or frequency or 2*PI/sec or W/sec (360º/sec) or rad or whatever you please. In this case, 1/sec is a fine solution.