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Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

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apollo4000
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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby apollo4000 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:23 pm

Just seen Lewis riding 10 and 12m. Very pretty kites. Nice colours. According to the product book you can get 4th or 5th line versions. Lewis was riding the 4 line. Looked great

Matteo V
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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby Matteo V » Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:21 pm

North lost riders getting rid of Rebels in favor of Switchblades or some other comparable kites. Mostly due to experiencing or seeing a kite ripped in half by the 5th line. Solution? Get rid of the problem 5th line system.

Slingshot lost customers when first timers tried a bar with above the bar depower and would not consider switching to below the bar. Solution? Offer bars with both above and below depower.

Naish will eventually get rid of the Octopus inflation system as many second hand buyers steer clear of Naish because of it. This drives down resale value and makes leaky kites that could have been worth something, into a kite that is not worth anything.

Every company has their strategy to tread water in a over saturated market. Some companies have be sucking down water for a long time and are just now realizing it.

apollo4000
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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby apollo4000 » Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:08 pm

Matteo V wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:21 pm
North lost riders getting rid of Rebels in favor of Switchblades or some other comparable kites. Mostly due to experiencing or seeing a kite ripped in half by the 5th line. Solution? Get rid of the problem 5th line system.

Slingshot lost customers when first timers tried a bar with above the bar depower and would not consider switching to below the bar. Solution? Offer bars with both above and below depower.

Naish will eventually get rid of the Octopus inflation system as many second hand buyers steer clear of Naish because of it. This drives down resale value and makes leaky kites that could have been worth something, into a kite that is not worth anything.

Every company has their strategy to tread water in a over saturated market. Some companies have be sucking down water for a long time and are just now realizing it.
You make some good points. The other aspect putting people off is the increasing prices. We are in the realms of tweeks not fundamental design changes, such as when bows came in for Cs, so R&D cannot be that high; production is all in low cost locations in Asia aside from examples such as Nobile and Crazyfly but their prices are cheaper than the likes of North and Cabrinha. Exchange rates are hedged against. So why is kit getting so expensive? Harnesses have become ridiculous on the back of RE shells. £360! Bars at £400+. Most people buy last years gear as soon as the new stuff comes out. Surely the brands doesn't see this as good business? Investors want this years model to shift, not last years at 30%+ discount?

-30% is probably the market rate for this gear? Clearly this is all supposition as I don't work in the kite industry. Simply my moaning that it will be two years before I can buy the pretty 2018 North Rebels. 😀😀😀

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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby Peert » Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:21 am

apollo4000 wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:08 pm
Harnesses have become ridiculous on the back of RE shells. £360! Bars at £400+.
And prices will increase in your local currency as the voluntary isolation of your island called brexit will increase prices of all imported goods. Or phrased differently who still believes in British world domination and the pound?

apollo4000
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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby apollo4000 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 7:12 am

Peert wrote:
Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:21 am
apollo4000 wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:08 pm
Harnesses have become ridiculous on the back of RE shells. £360! Bars at £400+.
And prices will increase in your local currency as the voluntary isolation of your island called brexit will increase prices of all imported goods. Or phrased differently who still believes in British world domination and the pound?
The first point is true and sadly unavoidable. I voted remain. To your childish question: no-one believes it and nor have they for many years, nor do I think the British want to dominate anyone. Certainly the multicultural British who live down my road in London don't want to. you are stereotyping and clearly believe what you read in the papers.

A more grown-up, intelligent and relevant question would have been to end by asking about British world domination in the sport of kitesurfing? Then I could link Lewis and 5x World Champ, 2x KoTA Aaron back to the point of this thread - North Kites and 4line Rebels. Maybe that's the domination you wanted to talk about?

Please don't respond otherwise we'll know you're just trolling and let's get the thread back to North Rebels on 4line. The next interesting thing will be when someone demos them.

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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby alunj » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:40 am

Seen them here in Portugal . Initial reaction was the 5 is sweet the 7 not so much . Hope to try them when the wind returns

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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby Peert » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:42 am

You are right. The second part of my reply was not constructive. My apologies for this remark made after a couple of great UK whisky... I am just sad to see UK leave and sad to see more and more (non UK) heads of state going crazy. Good to read you voted against...

On topic. Did they equip the wing with different bridlepoints for 4 & 5 lines? I guess so. I'm further curious how the 4ln bridle looks. A short bridle without pulley should resemble the 5 line feel the most. Would be interesting to actually feel the kites back to back.

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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby apollo4000 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:27 am

Peert wrote:
Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:42 am
You are right. The second part of my reply was not constructive. My apologies for this remark made after a couple of great UK whisky... I am just sad to see UK leave and sad to see more and more (non UK) heads of state going crazy. Good to read you voted against...

On topic. Did they equip the wing with different bridlepoints for 4 & 5 lines? I guess so. I'm further curious how the 4ln bridle looks. A short bridle without pulley should resemble the 5 line feel the most. Would be interesting to actually feel the kites back to back.
It's all good. We're friends. :thumb:

I tried to look but didnt get close enough. It's the fundamental question - which setup will riders prefer?

Lewis looked very comfortable on his 10m in 35mph gusty conditions. how the 4 line handles the gusts and the wind range are are likely to be looked at.

Cheers

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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby TheKiteSurfer » Mon Jul 31, 2017 12:12 pm

apollo4000 wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:08 pm
Matteo V wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:21 pm
North lost riders getting rid of Rebels in favor of Switchblades or some other comparable kites. Mostly due to experiencing or seeing a kite ripped in half by the 5th line. Solution? Get rid of the problem 5th line system.

Slingshot lost customers when first timers tried a bar with above the bar depower and would not consider switching to below the bar. Solution? Offer bars with both above and below depower.

Naish will eventually get rid of the Octopus inflation system as many second hand buyers steer clear of Naish because of it. This drives down resale value and makes leaky kites that could have been worth something, into a kite that is not worth anything.

Every company has their strategy to tread water in a over saturated market. Some companies have be sucking down water for a long time and are just now realizing it.
You make some good points. The other aspect putting people off is the increasing prices. We are in the realms of tweeks not fundamental design changes, such as when bows came in for Cs, so R&D cannot be that high; production is all in low cost locations in Asia aside from examples such as Nobile and Crazyfly but their prices are cheaper than the likes of North and Cabrinha. Exchange rates are hedged against. So why is kit getting so expensive? Harnesses have become ridiculous on the back of RE shells. £360! Bars at £400+. Most people buy last years gear as soon as the new stuff comes out. Surely the brands doesn't see this as good business? Investors want this years model to shift, not last years at 30%+ discount?

-30% is probably the market rate for this gear? Clearly this is all supposition as I don't work in the kite industry. Simply my moaning that it will be two years before I can buy the pretty 2018 North Rebels. 😀😀😀

Some brands fix RRP at overinflated price point throughout the year.

Think about it, there are some brands you just never see on sale. Theres other brands regularly offering massive discounts.

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Re: Heard a whisper that the 2018 North Rebel will be a 4 line bridled kite!

Postby Matteo V » Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:34 am

I am not a Cabrinha rider in the least bit, but I saw them dominate my beaches back when they did some massive closeout sales. Great kites, major bar issues (complications), but still lots of people were riding them.

Then you could not find them for a bargain price. Those people moved on and never went back to Cabrinha. It seems like half of the Cabrinha kites I still see out on the water are from those years where there were massive closeouts.

Marketing wise, I see it three ways:

1. Never closeout or offer discounts = keep your price up and have to hype up your brand to make sales quotas thus keeping market share.

2. Do closeouts and get people riding your gear, then continue doing closeouts to keep people riding your gear and have even better sale thus increasing market share.

3. Do a one time closeout (maybe 2-3years), and lose people who move on to other brands because they can't afford (or won't pay) full price on a new kite when you no longer do closeouts thus losing market share.


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