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Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

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koubilaihan
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Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby koubilaihan » Tue Oct 18, 2011 2:52 pm

Greetings to everyone and congrats for the very interesting and helpful forum.

I am new to the sport, located in Greece and just finished my lessons. After about 10 sessions, my teacher now concluded that it's tome to buy gear and start riding on my own.
So, after a search in the local market, I have ended up with 3 choices for a kite and I would really appreciate your contribution to help me choose among those.

Without further delay, the three nominees are: :lol:
1.Slingshot Rally 10m.
2.Ocean Rodeo Razor 10m.
3.Flexifoil Proton 9m.

Bear in mind that as a newbie I will be giving the kite a rough time at first, so it has to be able to withstand the "abuse", it has to be stable and "forgiving" of my mistakes and, hopefully, not a kite that in a year or so I will find too slow and boring and will be looking for something else, because money is an issue, especially here in Greece nowadays. :(

Any contribution and help will be mostly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

adamj2281
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby adamj2281 » Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:42 pm

Well as a beginner, I would say definitely purchase a brand that has local support, i.e. a shop with parts, etc. to serve that kite. It might help to post your weight and typical wind conditions. I have ridden the Rally and Ocean Rodeo Razor, and here's my take:

Slingshot Rally: Nice build quality, good depower, but difficult to dial-in, it just had a lot of float and not a real direct feel.


Ocean Rodeo Razor: I'll put out the disclaimer that I own an 8m and 12m and love the kite. It has a very direct feel, and sharper turning radius than the Rally. Solid build, very simple bar/line setup. I would suggest the freeride bar as it has more depower in the throw than the freestyle (above the bar depower setup). Although, the Rise would be a bit more forgiving, the Razor pulls like a truck and is very stable.

The Razor would be a solid kite to progress with as well, both freestyle and in the waves.

Good luck and be prepared to be very addicted.

koubilaihan
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby koubilaihan » Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:10 pm

Thank you very much for the hints. You are right, I forgot to post my stats. Well, I am 1.88 cm tall (6.2 inches), and my weight is a little less than 80 kgm (175 pounds). I will be usually riding on winds ranging between 16 and 23 knots, give or take.

So would you say, that the Rally will be a little easier for me as a beginner but I am likely to master it rather fast and maybe start searching for something more advanced, while the Razor might give me more hard time at first but I will be able to enjoy it for longer?

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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby naishdude » Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:40 pm

I would like you to have a look at:
SWITCH kites, www.switchkites.com

as you say , you will "beginner abuse" your kite, why spend so much money on the brands that are the best known on the market, when you can buy an as good kite in the same quality and finish for half the price!!

I am not a beginner, and after flying the kite from a teamrider, I sold my gear 2nd hand and purchased, with the same money, a complete new set of kites (14M 9M 7M 5M)

So give it a try, and have a look there, it is costing you nothing!!
You can always PM if you want more info , but you can also go on their forum and put your questions, you can find the forum under the title HEADQUARTERS on the website!
Cheers
Frank L.
I have SWITCHed...u2?
Last edited by naishdude on Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

adamj2281
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Style: Surf mostly, some freeride
Gear: Ocean Rodeo Roam 7,12
Ocean Rodeo Crave 9
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby adamj2281 » Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:43 pm

koubilaihan wrote:Thank you very much for the hints. You are right, I forgot to post my stats. Well, I am 1.88 cm tall (6.2 inches), and my weight is a little less than 80 kgm (175 pounds). I will be usually riding on winds ranging between 16 and 23 knots, give or take.

So would you say, that the Rally will be a little easier for me as a beginner but I am likely to master it rather fast and maybe start searching for something more advanced, while the Razor might give me more hard time at first but I will be able to enjoy it for longer?

Yeah, that would be a fair assessment. I'm about your size too, and I have a 12m/8m Razor combo, but we have a lot of 14-16 knot days, and then a a lot of 22+ days. The 10m Razor would be a good one kite quiver for you, although the Rise would have more range, not sure on the Rally as I was only out on it for a short time.

koubilaihan
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby koubilaihan » Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:28 am

Naishdude, thanks for the tip. I will take a look at the switch kites.

Adamj2281, you are right about the rise being more rookie-friendly than the razor, I will think about that too.

Has anyone tried the Proton? Any opinions would be helpful.

chris1974
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby chris1974 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:27 am

Hi koubilaihan

Since we live in the same country and I guess we pretty much kite at the same spots, below a short analysis that may prove useful and save you from spending money unreasonably:

1) don’t buy just one new kite but a quiver of used ones to stay in budget. I weight the same (78kg) and have a quiver of FONE Bandit4 (10m+7m). you ll need the small kite especially in winter months when usually we have strong north winds and in summer time when meltemi wind blows. 10m kite is good for thermal winds(Oropos, Nayplio etc)
2) I learned with cabs and the first kites I bought were Flexifoil ION3. All flexis are bullet proof. Though difficult to relaunch and very heavy bar feeling. The same applies for Proton. Proton at 9m is too small and won’t really help you. If and when you progress buy a Hadlow and become a pro :jump: :jump: …..till then forget flexis (George the Greek rep is a very helpful person, perhaps you should talk to him)
3) Never ride a Rally…did some sessions on a Key this summer and liked it…. :thumb:
4) Ocean Rodeo looks good and after sales service is guaranteed. Why don’t you call Angelos the Greek Rep of OR to see what he has in stock.
5) Check also FONE Bandit & Epic Kites :D :D
6) You can easily find and test ride all above mentioned kites. Don’t buy something before you try it….each rider suits differently in a kite…try and decide

On Saturday the forecast shows North winds. Call the guys selling SS/Flexi(George Argyriadis) and OR (Angelos/Kiteclub) and test ride the kites in Loutsa…

Hope I helped you… :bye: :bye:

Chris
www.albatross.gr

koubilaihan
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby koubilaihan » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:04 am

Hello Chris! It's great to meet a fellow kiter from Greece. Thanks a lot for the info, unfortunately these days neither George or Angelos have any demo models for testing. :( So I will have to decide without being able to test ride the kites.
I think you are right about the 9 m Flexi being a little small for my size, it has been my concern also.
I have ruled out the Bandit because it is more expensive than the others, but I will sure take a look at Epic after your suggestion.
I am not sure about Saturday, the forecast doesn't seem very promising wind-wise, but on Sunday I will be at Nissakia for sure! :mosh:

koubilaihan
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby koubilaihan » Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:39 pm

Anyone riding the Rally? Post your thoughts please. :bye:

Pumma
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Re: Newbie in need of assistance to choose between kites.

Postby Pumma » Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:40 pm

There's no chance Angel hasn't demo kites, maybe he has given them somewhere for testing but anyway you can ask someone of the guys to give you one so you can test it, they will give you for sure. Even though I don't think there's a point in testing cause you won't understand a lot on this level. Razor was one of the best kites last year and the new one is better enough with F.ST this, in combination with the support that Angel offers, will not ever make you regret for the buying.


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