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EH's flat klte! .. the 2008 FD Unleashed 12 ..

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skyrocketnflight
Rare Poster
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:40 am
Local Beach: West Dennis, MA
Pine Point, ME
Chapin, Cape Cod MA
Favorite Beaches: Mayflower Beach, Cape Cod MA
Style: Freeride and wave.
Gear: Freak Dog Vicious 15, 12, 10
North 141 x 40 X-Ride
Liquid Force 145 x 46
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Re: EH's flat klte! .. the 2008 FD Unleashed 12 ..

Postby skyrocketnflight » Mon Feb 01, 2010 6:04 am

Great kite. I had three.

Cons:
Totally shitty bar!
Crappy line and bridle quality, I spke to many riders that broke multiple lines on this bar.
Ridiculously short throw.
Crappy, depower system, webbing flapping and actually got stuck and threaded/spun inverted through buckles/
Very hard to relaunch.
Inferior safety system, flag line got stuck when flagging through swivel.
No stopper ball probly due to short throw.
Snaps around like a Cinese dragon in a New Years Day parade if you have to flag in an emergency..

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tradewind
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Re: EH's flat klte! .. the 2008 FD Unleashed 12 ..

Postby tradewind » Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:11 pm

well skyrocket ,
I was wondering that you claimed using 3 of them .
The bar is pretty ok for me , did more than 100 hrs on the water and never failed . I changed the depower rope once as it wears with all this hours.
The line and bridle quality is great , ever heard about performance , heavy lines have lot's of drag and hang trough and perform very bad in any condition .You go slow and have long reaction time . YOU have to maintain your gear and change parts yourself before they break . Performing gear breaks quicker but is more fun to ride .
Breaking a line sometimes is better than assuming the consequences of the human f... up who made it possible to break this line .
The short throw is great as you don't need 6 ft arms to depower in strong winds . With the depower strap together you get a huge range on this kite and it is on YOU to pre adjust your rears before launch and set up the kite for the conditions . Very nice for wave riding actually when you need your hands down and not high in the air .

The depower strap only get's tangled if YOU mess it up in taking some reef break with the sail in the water , did happen to me ,too but it was my fault getting there and happens with lot of gear if you swim with it without tension on the lines .

This sail is advertised and sold as an advanced kite for advanced riders , you can relaunch it easy if you are skilled enough ,even in waves or after reef break folded it in a small packet if the sail is still in one piece . Get trained on the relaunch ,it is on you as lot's of riders love this sail and manage relaunch even in difficult situations .
The same safety is installed on school kites and works well , control your safety once a while and it will work when you need it . I rarely used mine and if it failed it would be because of the squeezed knot in the stopper ball witch got never used because I never release . My fault . When it is used every day it works perfect .

This chinese dragon flapping will appear on any frontline safety bridle kite from a certain windspeed . I prefer this to the chinese inverted kite sailing in 25m on top of my head ,hanging on his fifth line ( have seen this so often ). Or fifth line rolled around the kite to make you swim home because relaunch is impossible except cutting the fifth with a knife .

The stopper ball was delivered 08/09 and luckily taken off by EH for 2010 as nearly nobody used it because the throw is short as you remarked correctly and more efficient than on other bars .
This kite was one of the first bridled flats winning a PKRA at Cabarete and is the favorite model for lot's of riders in the upper wind range to do spectacular stuff go fast and jump high .

Don't take it personally ,have fun with whatever you ride , it's mostly the riders level and less the gear or wrong gear for the wrong person , the most important thing is that people have fun out there and think a little before sending their comments to give this KF a higher level and more interesting to read . Cheers


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