Twisted Bladder!???WTF!

[Blow Me]

Hey Guys. I was wondering, I have what loox like a slight twist in the bladder of my Leading Edge. My First question is how do I fix this? And Second, as you might know, I'm a Newb as well, so how the Hell do you change these Bladders? Also, I don't have locks in my valves, was wondering if down the road I can get new bladders with locks for a 11.9 RRD?

ThanX in Advance!

[Guest]

On 2002-09-29 13:17, Blow Me wrote:
Hey Guys. I was wondering, I have what loox like a slight twist in the bladder of my Leading Edge. My First question is how do I fix this? And Second, as you might know, I'm a Newb as well, so how the Hell do you change these Bladders? Also, I don't have locks in my valves, was wondering if down the road I can get new bladders with locks for a 11.9 RRD?

ThanX in Advance!

Twists come from inflating techniques as well as deflating and folding techniques. How to change them should be easy enough to find on here, just do a search on the forums.

If by locking valves you mean the ones with one way valves on them, like with a little ball in the valve, they suck imo. Sure they make it easier to inflate the kite, that is when they are working right, but they also make it a bitch to deflate the kite. Pinching the valves without the balls in them will become second nature for you. Soon you will be losing no air at all. At the end of the day, it's so much nicer to just walk along your kite pulling the valves out and watching it deflate while the others are all bent over their kites squeezing on their balls. FUN FUN!

When you inflate your leading edge, grab your kite by the middle and turn your back to the wind. This allows the kites wingtips to blow downwind aroung your grip on the kite, more into their natural position. By holding it this way, the bladder wont be pushing and working so hard to try to bring the kite into it's shape as it inflates. Weighting down one wingtip while you inflate the leading edge will cause bladder twists in a short time.

When you deflate your kite, pull the valves and let as much of the air escape naturally as you can. That is if you don't have one way valves. Rolling or folding up a kite while having to force a bunch of air out of the bladder causes twisting. Your deflated bladder is laying loose in your kite, and every time you have to squeeze on it, it is quickly reinflating sections of the bladder and can cause twisting. If you do get to a point where air must be squeezed out, take your time and push it out slow and gentle. Don't try to force it out as fast as you can. Another good reason to avoid one way valves, unless you have a second valve for releasing air.

On the new 2003 Fuels, you'll see 2 identical valves on the leading edge. This is for a couple of reasons, mostly dealing with twists. For one, it gives the bladder a second 'locking' point to the kite, making it harder for it to twist. Another reason is it makes it quicker to deflate and easier to get the air out of without having to put pressure on the kite. Again, this helps reduce twisting. Another useful feature I guess is if you could find a sucker to help you inflate your leading edge with you, he will have a place to connect a second pump.

I never have twisted bladders, but I have fixed several for people. It's really isn't that hard. It's basically the same as changing the bladder. But I imagine if you inflate and deflate as I do and have described, that you won't have many more problems with a twisted bladder.

Have fun!

Johnny

[murdoc]

changing bladder:

at both ends of the leading edge, you can open the tube. near the valve, you'll find a zipper or a 'hidden' (don't know the word) 'bag' where you can open the kite to get to the bladder.

open the tips, attach some rope to the bladder (you gotta get it in again, so don't forget this) and pull it out in the middle, pulling the rope into the leading edge.

getting it back in works exactly the same, only the opposite way.
work very careful, the bladders are easily damaged.

if it's twisted, open it in the middle while halfway inflated and correct it. then pump it up while holding the valve tight.

this should set it straight again.

[Blow Me]

ThanX so much for those Awesome Responses, they really helped a lot!

Cheers

[Blow Me]

"If by locking valves you mean the ones with one way valves on them, like with a little ball in the valve, they suck imo. Sure they make it easier to inflate the kite, that is when they are working right, but they also make it a bitch to deflate the kite. Pinching the valves without the balls in them will become second nature for you. Soon you will be losing no air at all. At the end of the day, it's so much nicer to just walk along your kite pulling the valves out and watching it deflate while the others are all bent over their kites squeezing on their balls. FUN FUN!"

Yeah, you know you brought up some really good points. Come to think of it, after reading that I don't think I am Interested in them anymore. As you said about not losing in air at all, thats so true. It really sucked at first, especially the small strusts at the near the tips, but not I have it down. I don't want to stand there holding my balls!

Cheers

[Guest]

you find after 10 or so times the plastic on the valves gets a bit more supple, that allows easier squezing and less air loss... It's a pain for the first few times you use akite, but after that it is sweet!

[Guest]

Are there any ways to get the balls out of the valves? I got used to pinching the valve on my old kite, and do agree with you guys that the ball valves suck. But I wouldn't want to buy a new kite just for that reason.
thanks!

[Johnny TBKS]

Anonymous wrote:
Are there any ways to get the balls out of the valves? I got used to pinching the valve on my old kite, and do agree with you guys that the ball valves suck. But I wouldn't want to buy a new kite just for that reason.
thanks!

Wise man listening to wise words.

I think you should be able to get the balls back out the valve holes...that's the way they went in. Of course, being able to get to the backside of the valve would make that much easier, and I doubt you wanna pull the bladders just for this, and even if you did, you'd risk busting the bladder trying to push your balls from the backside. What I did on my old Naish kites that had the balls was to take a Bic ball point pen, pulled the pen out of it which left me a little white tube/straw that said Bic on the side of it(any stiff tube will work), and used this tube to slide down into the valve. Because it's a hollow tube, the ball kinda rests up into the tube a bit, making it so you don't slide off of the ball and damage the bladder when you push...and then I just pushed my balls into my bladders and forgot about them. I did this because back in those days, the pumps came with tips on them long enough that if you weren't careful, the pump itself would push the balls into the ballder on you, and friends who were ignorant of this had several of my balls already pushed into the bladder by mistake, and they seemed to cause no harm.

Think about this. 5 or 6 years ago, if you approached a man about punching his balls into his bladder, I fight would have probably followed for sure. Today, it's no big deal. Kitesurfing is doing it's part for world peace eh?

Pea's Out
Johnny

[Guest]

LOL!

Thanks for the advice, Johnny.

[Blow Me]

"you'd risk busting the bladder trying to push your balls from the backside. "

lol!