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exploding 10m wipkia leading edge

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Dr.Gonzo
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Postby Dr.Gonzo » Sun Oct 27, 2002 11:24 am

Hi Murdoc,
"how should a dealer test these kites?
the only way of finding out is inflating and flying."
Whats the problem with that? Surely any good dealer should use and test any new product before stocking and selling to its customers?

A dealer is selling product and should know the product being sold to customers.

I was riding and dealing with wipika up to end 2001 and before I sold a new '02 10m AB to anyone I bought one for myself/Demo last sept. The tip blew out second time on the water, out back in big waves... It blew out several times after repairs and then the replacement bladder blew out too. The kite went back and I knew better than to stitch up any customers with one. A few months later, jan, the same happened with a 10m supplied for a mag test.

This was nothing to do with rubbing at the tips as we first thought... the bladders simply didn't fit the leading edge properly, worked themselves short at one tip and blew out.

Like I said, I am sure the problem was sorted in the end and good luck to wipika. I'll stick with Skoops thanx :smile:

Slingshot wise.. you are not likely to get a busted bladder on a slingshot unless its an old one with a velcro pocket as opposed to a zip. Other than perhaps Caution, Slingshots are probably the best built kites available. The 2003 fuels are some piece of work with performance to match.

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Postby Guest » Sun Oct 27, 2002 1:15 pm

I'm not bagging slingshot they look the most bomb proof kite on the market, just think the spare parts division looks a bit over priced. As for my wipika found some numbers written in biro on the end of the leading edge which exploded, which more or less proves something must of been a miss at the factory. This kites next flight will be to the distributor. Again I'm not bagging any company as long as they stand by their product in regard to warranty, Cabrinha did last year. While I'm not in a hurry to spend any more $ on that brand, at least they did the right thing, hopefully Wipkia is the same.

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MissionMan
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Postby MissionMan » Sun Oct 27, 2002 10:25 pm

I have seen a couple of AB's down at the beach, some with jellyfishing, some without. Turns out a buddy of mine who has had problems with his 11.8 found out its a setup problem when you take the bridle off. The kite has to be properly tuned or the kite doesn't perform well. He eventually got annoyed trying to tune it and is looking at another brand, but I wouldn't give up yet. Have a chat to someone who has the setup right and see exactly how they have set it up.

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Postby fokiten » Mon Oct 28, 2002 12:29 am

Maybe I don't get it? we are talking about Vinal aren't we? I think vinal is vinal, The blowout i believe is caused by leading edge & strut consruction mistakes ie. rough seems, poor poaky shit inside, bladeers to short leaving ends unsuported, bam! Having f-up many a patch job and even haveing my kite melt from an old but still hot campfire, and fixing all of this without ever having to buy a new bladder,I can say quit whining about vinal, check the pockets for poky shit and put a balloon in the ends of the too long struts and glue the holes and fly the kites, I have had jelleyfishing kites it only bothers me when i look up, so i stopped looking no problems, You can fix any vinal problem , check the pockets there is your problem, stop all this whinning, there should be no whinening in kiting!

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Postby Guest » Mon Oct 28, 2002 8:28 am

Why should I even contempate dodgey fixit jobs on a $2200 kite thats be flown 15 times, stuff that!.

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Postby Guest » Mon Oct 28, 2002 2:04 pm

fuckitthen, thanks for the input


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