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jblates1
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Griffin Kites

Postby jblates1 » Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:09 am

Hey new to the sport and wanted to know if anyone has any information on the griffin Chimere, this is going to be my first kite and looking for a relatively easy kite to fly and learn on. I want to buy a 9m and am currently looking at this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-Griffin-Ch ... 500wt_1288 I just wanted to know if anyone has ever used one and could give me an idea on how they are. Thanks
Jonny

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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby Westozzy » Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:11 pm

Over this side of the world there are crew that fly them and like them. I have never flown them myself. But I have heard some horror stories, but hey people like to tell you their bad stories. I have hear some quality issues, but again this is all word of mouth There is a guy called radman on the australian Seabreeze forum, although he has a vested interest ask him.

If it was me, I'd buy a more main stream brand mate with a well constructed distribution and retail set up.

Kupono
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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby Kupono » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:20 pm

Jonny,

I've been riding Griffins for about three years now. I started with a 2010 10m Argonaut because I got a deal I couldn't refuse. I didn't have high hopes for it because it was a pretty unknown brand in this hemisphere and it was cheap and one assumes that cheap means crappy.

I was happily surprised and it turned into my favorite kite. I rode it for a year, then, because I liked it so much, I bought an 8m and 10.5m Chimera, and a 9m Argo. I paid less for those three kites than I would have for one name-brand kite.

The Chimera model was new for 2011. The 10.5 quickly became my goto kite. I weight 185, but it has plenty of grunt for me. It has good boost (better than the Argo), quick turning (faster than the Argo), light bar pressure (on its light setting), and it trucks upwind. The 2011 kites are built as well as any other kite I've seen. I've put them through the wave wash-cycle many times and haven't had a blow-out yet.

The Argo is a great kite, and probably a better wave kite than the Chimera, as it drifts better. It has all sorts of adjustable bridle settings to make it docile and slow for beginners, or crank up the performance for surf. I gotta say, though, that all the possible bridle combinations can be confusing and drive you crazy if you choose to experiment and venture from the recommended settings.

Griffin makes three models: the Griffin is their high aspect performance kite. I haven't ridden one. The Argo is the low aspect, delta, all-terrain wave kite. The Chimera is a medium aspect delta-like kite, and has performance characteristics somewhere in between the two. It has single pully, or pully-less bridle setups (that's how I fly it) which gives it a nice direct feel. I only wish the Chimera had better down-the-line drift for wave-riding.Both kites pretty much relaunch themselves.

My quiver is almost two years old now and it's time for a new one, so I'm always demoing other kites looking for something I like better. I like the the Wainman Smoke, the Blade Trigger, and the Ben Wilson Noise (in that order) a lot, but when you consider price/performance, It's hard to do better than the Griffins.

For more info you can Google griffinkites.com.au, and have a look on the seabreeze.com.au forum.

jblates1
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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby jblates1 » Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:21 pm

Thank you so much for the reply. I just ordered a griffin chimera 2012 kite with a bar and lines all brand new for $750 us. So glad i got some good news about the kite as it is my first. I will definitely go look at those websites you posted and look at what other people have said about them. Hope everything goes well with the kite, thanks
Jonny

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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby Westozzy » Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:06 am

Well there you go.... Let us know what ya think. I'd like to separate fact from personal fiction on this one.

jblates1
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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby jblates1 » Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:20 pm

Just got it in the mail, i will try and have pictures of it in a little while. So far it looks very nice, but considering i have nothing to compare it to.

jblates1
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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby jblates1 » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:30 pm

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jblates1
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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby jblates1 » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:37 pm

Let me know what you think


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Re: Griffin Kites

Postby RushGuard » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:09 am

So, what is the verdict Jonny? How is the Chimera? I am trying to decide between it and the RPM.


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