Upgrade to Cabrinha 2013 lines

[dyyylan]

hi, how heavy is the bar pressure compared to say a slingshot rpm, ozone c4... slow kites are a little boring to..

Before 2013 it is significantly heavier, about on par with most modern C kites I would say but much less responsive turning speed ( makes it feel heavier for me because you really have to crank the bar to turn the kite). Haven't flown the 2013

[C Johnson]

how would you know if its significantly heavier before 2013 if you have not flown 2013's?

For the record I'm talking about the Switchblade model only.

My 2012's have a wakestyle and a freeride setting on the front bridle.

If you use the wakestyle mode the kite has heavy slow bar feedback and supposedly a teeny bit more depower range.

If you use the freeride setting. the bar pressure is about medium and the kite is quite a bit faster.

My guess is the 2013 is probably going to feel like the freeride setting on the 2012. Won't know for a couple more weeks though because my 2013's are still on order.

2011 kites did not have a front bridle setting. the setting was on the back line connection. 2011's had significantly more bar pressure then the 2012 freeride setting.

I thought we were talking about lines in this thread?

[dyyylan]

if you call switchblade bar pressure "medium" you havent ridden many other kites, it is really heavy compared to pretty much anything else, literally exactly the same (on the freeride setting) as a switch combat or a fuel, i flew them back to back. i never even tried it on the wakestyle setting because i'm pretty sure it would rip my arms off. like i said i have not tried 2013 and have heard it is totally different from a few people.

[Don Monnot]

Differential line stretch is interesting. I had an old set I just replaced. I had probably ridden the old set well over 100 sessions when all of a sudden I found I was holding the bar pointed almost at the kite instead of perpendicular to the kite. I checked the line lengths. One of the center lines was stretched about 2.5 inches more than the other one. Wowzer. Both center lines were about a foot (one line minus 2.5 inches) longer than the back lines. Both back lines were the same length. I had compensated for the front line stretch with pigtails at the bridle--one extra set of pigtails on the back lines. I don't know why one of the two front lines got stretched so much more than the other, but the difference happened from one session to the next. I must have messed up one of the front lines when landing the kite on the water and wrapping up while on the water.

Don

[C Johnson]

if you call switchblade bar pressure "medium" you havent ridden many other kites, it is really heavy compared to pretty much anything else, literally exactly the same (on the freeride setting) as a switch combat or a fuel, i flew them back to back. i never even tried it on the wakestyle setting because i'm pretty sure it would rip my arms off. like i said i have not tried 2013 and have heard it is totally different from a few people.

I rode my 9m 2012 Switchblade on the freeride setting all day saturday.

bar pressure was maybe slightly higher then what my old 9m Switch Element had. Its not heavy on the 2012 freeride setting. However, It was heavy on the 2011 freeride setting.

New upgraded lines work great. I checked them this morning after the session and the mains look like they have stretched about an inch. Probably normal for first time of use. especially considering I was super powered and doing kiteloops most of the day Saturday and I weigh 210lbs.

What model year are you referring to dyyylan? I agree bar pressure is very heavy on the wakestyle setting. equivalent to a 5 line C kite maybe