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Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

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knotwindy
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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby knotwindy » Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:25 am

and if somebody who ordered one could tell me what the approximate turn around time was from when you ordered it until you got it, including the fit kit, thanks

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby mike dubs » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:35 am

600

Why aren't you using a sliding bar such as dynabar or a home made one for snow kiting to get the pull from the side. Regarding fit, I did my mould on bare back and fits with wetsuit on fine, you could wear a wetsuit when moulding if you wanted.

Knot windy,

Coleman has been swamped with orders including people like Hadlow/Light, but if you order it you should get the mould in a week or so, you post it back then maybe 4 weeks or so to get the harness. Depends where you live in relation to California, I'm in the UK.

Mike

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby Laughingman » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:16 pm

600 wrote:Laughingman, I assume you use a wetsuit most of the summer and snowkite most of the winter. When skiing, I like the harness to spin freely so that the pull is coming from my side. As far as I can see, the Engine harnesses would not benefit me when skiing then. When snowboarding, it's a different story and I want the harness to stay in place. With a snow suit on, is there any advantages to this harness over others? Same question with wetsuits. I only kite without a wetsuit for about a month. When doing the mold, would it not be best to have a wetsuit on? When wearing a wetsuit, do you still notice close to the same benefit with this harness compared with others or do you mostly notice it just when kiting without a wetsuit?
Hey 600
This harness will not spin. Allowing your harness to spin is in my opinion a bandaid for another problem which is a fixed hook, I use a sliding hook.
The mold should go on your bare skin, there is foam and neoprene between the hard shell and you, so the wetsuit will not cause any issues and you will still benefit from the custom mold. 6mm or less is not going to make that much difference as long as it is consistent. I'm not to sure about a drysuit though as there maybe bunching but that would be consistent with any harness.
The harness being a hard shell (carbon fiber) molded to your back provides way more support then a typical flexible harness, this allows Engine harnesses to be much smaller and in turn provides you with increased mobility.
Finally, you can make it look anyway you want... this is secondary to function but still, its your harness do it like you want to.
Does that clear things up?

Pete

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby engine » Thu Apr 04, 2013 4:51 pm

So stoked people are talking about these!

a few answers...

1) Whats the benefit of the rigid shell?
Main purpose is to spread load. The tendency of a regular harness when it is getting pulled by the kite is to compress from the sides, that is why they come with spreader bars. The idea with the shell is that instead of doing this it will "stay open" even when riding powered which keeps pressure off the rider's torso. Provides a very nice secure and "floaty" feeling ride. Basically its like taking the idea of the spreader bar and applying it to the back of the harness as well. Additionally the curves of the harness shell tend to lock into the curves of the user's back which is why they don't ride up over the course of a session. They also look sexy.

2)What's the deal with them not sliding around?
They are designed to stay in place because having the harness low is more comfortable and also makes riding easier compared to getting pulled from higher on your body. Anything that can slide 45 degrees around your waist must fit pretty poorly if you think about it. I believe that the solution is a sliding bar since keeping the harness low requires the harness to not slide. I think somebody put up the link on how to make your own setup. We sell a kit with all the parts you'd need and will also be releasing our own slider bar in the next week or two (it looks pretty sick, all composite no steel). They aren't designed for unhooking though, if you like doing that dynabar might be a good choice. Lastly, I can make harnesses that slide around if you want your's to do that. I just make the harness so it has a less exact fit and line the harness with a nylon knit that doesn't grip like the normal raw neoprene lining does.

3)Tolerances? The harnesses should be fitted onto bar skin to get the best fit. The foam in them compresses enough to make up for thick wetsuits (I wear a 5/4 in the winter). If you are wearing it over a ski jacket or dry suit you still want to fit it to bar skin.

4) Finishing details? You are right, they are really hard. I still make mistakes but but as I start to make a lot of them and get lots of practice they are starting to look professional. You can tell they weren't made in a factory, they all look a little different. I'll be honest and say the ones I was making even a month ago had more little aesthetic mistakes on them than I'd like but I think now I've got it pretty dialed.

Hope that helped. Many thanks to the goons that already got theirs and are taking the time to answer questions on this thread.

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby AndKite » Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:06 pm

engine wrote:
3)Tolerances? The harnesses should be fitted onto bar skin to get the best fit. The foam in them compresses enough to make up for thick wetsuits (I wear a 5/4 in the winter). If you are wearing it over a ski jacket or dry suit you still want to fit it to bar skin.
I saw the vid where you explain the fitting termo plastic stuff and how to use it. Cool stuff! Where did you find that? video is below for the curious.. =)

Anyway, when you are showing the done mould, I get the feeling that you shape the harness plate from the exterior of the mould. If this is how you do it, you will automatically get a built in tolerance distance equal to the thickness of the mould.

Is this the way you do it or do you build from the inside? Cause from the inside would give a more true fit, but no tolerance/place for foam..

Either way, as you say in the video, important not to poke your finger in it then, may get uncomfortable later.. haha.

http://vimeo.com/55000342

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby Laughingman » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:18 pm

engine wrote:So stoked people are talking about these!


4) Finishing details? You are right, they are really hard. I still make mistakes but but as I start to make a lot of them and get lots of practice they are starting to look professional. You can tell they weren't made in a factory, they all look a little different. I'll be honest and say the ones I was making even a month ago had more little aesthetic mistakes on them than I'd like but I think now I've got it pretty dialed.
Hey Coleman, did that (special) paper work out for you?

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby Clarencephil » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:05 pm

Good luck !

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Re: Best Harnesses on the market ?? New company Engine

Postby AndKite » Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:08 pm

Just saw the posts on FB about the harnesses for sam light and one that said "heineken racing"... Have a feeling you started a bit of a revolution in something so unlikely as harnesses. Post here https://www.facebook.com/ride.engine

Consider boot-fitting for skiing. Every single racer, and a lot of serious amateurs have custom fitted ski boots. And just like the harness, the ski boot is your connection to the power.. Awesome!


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