North Rebel vs North Evo???

[Burn45]

Hi planet kite!!!

I own 7-9-12m 2012 North Evos...and an Ocean Rodeo Flite (that I have'nt ridden yet) and I was wondering how the Rebel does. I have'nt tried a lot of kites (2008 Rhino, 2009 Vegas and my Evos).
I'm a 6'3'', 220lbs (100kg) little guy.
My riding style is freeriding, wave riding, like to do downwinds (I have a nice girlfriend who pick me up ) and some freestyle and I'm trying some wakestyle).
I mostly ride in surfboard (Whip X-Surf and Nugget) and in TT (Cabrinha Caliber)... So you know my kiting story. I heard that the new Evo is not the same anymore...
So my question is; would the Rebel would be a better choice than the Evo for my next quiver?
I do read a lot on forums, and no one talk about the Rebel directly... I always see "not as much as the rebel" or not as high as the rebel... they compare the kites to the rebel...but it looks like no one owns one...is it a crime to say that we own a rebel?
By the way, I don't care about the fifth line.So does the rebel would suit my riding style or it would be boring compared to my Evos?
Sorry for my english... I'm a french canadian guy...who won the gold medal in hockey
Thanks in advance!!!

[Westozzy]

What you were on the team??

[Burn45]

My gilfriend too think i have too much toys!!! Seriousely, does the Rebel would suits better my riding?

[Burn45]

Help! Please!
Thanks!

[Westozzy]

Burn so you like wave riding and getting into wakestyle and have both SBs and TTs.

Mate ya looking in the wrong direction. Their is a north kite that is specifically designed for that sort of thing...

And I can tell ya it ain't the rebel....(nor the Evo anymore).

[davesails7]

Im a big fan of the rebel, but from your description with some wakestyle and riding a surfboard, I think you would be better off with the North Dice. The rebel doesnt work well unhooked.

I havent tried the new evo, but the reviews arent that great.

[piccio]

Hi I have rebel 5 6 7 11 2013 .
I think from 8 they are too slow turning for waves,small ones are usable for surfing,maybe rrd ozone or others are better for pure waveriding.
north fan say new neo 2014 is best choice for waves.
I am on the way of changing ,I was one month in cape town and had chance to try neo 7 and 9 meter 2014, but both session wind picked up too strong for those sizes so would not like say foolishness,anyway did not feel immediate love with neo .
5 th line is an hassle ,if they fall is a tragedy, expensive also but rebels are rebels ,a world apart ! wind does not exist ,gusts are eaten,no pain no effort, upwind superb ,windrange enormous close to 20 knots,super power .I took with me 5 and 6 only ,did not have much fun ,fin problem ,board problem ,back problem,wife problem,waves too big for me,not a very easy spot for my level but only thing that did not worry me was wind strenght .
with your 100 kg and a proper rebel size you can face an" hurricane"
of course these are only" words" and personal sensation! try before buy
maybe the 7 will be best for you ,too small 5 and 6,too slow the bigger
have fun!
aurevoir!

[Dan-at-Duotone]

Burn45-

If you are hooked in most of the time and are mostly doing freeride and waves, the Rebel will make you very happy. It's been our best selling kite for years, and according to the numbers I've seen it's the best selling model ever. There's a reason for that. It performs really well, but on top of that, being a 5-line direct-connection kite, many people find that the feedback and 'feel' of the kite are unmatched.

You can unhook the Rebel on waves and for freestyle, but that is for sure its weakest point. It's not super stable when unhooked, so if you take your eyes off it while on a wave it'll tend to drift up or down. It also has really consistent pull, which makes it very forgiving for freeriding and jumping, but affords little slack for doing aerial handlepasses.

So if you're mostly staying hooked in but want to dabble occasionally into some very basic unhooked riding like raileys or F16s, I think you'll be really happy with the Rebel.

The new 2014 Evo has been completely redesigned so that pretty much everything I said about the Rebel above will describe the Evo as well, except for the part about the 5-line direct 'feel' of the Rebel. So my recommendation for that type of riding would be Rebel unless you really prefer the feel of a bridled kite or have some fear of 5 lines, at which point I'd say Evo.

If you think you'll spend a good bit of time unhooking, whether on the waves or for freestyle, and you want to work on progressing beyond some basic wakestyle moves, you'll probably be better served by the Dice. It gives up just a little range and freerideability to the Rebel, but in my opinion the Rebel has the most range and is the best freeriding kite on the market, so pretty much every kite will give up a little range and freerideability to the Rebel. The Dice won't jump quite as well, it has slightly less grunt, it doesn't go upwind quite as well, but the sacrifices are relatively small considering how solid it works as an unhooked kite. It still works really well for freeriding, but it does really well in the waves and unhooked. Consider the Dice a do-it-all freeride/wave/freestyle kite.

The best advice anyone can give you, though, is to try to demo as many kites as you can before choosing. If this isn't an option, from what you've told us I think you'd be extremely happy with either the Rebel, Dice, or Evo.

Hope this helps.

-Dan

[Westozzy]

Yeh pretty spot on dan.

Depends. If you want to explore and go 'deeper' into surfing waves and wakestyle, as well as hooked in powered loops, then my pick is the dice.

Unlike dan I don't subscribe to unhooking the rebel at all, to unhook you gotta have C in ya kite to develop slack in lines through correct load and pop. The rebel has no C really and with its aspect, good luck on developing any significant slack and any kite with aspect does not like slack lines, when developed either...

Also I'm not one to subscribe to the idea that the rebel is any good in the waves. Okay until you really push it, then all that aspect and profile comes back to bite ya.

So for hooked in freeride and big boosting sessions with some wave capabilities (especially in yeh small sizes if you keep the kite moving) the rebel. Really forget seriously looping this kite.

Ps the 2014 is a significant improvement on the rebel (if that was possible!!) it really is the pinnacle of this type of kite now. The best incarnation yet.

You want to explore the spectrum of waves and wakestyle (but if you want to go down further into this rabbit hole you will need a Vegas eventually) then the dice.

Infact the dice is a far better wave kite than a wakestyle kite at the ends of the true extreme if you get what I mean. We've been on all the wave kites this year, the dice is our winner.

The Evo.....blah. For me anyway know crew who dig them.

[Burn45]

Thanks guys for the help!

Right now, I like my 2012 Evos but for the next quiver, I think I'll give a try to the Rebel. I'm 95% of the time hooked in.

Does the drift of the new Rebel is better than the 2012 Evo?

Dan at North, does the new spi from the other company (40% lighter/40% stronger) will be on the 2015 kites?

Thank Westozzy, really liked your country few years ago... Next time I'll try the west coast!
Thanks mate!!!