Naish / Slingshot / Airush

[cool]

Hi all,

Last 6 year I have been kiting with the Slingshot Fuel 2007 (7-9-11) and a Slingshot Lunacy board.
But now I'm looking for a new kite set.
My style: Freestyle (unhooked rallies (want to learn more unhooked tricks this year), kite loops) but also multiple front-/back loops and one-/on footers.
Weight: 79kg and I'm looking for a 2 kite set

The kites I have in mind are:
Slingshot Fuel / RPM
Naish Torch / Park
Airush Varial X

Board:
Fone Trax / Acid (at this moment I feel more for the Acid)

I hope you can give me some advise about these kites (and boards)

[tautologies]

So you are going to get a lot of different advice here. Make sure you know what you are looking for. The C-kites, like torch will give you a bit more time when you land, but making mistakes on those kites hurts a lot more IMO. I would use the Park.

I have not ridden the Fuel in years so I can't really compare. My personal preference is the Park for a kite that has some aggression but still enough forgiveness. The new Park has greatly improved the loops. That said, I barely ever unhook.

[Westozzy]

....rpm from what you've said and your background with kites.

[Starsky]

7/10 of any of the bridled kites will have the same range as your old quiver.

[BWD]

If you are really into the unhooked stuff and ride your fuels with 4 lines, on the "wake" setting (2nd loop back from LE corner) you will probably prefer RPM (if not fuel) unless you want to change the flying style.

But you should FLY a bridled kite other than RPM to see if you like the kite flying more forward in the window than the fuel does. For example the Varial X I am pretty sure will fly much more forward with less effort, and might change the way you approach tricks.
If you fly the old fuels with 5 lines and the front LE connection, and are always working the kite forward when not unhooking, you might enjoy something different and spend less time dealing with urging the kite forward and sorting 5 lines.

RPM is nice in that it does not feel radically different from the fuel, but is better with gusts and easier to deal with, plus it can be tuned to fly forward or back and turn faster or slower. You could definitely get dialed in on it. I would consider 12m and 9m RPM sizes I think.

But if you really just want more of the same consistent pull and handling, new fuels are even better than old fuels, for relaunch and a bit more depower. Still hard on the body though.
I have less experience with the other kites you mention, so can only say try them if you get the chance!

[cool]

Thank you all for your response.
And RPM all the way??

forgot some other options: Ozone C4 and Bandit 7
Lot of kites to test

[Da Yoda]

The kites I have in mind are:
Slingshot Fuel / RPM
Naish Torch / Park
Airush Varial X

You should also check out the Airush Razor in comparison to the Varial...
http://www.airush.com/2014/kites/razor-team/
Airush is making some awesome kites these days.

[BWD]

I have a 2011 c4 in 13m and a fuel in 9m.
I don't know about the new c4's personally, I think they are more for wake style, you might like that.
I like my older c4 because it's more versatile, but turns and jumps more like a C.
And as someone said before, maybe you would like the razor if you try it.
Airush has made high-performance Cs as long as any other company. They used to be named reactor and then generator, you may remember.

[dyyylan]

new fuels are so much easier for me to get forward in the window than bridled kites. i am light weight so i have a hard time unhooking on bridled kites as they always feel like a freight train. but I can get c kites forward in the window so much easier and get a lot more pop/slack because of it

new fuels are so easy to ride and they have a ton of juice as long as you follow that little rule to go 1m bigger. for example my 13m fuel has exactly the same range as a 12m bow kite (top and end low end) as long as you know how to ride it, which I'm sure you do since you've been riding old ones

my recommendation is to think about what you want to do, if you want to do kite loops then there is no choice, you want a c kite. if you want ultimate pop/slack, you want a c kite. if you want something that is a little easier to ride and you're willing to sacrifice the slack and loopability then go for an rpm or an envy or something, they are still a lot of fun and great for wakestyle

[cool]

Downside of the Fuels are the size choose.
Personally I would prefer 11-8 or 10-7