cant reach full depower

[sarc]

Make sure that your kite is tuned for hard bar setting = max depower range. It will depower more with less arm movement.

[randycasburn]

Awesome thanks for the info I’ll try to shorten the chicken loop...

There is another alternative if you don't unhook or don't plan to. This is not for everyone but is perfect to me!

Get rid of th hook, chicken loop and fowling donkey thing altogether. If you zoom the image you'll see a Cab Fireball QR (without the plastic fireball) directly connected to a stainless steel ring. That ring is connected to the spreader bar via a small piece of dyneema. Ignore all the red rope you see there as that was an experiment. My current spreader bar is the Dakine Option spreader bar with two options: 1. static & centered SS ring (exactly like the fireball but without the non-hook hook and plastic piece) or 2. sliding SS ring.

The bar is at max throw. If you imagine leaning back and riding, it is always reachable.

[AndersP]

Are you really using the trimline the full range? Loose when you are underpowered and tight when you are overpowered. The trimline is in fact nothing than a bar height adjuster. If pulling the trimline doesnt help, you need longer backlines or shorter frontlines. Try that before altering or buying new equipment. I prefer to use a racebar (ozone). It has a long 4/1 trimline pulley. Then you don't have to bother changing knot position according to windstrength. And it is also nice and easy to trim it. The cab recoil bar I don't like at all. It has really short throw unless you actively push it, which feels very weird..

[alford]

randycasburn, show us a better photo of how you are attaching the SS ring to the spreader bar. I'm guessing from the photos I've seen the small metal loop on the Option spreader bar is too small to connect the QR directly?
Also, I think it's very likely that the QR can be too close to the spreader bar resulting in being over-sheeted when your arms are comfortably extended. From what I've seen many of the BRM guys use their bar on one of the last two knots (farthest out) for this very reason.

[alford]

Also to the OP, when you say you're have trouble reaching full depower do you mean you can't sheet-out enough without hunching forward or do you mean not being able to reach the trim strap/rope?

[AndersP]

Alford, I think You mean under-sheeted?

[edt]

oh yeah, good advice, remember first things first tune the bar! It's possible your problem is just that the control bar is not properly tuned.

[Duke15]

Are you really using the trimline the full range? Loose when you are underpowered and tight when you are overpowered. The trimline is in fact nothing than a bar height adjuster. If pulling the trimline doesnt help, you need longer backlines or shorter frontlines. Try that before altering or buying new equipment. I prefer to use a racebar (ozone). It has a long 4/1 trimline pulley. Then you don't have to bother changing knot position according to windstrength. And it is also nice and easy to trim it. The cab recoil bar I don't like at all. It has really short throw unless you actively push it, which feels very weird..

I think this is mostlikely the issue as it was a used bar. Im going to try and tune it and see if that helps, I read that the overdrive was great for short arms but i agree the pusing does seem odd.

[tautologies]

Can you add a sugar cube stopper?
T-rex syndrome is real peeps.

[randycasburn]

randycasburn, show us a better photo of how you are attaching the SS ring to the spreader bar. I'm guessing from the photos I've seen the small metal loop on the Option spreader bar is too small to connect the QR directly?
Also, I think it's very likely that the QR can be too close to the spreader bar resulting in being over-sheeted when your arms are comfortably extended. From what I've seen many of the BRM guys use their bar on one of the last two knots (farthest out) for this very reason.

Good observations. I use a loop of Dyneema through the small metal loop. This gives me the flexibility to change the connection point distance from the spreader bar by simply lengthening the loop just like the BRM system's knots. My set up is probably like the second knot on the BRM.

I have short, stubby arms so being this short is comfortable to me. I don't think I'm "under"-sheeting. I haven't experimented with the loop length, but perhaps I should. Here's the pic (note the slider config too):