Yesterday, well powered on my 14m I jumped and I felt one weird snap on the way up, then as I was coming down something snapped hard and my kite looped Not good, screwed up my shoulder a little I think. Nothing major, just took a good punishment on the water.
1) West Marine has 1/8" dyneema for $0.47/ft now and I've used plenty of that in the past, is that workable for replacing both my bridle sections that take the pulley friction? The 1/8" dyneema is ~3mm and 2700 lb test which would replace the typical bridle line at 3mm. Only difference is the bridle line would have an interior dyneema, then the outer coating is another material to take the friction punishment from the pulley. What I don't like is it is kinda hard to see any real 'wear' on my other bridle line or anywhere near this bridle line that snapped. Not to mention the bridle line did break...From my experience you can quickly identify dyneema wearing, but I cannot see any wearing on this line.
2) Would you replace the pulley with a Ronstan shock or Ronstan low-friction ring? I'm leaning towards the rings as in case the shock fails the ring at least is redundant with the line loop.
I suggest figure 8 pulley (Ronstan shock) is more robust than stainless ring is better than Ronstan low-friction ring. The former has no sharp edges at all, while the later has a groove with some sharp edge. (It is not necessarily that there would be a briddle rubbing against this edge -- this is just theoretical possibility, as you have asked which one is better).
Last edited by tegirinenashi on Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Shockblock vs ring is pretty irrelevant, if either one fails you have bigger issues than worrying about your bridle. I've used and love the Antal rings, but they cost the earth compared to the two Ronstan products.
In your case I would cut the two front bridle sections, tie a knot in the loose ends, and backsplice a loop in either end of a couple feet of the Dyneema and replace the wear section. As well as the low friction rings work, sliding on Dyneema, I would never go back to pulleys.
*Loop or knot may vary depending on whatever is easiest and how your bridle is set up.
yeah just replace it with some dyneema it will be about 2 or 3 times stronger than the original bridle. I wouldn't replace the pullies but it's kind of fun to mod a kite so go ahead. I wouldn't use either of the rings but go with the ronstan orbit pulley. I know everyone loves those low friction rings but I still think a pulley has less friction and the orbit block pulley has a fail safe if the pulley breaks there's a little bit of dyneema that loops around the center so it won't fail completely.
If you go with the ronstan 8 pulley - make your bridal line longer than standard and tie off the extra length.
When the line eventually wears some - undo th extra length and slide everything along a bit... the line will still be strong and you will have a new surface to run on.
Saves you having to make new lines for awhile
Yeah, I don't think the pulleys are worth it. I've been running an Antal ring on Dyneema as a slider on my harness for something like 3 years now and there is literally zero appreciable wear on either the Antal ring or the slider line.
The only explanation for the tear the OP exhibited is if the briddle somehow slipped off the wheel and stuck between the wheel and the casing. This kind of abrasion can tear briddle line quite easily. From that perspective, I would prefer robust design of ronstan figure 8.
Thanks for the replies...I'm gonna go pick up some 1/8" dyneema and fix both sides of both my 14m and 16m. I'm leaning towards the ronstan ring at fixmykite, but still thinking about it. I'd like to have a redundant setup like that ring or the ronstan orbit pulley. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing how the dyneema wears. So hard to see wear on a traditional bridle.
The only explanation for the tear the OP exhibited is if the briddle somehow slipped off the wheel and stuck between the wheel and the casing. This kind of abrasion can tear briddle line quite easily. From that perspective, I would prefer robust design of ronstan figure 8.
If you look at the LF pulley they used it is far from something I would design, but I really don't see how the line at 3mm could possibly get stuck anywhere. There is a small amount of slop in the wheel but not near enough to allow the line to get stuck or cut on any edge. I'm just guessing, but maybe wear or maybe a nasty shell was jammed in there somewhere...very strange. My shoulders pretty unhappy right now.
Why did bridles go the route of the interior dyneema with the polyester black coating? Why not just use dyneema/spectra?
The polyester outer braid is considered to have better wear resistance than Dyneema or Spectra single-braid. Another example of this, the sleeving on the loops at the ends of kite line are polyester.
Usually the cause of an interior failure of a 3mm Dyneema - poly double-braid is sand getting pushed into the core of the line when the kite is on the beach, the line is slack & its stepped on. The sand remains trapped inside the line and under tension during flying causes unseen internal destruction of the core.
Not good, screwed up my shoulder a little I think. Nothing major, just took a good punishment on the water.
