North Neo as freeride kite

[alford]

I know it's one of the best known and popular kites out there for waves but how would it be for the average rider looking for a grunty and great relaunching all purpose kite on a twintip?
I do play in the waves a little but don't consider myself a hardcore wave rider by any stretch of the imagination. Not really into massive boosting either, thanks in advance.

[ShaveTheWhales]

Any kite can be a free ride kite - until you get Picky...

Give a pro a useless dumb kite, he'll pull moves youll never be able to make.

If your having fun on Any kite - thats the best kite

[Da Yoda]

Not really into massive boosting either, thanks in advance.

Then the answer is YES for the Neo. The Evo would be next on the list. Enjoy!

[nothing2seehere]

We don't really get waves round this way but a friend of mine rides them as a twin tip freeride kite(note: 2014 onwards only).

They jump pretty well, go upwind well and even have some pop to them. The responsive handling is the big feature on them - they steer well without needing to be powered up so its easy to get by in the lulls. The grunt seems to work well for the bigger guys for freeride too allowing them to ride the same sizes as normal.

Very little pull in the turns so you need to be a bit more positive with steering on your landings but it does make looping the kite fun rather than scary for a beginner kite looper. It is lower aspect though so the hangtime isn't great. It's not bad (doesn't drop you like a stone) - just not up there with the best of them.

The Naish Pivot gets a lot of good coverage for general free ride usage and I don't think the Neo is all that different in character to the Pivot (just with that nice North feel at the bar) so deserves to be seen as a good freeride kite. Its fast - but not in a 'If you don't watch out it'll bite you' type of way.

[MrWolf]

The Neo hits exactly those points.

I have only tried the 2017 9m. Ticks all the boxes you described you wanted out of the kite.

I really liked the solid profile, no funny business and did everything I wanted it to. Jumping was actually OK for not being a kite designed for jumping.

[Archer77]

Any kite can be a free ride kite - until you get Picky...

Give a pro a useless dumb kite, he'll pull moves youll never be able to make.

If your having fun on Any kite - thats the best kite

+1

[alford]

And a 12m has power of a 13m? A 9 like a 10m?

[vela99]

I have the 11m North Neo 2017 and it covers the range of my previos 12m North Rebel 2011 with the added advantage that on very marginal days it is far less stressful to keep the Neo in the air in lulls for it is so much lighter.