2018 North Rebel vs 2017 North Evo Review

[kateba]

Hangtime 10/10 on 2018 Rebel no question. Not sure if this is what you mean but I can whip the Evo through power zone on turns for fast and controlled turning but this same behavior on the Rebel for me results in being destabilized too much pull so end up with slower turn. Maybe someone more skilled would handle it better though or maybe I’ll get used to it. Thanks for letting me know about smaller Evos being stable and jumping well. Also good explanation of drift and perhaps it is a lack of it I am finding in the Rebel.

[kateba]

I have a follow-up question mkNY: do you move your smaller Evos (or all of them for that matter) around while in the air? Maybe I have to move my Rebel around more while in the air and then maybe I wouldn't have to sheet out? Maybe this is true of all small kites and maybe you're already doing it on your small Evos so maybe that's why you can stay sheeted in on them? On 10 and 12 Evo I don't need to do much in the air, occasional adjustment but mostly I go up and come down without much fuss. Maybe the Rebel due to lack of drift, or else maybe all small kites including Evo, must be kept active during higher jumps or else they stall and the sheeting out is just correcting this lack of movement? Just a theory I haven't tested based on what you say about drift. Any thoughts from you or anyone else on this would be greatly appreciated.

[mkNY]

I generally do not need to move them around. Meaning, for normal boosting (10M/4-5seconds) I can simply aggressively move kite to 1-2pm for lift off, keep it there on the way up and slowly move it back to 10-11 on the way down for a butter landing. (You can downloop here if needed as well).

North kites I have used (EVO, Dice) do not seem to lose lift when you redirect the kite forward during landing even if the kite is way in front of you. I also have a Switch Nitro, which loses lift the second the kite is no longer exactly above you, requiring a much later redirect.

[Dan-at-Duotone]

ketba-

Ken gave me some notes on the 2018 Rebel vs the 2017 Evo. Basically the Rebel is a high-performance freeride kite meant strictly for hooked-in riding with an emphasis on performance and jumping. The Evo is more of an all-around freeride kite, meant to perform well in many different styles of riding. As such, the Rebel has more bar feedback and is much more sensitive to accurate steering and sheeting.
Basically my takeaway from what Ken is saying is that the Evo will let you get away with bad habits more easily than the Rebel, but the Rebel will reward accurate steering and sheeting with bigger jumps and hangtime. This seems pretty in-line with my personal experience as well.

Also, as a personal note, I find that with all kites of all styles and all brands, the smaller the kite the more it tends to lift you up and drop you down quickly. Larger kites tend to be more forgiving'floaty and less likely to drop you like a rock. Think this is at least in part to do with the fact that smaller kites are simply faster through the window and so require more finesse and accuracy when jumping (well, landing) than larger kites.

If anyone has any more thoughts, feedback, or questions feel free to post/ask.

-Dan

[mkNY]

Dan any hints on when the new EVO is coming?

[Dan-at-Duotone]

Evo is historically a November/December release.

-Dan

[ldmelo]

I received a message from a local retailer saying the evo 2018 is already available .. but I can't find any info on the north web page.

[Teabageppo]

so we've been out on the 2018 10 and 13m rebel. Ride them back to back with 2016 and 2017 evos and dices between us (and a 2017 rebel).

The 2018 rebel is nothing like the earlier evos...it's not a replacement. The rebel still caters for the hooked in big boosting board off types. The evos of 2016/2017 are better for all round riding, looping, touch of unhooking, wave riding etc.

But....while the rebel can go big (especially the 2018...it goes far more vertical than the earlier years), in the right hands the evo will out jump the rebel from our experience vertically. It's quicker, lower aspect than the rebel...its gonna go more vertical. Doesn't have the hang on the way down as the rebel...but it's still damn good.

The new version...we will see soon I suppose. Our guys down under will have them in the next week or so, if they don't have them already.

I'm looking forward to trying them, because I'm not sold on the new rebel as yet. Still prefer my 2017 loaded fifth for everything else except it won't as easily go as vertical (you still can but you have to be on your game to load right against that solid rigid frame the non bridled, fifth line loaded gives you)..

[Kitemanmuc]

I heard through the grapevine the 2018 Evo is a boosting monster.

[nothing2seehere]

I heard through the grapevine the 2018 Evo is a boosting monster.

Looking at this thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2397977&p=994295&hi ... 18#p994295
Its certainly possible.

Looks like the Evo is due for release at the end of November based on the date on that blog article.