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Bladders failure in major kite Production.

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jumarcil
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Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby jumarcil » Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:25 am

I had big problem last year with rotten bladders. I bought some 3 brand new kites and all of them had rotten bladders after 5 or 6 sessions.

I have seen post from other people that had the same issues from different kite companies. I know that there was a factory in China that was affected big time by that problem. That factory was building kites for major players in the industries. In some cases even the replacement bladders were failing.


In my case I got three brand new set of bladders free of charge so the support was very good. I want to know if I was unlucky or is there a lot more people that were affected by the same problem.

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby Peter_Frank » Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:47 am

Are you talking new 2011 kites ?

The only "historical" issue I am aware of, was Cabrinha that many years ago had this very problem.

Bladders burst in the seams - and eventhough replacement bladders were offered, they had the same problem.

That killed Cabrinha here in Denmark, and they are almost non-existent here now because of that.

A shame, as if I were to buy a new kite with "excellent" bladders - it would be Cabrinha, because they (of all brands) would definitely have the very best quality control today :thumb:

:D Peter

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby experienced1 » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:51 am

P_F: that was 2001
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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby toyletbowl » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:31 am

No...not Cabrinha.

Let me see if I have all of them right and it was limited to last years kites.

Ocean Rodeo, Epic, Best, Blade, Nobile.

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby cowboy » Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:48 am

Ive got experience from another smaller company of this same problem. Wont put their name out there till I recieve a reply from them.

Lets just say that there was a design problem from the manufacturers on the LE, which I got a bladder replaced under warranty, this one seemed to leak in alot of places which I put down to the bladder filling full of crap from a deep water packdown, bought another and this seems to be leaking now after 2 uses

I know that the company has lost its biggest kite brand due to these failures

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby jumarcil » Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:22 pm

cowboy wrote:Ive got experience from another smaller company of this same problem. Wont put their name out there till I recieve a reply from them.

Lets just say that there was a design problem from the manufacturers on the LE, which I got a bladder replaced under warranty, this one seemed to leak in alot of places which I put down to the bladder filling full of crap from a deep water packdown, bought another and this seems to be leaking now after 2 uses

I know that the company has lost its biggest kite brand due to these failures
Me it wasn't a problem with the LE it was a problem with the material used to make all the bladders on the kites.

When I took the bladders out it was all rotten. I would stretch the rubber a little bit and it would tear plus it was full of zillions little holes.

I can't believe that that some shop in China would let kites go out knowing that they had a major problems with the bladders. I am not mad at the kite Company. Hey it was not in their best interest to sell kites that will fail after a couple of sessions. They have to replace the kites or bladders free of charge plus it gives a bad reputation to the Brand. A problem like that can put a kite company down the drain.

We want to pay cheaper and cheaper all the time so we have our productions done in China where quality control isn't always on par with European / North American standards. I really hate the managers in those factories that would let trash come out and do nothing about it.

When you pay big money to buy brand new kites so you can trust your equipments and you wind up with kites full of holes on the beach.... you really feel like you've been ripped :-(

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby BWD » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:33 pm

China US europe india or mexico
whatever, name and blame the brands,
it's the brands who have to fix it.
It's the brands we support -when they deliver quality that is!!!
my 2 cents anyway.
better luck this year :-?

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby windfreak74 » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:59 pm

Hey Jumarcil,
I can relate to your same problem!
I live abroad in Chile and most of my kites are bought online or when someone travels to florida.
Got the same rotten bladders on my 2010 9 meter kite!
20 thousand prickholes with no crashes whatsoever in 10 hours of use and the only solution is to change to new bladders.
I have to pay for mine! I still believe in the brand but customer service worldwide is a mith!
life is to short and kitting time is valuable!!
Change bladders and kite on!!

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby JChau » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:10 pm

well the facts are:

1. I first found out this problem >6 months ago, it's caused by using wrong material for the bladder.
Yes, someone did not test out the new source enough... And yes it's terrible with thousands of small cracks after using the kites 2-3 times.

2. The factory which produced the kites is one of the top three in China in terms of quantity, so yes, it affected heaps of brands (pls don't ask me which factory and which brands...)

3. Now the problem should be over as they used different material for producing the bladders

4. To be fair, the bladders of the Cabrinha kite made nowadays are perfect, and actually the best as I've not heard any bladder problem from those brands made by the factory which produces Cabs!

And I think those brands should knew the problem and should proactively notify the distributors thus the customers, please no more delay or hiding, should be honest and responsible! And of course the factory should notify all the brands involved well ahead!!!!

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Re: Bladders failure in major kite Production.

Postby Gigi;) » Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:47 pm

Hi maybe some infos on the materials - I had the same problems of buying ones from one of the company some time ago, tearing and tearing all over again.

I've tested many stuff for bladders in past 3 years and I'm staying with expensier EU made materials for my products.

:bye:


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