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Brett Howard

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Everything posted by Brett Howard

  1. Looks good Joe. Also looks like you're having some of the bouncing issues that I was... I was hoping to try this again later and see if there was good way to tweak out that bit of bounce but I much rather prefer flying than tweaking... ~Brett
  2. Boy it was a windy son-of-a-gun today.... I guess I can now say I've broken my first kite.... Went to take a fast turn with the B2 in 19-20mph winds with the race frame in and tick the right vertical spar made a good loud tick and ti was very easily felt from the handles. Guess now I'll see about getting a replacement. Thankfully I still had the vented B series w/ 4 wrap to go back and fly. I knew I had to get right back into the saddle. Took me a bit to get back into wanting to do fast stuff... Was slightly wounding but thankfully the sail was OK and this will be an easy one to recover from. ~Brett
  3. I've been interested in buying a speed series kite and was wondering if someone in the area had one that they'd let me try out. I'd be willing to meet up with someone some weekend pretty much anywhere from Seaside to Bandon. But I'd prefer somewhere from Lincoln City to Florence. I've also been considering an xtra vent kite but finding one of those in the area might be less likely to happen... Thanks ~Brett
  4. We had a lot of fun flying today... I few the 1.5 and even stacked a 1 onto it for a bit of the day... Then the wife showed up and took the 1.5 so I put together the B2 and had a blast with that little guy. The B2 was a welcome change as after about 4 hours of flying my hands were game for a slightly lighter pulling kite. Tomorrow winds should be higher and I'll be bringing out the full vented 1.5 B series. Probably have a bit of fun with the B2 as well... The wife and I are staying at the driftwood shores hotel right on the beach. I'll probably sleep in as theres not any real fun peppy winds predicted until around noon or so... Man its SOOO nice not having to hop back in the car and drive an hour back to Eugene when I'm done flying. There is a gentleman named Scott, also from Eugene, who was out flying his EXP for the second time. Something tells me I'm out here flying too much because I met him on this very beach before when he was out flying it for his very first time. He got his EXP from Keith up in Newport at The Kite Company. He's a great guy and really knowledgeable about the REV lineup. I can't recommend both Keith and his shop highly enough. Anyway if anyone else is in the area I'd love to see more kites in the air. ~Brett
  5. Sounds like no feedback back.... If anyone is game to fly on Saturday at Heceta I'll make it over there... ~Brett
  6. I'll be at Heceta Beach in Florence this Saturday flying with my wife. We'll both be flying. We'll probably be out there Sunday too... At least that is the plan for now. There haven't been many rooms available since the whole 4th thing and all... But if plans change I'll update here. We usually setup in front of Driftwood Shores. Hopefully there will be room for us there with all the additional July 4th weekend traffic... Here is a link to the location: http://maps.google.c...&gl=us&t=h&z=16 ~Brett Edit: Looks like I should be getting another lineset in the mail on Saturday of Skybond (been wanting to try that stuff out). If I wait long enough for the lineset the wind will be dying down by the time we make it out there Saturday. I'll probably be out there Friday (today) and Sunday now.
  7. Not a problem! Hope you guys all have fun in Lincoln City this weekend. I've got another event down south in Coquille that I've got to head to but I'm going to be at Heceta Beach for a good 4 or 5 hours tomorrow. Yea it makes it take a lot longer to drive down to Coquille but its MUCH more worth it... Looking forward to the practice. ~Brett
  8. Thanks much sir. Looks like I was the first download and have those added to the repository... ~Brett
  9. I'd say that most of it was quite obvious and I'd not call it so much subtle however after 3 college degrees 2 of which in engineering I've taken my fair share of physics so I'm probably not the target audience to ask about that... That being said I did consider the video a good mix for new fliers and advanced ones alike. If I had to pick out some new subtle information it would have to do with the information not directly related to the physical world but to the kiting world. The fact that teams use 120' lines was good new info. I'd already started to discover the 150 pound slow down effect as that is the line set that was provided with the Rev I. The I does feel a lot nicer in lower winds when we tried it with 90# lines. But thats just one of those things that trying things teaches you. There is no way that the video can give you what trying things gives you but I did see the video as a good primer to get people interested enough to go and try things. I've still yet to have a chance to try things with 50# lines and I'm quite interested to do so. Just haven't gone there yet. Thanks again for the tutorials. Having the ability to download those would also be nice for addition to the archives. Thanks ~Brett
  10. When you spend time on a kiting forum coming up with top ten lists to explain your "affliction" to others. When you drive an hour each way to the coast 3 days in a row cause the winds are just too good to pass up on. When the weather is perfect and the rest of your vacation party heads off to go on a 150 dollar helicopter flight my wife and I thought heck thats almost a rev between us and so we flew instead.
  11. Really would love to add a purple kite to the bag... Hopefully I'll get the bicycle turn down soon. I've promised myself a purple shockwave once I get that down. I had planned for a B series 1.5 in purple once I learned inverted hover and once I got there my wife voiced a want for a blue kite so my purple desires remain... heres hoping! ~Brett
  12. I could use a clinic. I promised myself when I got an inverted hover down that I would go buy a B series 1.5. When I get a bicycle turn down I've promised myself a speed series... Gotta get that one down now! ~Brett
  13. I very much greatly appreciate the kind words from you all. I just drove 4 hours to go and get my full vent B series 1.5 from my local shop. Winds should be really good down south where the parents live. My dad is curious all this kite flying stuff I've been talking about so for father's day I'm headed down to take him out to the beach and teach him how to fly. Here's hoping I can bring another member into the fold. ~Brett
  14. Thank you sir! And I see from my email that my new frame just shipped. SWEET! ~Brett
  15. Man I really want to come but its on the same weekend as the out in the field radio event that happens once a year during the last weekend of june. I hope this event moves around more than that so I can make both some time... Would love to get to see iQuad flying in person and even more would like a chance to fly with JB in person... I could use some pointers!! ~Brett
  16. Received end spars with fdd's installed for the 2 wrap and 3 wrap frame in the mail today. These were all glued properly. One of the stickers in the 2 wrap frames looked like it was pretty chewed up but I guess when you get replacement parts ya get seconds. Anyway I guess now I can try regluing the previous ones. Thankfully they aren't asking that I ship back the defective stuff. I do plan on showing them to my local shop owner before I muck with them. Hopefully I'll be taking the 2 hour pilgrimage out there here soon! Hopefully UPS is delivering my full vent B series 1.5 and a new 3 wrap Rev 1 frame tomorrow! ~Brett
  17. I should go and weigh mine but I'm certain that they'll fall within measurement error of your values. I don't have all these frames as of yet but greatly appreciate your posing this information. I really wish the specifications were more consistent across families. Some families have tables with dimensions and what not while some others do not. I wish there was one handy location that had all the specifications on all the different kites including weights. Or at least comparing all the components such as different bridles and what not so that one could make comparative assessments of where the greatest weight savings vs strength can be made. It would make questions like how similar is a B series 1.5 to a standard series 1.5 as for weight? Or how similar is a standard series 1.5 or B series 1.5 with a Zen frame to that of a full up Zen kite? For those of us who don't have a lot of others around them or access to easily see these things at a local shop this data can be very helpful.... Thanks much sir. ~Brett
  18. Yea I realize this is an older thread but I just turned it up by doing a search before creating a new one asking for bicycle turn assistance... So I'd not mind having a copy of it.... I've finally gotten pretty comfortable with inverter hover and bicycle turns and improved reverse flight are my next goals.... Thanks much... ~Brett
  19. Well I called and talked to Kent... Told him about the local shop that I go to... Turns out he wasn't familiar with just how small a town they were in. Anyway we had a nice chat and soon he'll be shipping me a new race frame for the B2 so I'll have a spare in the event that I run into issues. Again I keep hearing how great Rev has been to work with. So I'm fairly sure that I just caught them on a bad day. Again thanks all.... ~Brett
  20. Appreciate the input... I did buy the kite from a local shop and I have been treated very well by that shop. Keith at The Kite Company has been really nice to deal with and has gone above and beyond to help me out! However he's 2 hours drive each way. When I first had the issue with the missing fdd I called Keith and he mentioned that I should first look for it in the rest of the rods. I did its no where to be found. He then said that he'd be able to glue one in when I was around next time. He doesn't usually have a whole lot of Rev stuff stocked. I'm sure its not really all that big of a seller for him compared to the much lower cost kites you often see in the area around here. However I did run into a guy flying an EXP for his first time in Florence last weekend that he'd gotten from Keith. I spend a bit of time and helped him past some of his frustrations. I may still be pretty new to things but I'm more than willing to try and help people out when I've got the ability. Anyway the fact that the local retailer doesn't carry much on hand often means that when I order from them they have to then turn around and order from Rev and then when it arrives there they then turn around and ship it to me. Right now I'm waiting for a Rev 1 3 wrap frame and a Full Vent B-series 1.5 that they had to order from the factory. So anyway that was my main reason for going direct to the factory to ask my question as well. I was hoping that Rev would be able to deal with it directly rather than Keith having to order things and having to do the whole ship things around deal... I don't believe he has any additional B2 stuff there but I could be mistaken there. Again I see the automotive references as a bit out of place here. They are on a much different scale. The company I work for sells all of its products through distribution however we often deal with support claims that come back to us directly. Also had I called Rev and they simply told me to deal with my local shop for service I'd have done that. When I called them to place an order for a kite they told me to talk to the local shop (like I expected) and thats exactly what I did. I wasn't looking for a better price I was only wondering if I could get things a little faster. But when it comes to wanting to help a company out I really feel like The Kite Company is top notch and they deserve the margins they request. However when you try to agree with someone and say yea it maybe was a little bit of a rush cause there is a problem here too.... I really don't expect to hear a dismissive "so what" in return. I do find it funny to think that this could be an investment value kite because of the flaws however that can only be if the flaws are rare. I will state (and have previously) that I've got 3 kites here and this is the only one that I've had any issues with. I'm sure that the 4th will probably have no issues either. I just hope it continues that way. I know how vendors like to talk up the local support thing and the instant gratification route and that is totally worth something! I know how US manufacturers like to talk up quality and craftsmanship and taking care of their workers and that too is worth something. However when you hear us manufacturers get dismissive of quality issues at the same time that they bring up issue with the quality of knock-offs its frustrating. I work for a company that is currently moving its manufacturing off shore to Vietnam and I often have to deal with some of the quality issues that arise from moving things over seas. Many of these quality issues are things that you'd pretty much never see when things were made here. So this kinda hit home a little more than it probably should have. Just a few weeks ago notice was given out that 125 people are being laid off at the facility where I work. Many of these people are my friends and they cared dearly about making out products right. Thanks again for your time and input sir! ~Brett
  21. I'd prefer not to name names. But lets just say that I was quite surprised too. It was mentioned that the glue may have not been mixed properly and it may have been because those were rushed a bit. I mentioned that it made sense that things were rushed a bit because the pad printing was also a bit lack luster and the reply to that was literally "so what". When I made the comment that I'd have assumed quality would be more important I was told about how many of them were being made and personally I started to feel like a number. Now granted I'm new to kiting and no one knows me here from Adam but I've spent well over a grand so far in just Revolution gear and I plan on getting into it even further. I've been a member of the shooting community for a lot of years and in that industry extra parts and things like that are very common when there is an issue. Thankfully Rev has been quite kind in offering to take care of me by getting me new spars with fdd's and I don't believe they want the old ones back. I'm grateful that I'm allowed to keep the old ones and then I can try my hand at re-gluing those. However being required to re-glue the only poles that I got on a brand new kite isn't acceptable to me. If I'd paid only 80-100 bucks for the whole setup and got a knock off then I'd consider that my own fault but when I pay retail I expect quality. So far in 3 kites I've only had one issue. I suspect that when my 4th kite arrives in the mail shortly it will also be perfect (but I'm going to be checking it closely before I take it out). I greatly appreciate all the votes of confidence from you gentlemen. Perhaps I just caught them on a bad day. ~Brett
  22. Glue is a very deep subject. My wife is one of the guru's of glue but she's not familiar with gluing when carbon fiber is concerned. My wife is actually a mechanical engineer and a helicopter pilot so she's quite handy to have around here and there! Anyway, thankfully REV is going to send some new spars with fdd's installed. What is funny is that when I first called they were just going to send out a center spar. It took this forum for me to figure out for sure that the B2 goes together differently and to call to tell them that. Now they are going to send another package with the correct parts. whats funny is that the want me to refuse shipment of the center spar so that they get that piece back. Heck I'd almost be ok with buying it from them but honestly I'd bet that those rods are fairly low cost as far as raw materials goes.... Oh well. Had they just lied to me and said man thats no good that your printing is messed up we'll have to start checking for that. I'd have been happy as a clam. Had they offered me a new sail because of it I'd have declined and been impressed with their dedication to quality. If/when people accept that return the problems can be returned and learned from and sold as seconds. The fact that they told me that they didn't really care about quality issues and that they are making hundreds of these kites really didn't sit well with me. I'm an electrical engineer at a company where a smaller running product line gets sold in numbers of 50,000 a year. This is for a commercial product... Was I working in the consumer sector then this 50K a year number is TINY! I know for a fact that just a slight mismatch in plastic colors is enough for us to shut down a line and not start making product again until things are just right. I know that our customers would expect nothing less. Now for a small company who makes these things in the hundreds (their words) it almost seems to me that it would be really quite easy to have someone check each one of these kites personally. Thats just my $.02. I'll be sure to report here how the new spars with fdd's installed are when they arrive. In the mean time I'll sit impatiently by the mailbox waiting... I've only been flying for a few months now and I'm about to take delivery of my 4th kite and a 1/4" 3-wrap frame for the REV 1. Now if I could just get some good wind this weekend!
  23. Well its good to know that the frame is supposed to be that way however the fact that the Rev rep said they were going to send a new center spar makes me wonder what it is that I'm going to get in the mail... I find it odd that people find it perfectly acceptable to have to reglue the LE on a week old kite. To me this really seems like a quality issue. Not to mention that the pad printing on the kite was pretty lack luster. Apparently its not an Original 4 line kite its an Orig Nai 4 Line IT! Edit: I don't mean to sound so sour but at the price of these kites I expect a bit more attention to detail and quality. If I'd not ordered this kite from an authorized dealer listed on their website I'd consider flaws like this evidence that it was probably a fake. Edit again: Just called Rev and asked them about this they said that its not normal for the ferrules to be moving and they are sending out new ones to make it right. They mentioned that they may have been rushing out the spars and that it may have just had the epoxy mixed incorrectly. They then told me I was the first one to call about it. Probably because everyone else is taking on the risk and trying to fix it themselves I guess. Anyway I also mentioned the pad printing being a bit lack luster and how that might also make one think that it was a bit of a rush job... Their comment was "so what". Boy with a comment like that it really leads me to believe that with not a whole lot of work this level of quality can be matched by fakes in China. I like to keep my money as local as possible but I usually like to see a little more pride in ones product. Especially for such a premium item.
  24. Ok so I recently bought a Rev B2 from my local shop... I went to take it out and fly it the next day in light winds. Winds were light so I thought I'd start off with the lighter 2 wrap frame. However I noticed that only one of the 2 wrap frame pieces had a ferrule in it and that ferrule was only slightly slowed from moving in and out of the tube by the glue. So being that I was already out in the field I decided to just change course and go for the 3 wrap frame. All went OK and I was able to fly it. I called Rev and they are sending me out a new center piece... (however I'm concerned as to how that is going to work...) I've flown it several times since then (4 total) and finally decided today to do a good cleaning on my kites. I'm a bit new to all this but I've been going out quite a lot in the couple months that I've owned Rev's. Anyway the B2 is my third REV and its the only one that I've had any frame issues with. Ok now to the issues... Here is what I got in my kit. 2 3 wrap pieces with 1 ferrule 3 3 wrap pieces with no ferrule (this constitutes a full 3 wrap frame but isn't the LE assembled backwards?) 1 2 wrap piece with very poorly glued ferrule 4 2 wrap pieces with no ferrule (I'm assuming that the other piece that had a ferrule was also poorly glued and thus it was lost) However when I had things apart to clean them I decided to try the ferrules in my 3 wrap frame and those are also loose enough that they will turn in the tube. All of the frames I have for my Rev 1 and my 1.5 have no issues with loose ferrules. Being that the B2 is my favorite of the kites I really kinda would like to get things right. The other day out of lazyness I swapped the B2 out in place for my 1.5 and I didn't change to the smaller handles. I really like the feel of the B2 with the larger 1.5 handles! The kite is only about a week old right now and I really believe that there is a bit of a quality issue with this one... Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. ~Brett
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