Leaderboard

For a well-adjusted quad line kite, flying forward and backwards should be equally easy. As mentioned back on the first page, the kite should effectively be "in neutral gear" when lines are properly adjusted. When you hold the lines up in your neutral posture, the kite should not have any drive forward or in reverse. It should float evenly, with no drive. If it takes effort for you to stop the kite or hold in a hover, lengthen the top leaders or shorten the bottom leaders. It should take a bit of effort to launch and to fly forward, but none at all to stay still. Many beginners have their top leaders far too short, or bottoms far too long. Their kites dart around quickly, and take effort to attempt to slow or stop. It makes it easy to launch, but quite difficult to control, or sometimes, makes it near-impossible to simply hover, let alone fly in reverse.

Absolutely!!!! Very important -----> Don't over think it.. Enjoy the experience.. Take a look at @John Barresi 's Line Equalization, Line Management and Assembly/Disassembly videos.. Once you have those under your belt, Launch and Control video gives you the basics you need to start flying and enjoying. All of the beginner tutorials are worth a watch and you'll learn/remember more than you think you do.. http://kitelife.com/video-tutorials/

Yes but you also run into limitations..Your adjustments on the top leaders should normally give you your flying aspect. The knots on the bottom leaders are much closer together and are typically used to fine tune your setup if one line is a tad longer or such. I typically don't adjust placement on the bottom leaders unless the kite is trying to turn on me. A trick @Khal showed me is to take both handles, lock them side by side perfectly parallel, Hold them top and bottom and launch.. If everything is tuned right the kite should go straight up.. If any of your lines are askew or stretched on any leg, the kite will try to turn to the left or right. The bottom knots are the fine tune for these adjustments.. The top knots act as the rough tune.

Two minutes ago I suggested that you let those top lines out some in the other topic. Yup, by looking at the pics you posted I can say with certainty that your top leaders are WAY too short. Double the length of the bottoms would be good; triple would be better. Make the change BEFORE the next time you fly. You can extend the tops by tying in a loop between what you have now and the handles. Buy the JB leaders or make your own if you're handy at crafts. You can make them from bridle line purchased from your local brick-and-mortar kite shop or online. Dirt cheap either way. Definitely make those top lines longer and put more knots in them any way you can! The way they are now only impedes your progress, and you'll have a harder time unlearning things later. Not traumatic, but you'll think: "Damn, I could have skipped this part."

Tuning should be done inverted, if it will not back-up SLOW (you may not be standing stationary in low wind) then it is a two line with brakes. a quad should fly backwards! Hello, that and all the cool tricks require significant leaders installed onto the bridle, or extended on top of the handles themselves keep shortening the bottom leaders,.... and/or keeping lengthening the top leaders until you're kite will climb vertically from an inverted position on the ground. You may not fly forward flight, you may not go fast. When this level of control is executed, your leaders will be significantly different in lengths also (or you've added a leader piece in between bridle and flying line at the kite's end) if we flew locally together you could try a bunch of different "feelings" on OPKs, or worse, I would change it out, even w/o your permission!

You will feel like the tops are way long and bottoms too short. Short leaders to the bottom and attach your lines out on the ends. Longer to the top and put your lines where ever you are comfortable. If you find that you're mostly in the middle, that's ok. Once you find a knot you are happy with, try going out one more knot and fly a bit. You might find you like it. If not, change it back. Be prepared to add a fair size backwards step to your launch. You'll find it a bit more to launch, but appreciate the control you'll gain flying. Also watch your thumbs. It's easy to get "lazy" and let them fall forward, basically telling the kite to go backwards. Pay attention to them and learn to hold your drive.

I will let you know when I get them and keep you posted on how it works out.

@Corey Bell I split this off to its own topic to allow the discussion to continue long after the kite for sale has sold.. We typically lock those topics after the sale is complete and your questions are both relevant and great examples of information most quad newbies seek. I know it's crazy but the more your skills progress the more brake you will need. The most common rule of thumb is using the last knot on the top leader and trying to take off.. If you can't take off come back one knot until you can take off and fly a bit.. Fly for an hour and try the last knot again again. You'll notice that you will gradually move farther and farther out on the top leaders as your skills progress. As crazy as it sounds, more brake is the end goal to allow you maximum control. As you learn to load the sail, these adjustments on the leaders will become second nature.

I know it seems counter to the way you would think but you really do need some of these

This may simply be an issue caused by not using enough brake in the settings. Are your upper handle leaders about seven inches longer than the bottoms and your lines are attached to the third or so knot from the end? Depending on conditions and wind speed you might not have the sail as square to the wind as it should be. Try letting the top lines out a couple of knots and see it that takes some of the slack out of the brake lines. This will also tame down the kite so it doesn't go shooting off on its own when a gust hits.

Transparent fabic is interesting to work with, having natural light helps. Got the corners reinforced and edges bound. Working with the tape is one shot deal, the fabric stetches and distorts if you try to pull it apart. Rolling the air bubbles out of the seem is an interesting process, a needle and a urethane roller seemto work well.

Kites are never out of season.. If conditions support, it's the right time to fly.

I find the longer lines really put the kite in slow motion. I usually fly in lighter winds and prefer lighter lines. I like flying on 50# × 50' lines, when I switch to 90# x 90' I have to slow down the inputs. Longer lines "could" be easier to learn on, but I find there's to much sag in the brake lines. If you aren't paying close attention when the slack snaps out the kite is oversterring and out of control. I'd like to put together a set of 50# tops and 35# bottoms just to test the brake line drag/sag theory.

Correct, $200 + shipping gets you both kites Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app