Skyclad01

In my personal experience with them, they have treated me more than right! So far I have no read one bad thing about them, and I dont see why I ever would. They are definitely a shop that is there for the flyers and thier business and certiantly not there to just make a fast buck. I am still a new customer with them (3 kites and a skyshark tube), but ever since I first dealt with them, they have treated me as if I was a long time regular with them. Even though its not on thier site yet (they are getting ready to do a makeover to thier site), they do carry the mowhawk. In fact that is where I ordered mine from - Im just waiting on the custom sail to be made before I actually have it in my hands. And yes, 866 is toll free

Forgive me for repeating myself from another thread first off... The kiteshoppe is a wonderful place to do business with! Theresa really goes out of her way to make sure you are treated more than right (which is extremely rare with most any kind of busniess). So far ive bought 3 kites through them and everything has arrived very well packaged and has never arrived late. I will always refer them to people, and as long as im flying stunt kites, all my major purchases will be through them! The Kite Shoppe rocks!! I hate to say it, but she (Theresa from The Kite Shoppe) is a bit slow with emails. So any questions I have for them, I call Theresa directly at the shop. I have had 0 problems dealing with them that way. She has always been more than helpful and paitent with my questions. And now that I come to think about it, I 99% positive she is (or was) out of town as a matter of fact. Either way, give them a call at thier 866 number (1-866-ROKKAKU) and Theresa will be more than happy to help you!

The kiteshoppe is a wonderful place to do business with! Theresa really goes out of her way to make sure you are treated more than right (which is extremely rare with most any kind of busniess). So far ive bought 3 kites through them and everything has arrived very well packaged and has never arrived late. I will always refer them to people, and as long as im flying stunt kites, all my major purchases will be through them! The Kite Shoppe rocks!!

Theres also the Benson DeepSpace, R-Sky Nirvana, and Air Oeuvre Mowhawk I just recently went through the same thing and after much self debate and indecision, I ordered a Mowhawk. I'm currently awating its arrival which should be in a week or two from now (custom sail). Many factors went into this decision - most of them of personal prefrence. But one of the main ones was as I was talking to Rob (the maker of the kite), he said it was designed specifially for that (to pharaphrase quote you) - "I am a intermediate flyer who is still learning tricks and manuvers. I would like a kite that is easy to learn tricks on, and would be able to grow with." - Each kite you mentioned are all great kites, now its just a matter of narrowing it down to personal prefrences in what you want in a kite (weight, wind range, pull, inputs). For me, the Mowhawk suited all of these for me as its not a heavy kite, has a wide wind ranges, very little pull and takes small inputs. As for performance, I cant say yet as I dont yet have it in my hands, but I have read nothing but good things about it. Being in the same positions as you, Im sure it will very well suit my needs and I think its one that would be worth it to check into. Hopefully someone whos flyed one can chime in and give more specifics as to the Mowhawk's performance and correct me if im right or wrong about my above statement as well as give you more/other kite suggestions.

So I listen to odd music, but this is what works for me: The Muffs - Dont Pick On Me Razed In Black - If Only I Were A Goth Inkubus Sukkubus - Paint It Black The Cramps - Sheena's In A Goth Gang Emily Autumn - I Know Where You Sleep Flyleaf - Cassie AC/DC - Big Balls, and Cant Stand Still The Living End - Prisoner Of Society Dragonlord - White Magic Voltaire - When Youre Evil, and The Vampire Club Vanessa Mae - Storm, and Red Hot Marilyn Manson - Golden Years, and Angel With The Scabbed Wings Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way, American Woman, Fly Away Brian Setzer Orchestra - Jump Jive An' Wail Cradle Of Filth - No Time To Cry Crematory - Temple Of Love One - More Malice Mizer - Beast Of Blood Thats my playlist anyway. Take it or leave it.

Along with the one antman mentioned, a few other good kites are The Techno (by New Tech), Nighthawk (by Premire), Pyro XS (by New Tech), E2 (by Prism), Hypnotist (by Prism) I also went through this about 2 months ago. You can see the suggestions that were made to me in the thread I started - http://kitelife.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1249&st=0 Thats if you want to keep it around the $100 range. I know others will chime in with other kite suggestions as well. Hopefully that helps you some.

The Freestyle Pilot is very good, and so is Dodd Gross's Flight School DVD. Both of those will help you a lot, even just the one will too. Dont worry about the wind (or lack there of) in the videos. They could be using ultralight kites, or the video can just be decieving. As for your stall's, it sounds like you may be giving too much slack to the lines. Usually (depending on the winds) you only need to either take a step back or maybe a little jog back to pull out of a stall. All I can say (from experience) is pratice, pratice and pratice some more. You will get to know your kite, its behaviours and what you should and shouldnt do with it while its in the air. In words it sounds like a task, but if you enjoy flying then all that praticing is actually fun. hope that helps

I would have to agree with must86. Though I would also say that learning punch turns, pull turns and combonation turns would be good to lean along with the stalls and slides

I have heard that some kites actually dont flatten out as well, and it does vary from kite to kite. Ill have to try tomorrow giving a push to the wing before popping it. Winds are supposed to be stronger than what they have been the past few days, so ill be able to give it a try with the nighthawk and see how it compairs to the techno. Thanks

Good to hear you arrived safe. Looking forward to hearing how your visit there goes.

Usually when I fly across the window and near the edge, I will pop the top wing back as I step forward and give slack to the lower wing, then pull both lines. So far with my half axles, ive gotten it between a flip and rotation. So im doing something right, but also still doing something wrong. Ive tried full axels, but I cant get it to spin on its belly yet. I figure pratice, pratice, pratice and more pratice will fix that, lol. Its frustrating and exhausting.. But for some reason, its still fun and relaxing at the same time.

Im having the same problem often as you. More times that not, the kite will just rotate without the nose flipping around. It just takes a lot of pratice and knowing your kite's behaviour with the inputs you are giving it. As far as tip wraps, I get those often as well. I know its one of these three things, and hopefully someone will be able to tell us which it is. It either not enough slack in the line, too much slack in the lines, or pulling the lines too soon during rotation. For the bridles, I dont know enough abou them to answer that, sorry. So far I havent heard any mention of adjusting the bridles for half axel's. But I could be wrong. Im certian someone can give us the correct answers to our questions, and ill give a thank you ahead of time for any and all answers.

Congrats on the slot machine. I know its always a great feeling when I learn a new trick. From what I hear and read, quite a number of trick do work off the 1/2 axel inputs.

Dont feel bad, im in the same position as you. All I have is a Nighthawk and a Techno Pro. And a Detonator, though I dont count that one too much as its a beginners learning kite.

I thought I heard someone come on. Sorry, I was in the Sport Kite room. Guess I should sit in the FreeFlying room since its the default room. Dont forget the beer when you come back in!

Wheres all the night owls at? Ive been in the room for a few hours now (multitasking as well mind you), and not a single soul! Whats with that?? Ok, ill give it the benifit out the doubt since the chatroom is barely a day old. But come on people, get with it!

LOL, as if I dont do enough walking alone with doing manual ground recoverys.

Thats an idea!

Ive knotted the broken line but ive yet to test it out. I think the othe side is about to break though as I can feel some very rough spots in the line like how I did on the side that broke. So im not really expecting them to last much longer either way regardless. Ill probably give the lines a test tomorrow and see what happens.

Well, I have been very fortunate to have met a fellow kiter in my area, and he has been helping me lots! He is self taught and has told me that it had taken him 3 months just to get to the level I am at now in just under a months time. Also whats helped with my progress is that I fly for at least 2 hours a day, and a few hours more on the weekends. But for now, I am currently grounded till Saturday since as you know my one and only lineset broke.

Actually I have downloaded ALL the tutorials from the master list as well as ALL tutorials from drageportal as well as the few from RandyG's website that werent on either of those lists (only about 4 of them) and have burned them onto a DVD.

Yes, I do get flat axels almost half the time. Im still rough around the edges with them, so they are not always flat, and sometimes the kite is a little bouncy coming out of the axel. But I have a good general idea of how to do them. Time and pratice will smooth out those rough edges.

It may be a while unfortunatly. I went for broke when I bought those two kite's from you

I was flying a NewTech Detonator till about a week ago. Now I am usually flying the Nighthawk, unless winds are lite, then I fly the Techno. As far as winds go, it can be anywhere from 5 to 9mph usually.. sometimes more if its gusty. For my Axel's, I usually do them anywhere between a 90 to 45 (or less) degree angle. If the kite is flying to the left, I will fly to the edge of the wind window till its almost ready to stall and ill push with my left hand just a bit to flaten it out, then ill pop it and immediatly give slack with the right hand with the left to follow (taking a step forward if needed), and once the rotation is done, ill pull back on the lines and fly off. Kinda similar to how Dodd does it on his video.

Thanks MissRandall, though ive been to that thread before. Your last statement makes total sense. I guess thats why they all seem very similar to me - the fact that they are axel based. Though I will agree with you on that doing each of them is very unique. 2 questions for anyone that can answer; 1. I tend to tip wrap often when praticing my axels. Is this due to me not giving enough slack in the lines? Im pretty sure thats it, but I rather trust the word from someone more experienced. 2. How long are kite lines supposed to last? Today while flying, one of my lines snapped. And when I feel the other line, I can feel some rough spots like that which I felt on the line that snapped today. (As far as lasting terms, im looking for as in hours. The line I am/was using is 150# x 80' - I highly doubt its Spectra, but it doesnt feel elastic like Dacron. It may be a Spectra blend, but I cant say for certian. My flying time so far has been 30 - 40 hours since the 3 weeks I first bought my kite)