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When I'm at a regular field I use 120 foot 90#. For quad line winders I've got 15 foot, 40 foot, 50 foot, 85 foot, and 120 foot. Currently I have three winders of 120'@90# in the bag, in case some breaks and I'm flying with a friend, in addition to some dual line sets. Seconding the opinion to always buying new line, never used, either made yourself or by a reputable dealer. My family knows it, so I ended up with three new spools of line (50# and 90# LPG) under the Christmas tree. Handles are a personal thing. I would get them separate from the kite, getting a good set. There are many varieties and lengths, 13-inch is common but I prefer 15 inch, sometimes 17 inch when I'm feeling particularly lazy, because long handles mean less hand movement translates into more motion on the kite. My 15-inch set is my go-to, but I have all three of those sizes in my bag. There is a wide range of handle material, like aluminum, steel, carbon, and wood. There are various versions with metal clips or plastic clips to hold the leaders, and "snagless" varieties with caps for hollow handles or with holes drilled through, potentially with milled ends (my favorite), so there are no metal loops on the handles to snag in your bag. And that's not all! Handles come in a variety of angles, grips include fully padded nylon coatings to foam grips to rope wraps around wood, and handles come in a variety of colors.

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.

@John Barresi Looks like the web HTTPS security certificate on the site has expired. People cannot post unless they hack their system clock (which only works for 3 days) or disable security settings on their browser (which is unsafe). Seeing as I do this for my day job, I know how to get around it, hence this post. ;-) In past years everybody charged for certs, often $100 or so. These days, Let's Encrypt gives out free certificates, if you want to save a few bucks.

Said differently, one is drive, the other is pull. They are related, but different. It is about the direction of the forces involved. When more toward the nose the force pushes the kite forward. When more toward the center the force has more pull on the kite but less motion. Either way, it is something that depends on the conditions on the ground when you fly, and should be adjusted based on need. You might need more drive to lift the weight, you might need more pull, but you won't know until you try.

1) Where should I mount it? 140 grams will certainly affect the flight, but assuming you get a balance-neutral placement it should still fly in good winds. That position can be at the center of mass on the kite, or it can be on the tow point. Kites can carry relatively heavy loads, including cameras. Assuming wind is strong enough the critical factor is not the weight, but how that weight is distributed to keep the kite balanced. As long as it remains balanced, it shouldn't harm flight too badly. 2) Should I adjust the tow point? You can move the tow point toward the nose if you want. It changes the pitch, the angle that the kite flies at. Closer to the nose usually makes it move forward more forcefully, up to a point. You can choose which point to use when you are out in the field. 2.2) Should I change it in higher winds at an altitude? I'd choose based on trial and error. Try it with the lower setting first, point B. If there is not enough lift, try the upper setting, point A. If it is strong or uncontrollable, bring it back down and make adjustments.

That's a reason for having many different kites with overlapping capabilities. Fly while the wind is good, fix any damage later.

Yes, three meanings to choose from. When it isn't available as a choice, I tend to choose "frobnicator" as a name, from the same origin.

Has anyone ever used dowels? Yes, many people. There are all kinds of kite designs that can use any available rod, including dowels, bamboo, even straight sticks and twigs for their structure. Many inexpensive hobby-store and generic retail kites use wooden dowels for their cross bar. If you are searching for kite designs online, you can find kite plans that call for thin wooden dowels (or for bamboo sticks that tend to be lighter). Most professional grade kites these days use carbon fiber rods for their light weight, high strength, and extreme flexibility which helps them survive crash impacts. A few professional grade kites use fiberglass.

I picked up a Kaiju in March, and an indoor rev later in the year. Over the past six months I've slowly built stamina for indoor flight, but still encounter a bit of dizziness or vertigo. My collection of maneuvers is still relatively small, and 360s (or 180s) are my easiest way to recover and land when trying something new. I know in indoor performances (in person and in video) the performers do relatively few 360s, more frequently walking zig-zag patterns before turning 180. Also common is slowly covering the entire gym as a large square rather than walking backwards around the center court circle. Those will require increasing my pool of tricks, but that's my goal. The tip of thinking about the gym as compass points has helped, both for orientation and for dizziness. My available floor is little more than a basketball court, nearly mirrored north/south and east/west, so keeping compass points in mind helps with orientation. But even trying those, after about two minutes of indoor flying and a half dozen spins, I need to stop, land, and hold steady for a moment. It takes one or two seconds for the walls to stop moving from vertigo, then I can continue. Any other ideas to help with the spinning?

It is normal. All parts will break eventually from use and abuse. They break most often when you are starting out and are crashing frequently. They break less often when are skilled and are cautious with your equipment. Most damage come from crashes, hard non-crash landings, and from dragging along the ground. Sometimes parts will be destroyed on impact. Sometimes they will be damaged but won't completely break until placed under stress. Parts can also break under the stress of high winds, but for beginners that is less common than impact or snag damage. Several companies (including HQ) sell the rods, clips, and other necessary parts to repair the kite. It may take some labor to cut rods to the proper length and securely attach them, or they may have an exact replacement part. Sometimes the kite vendors will send a no-cost replacement part for a newly-purchased kite. Contact them and ask. Otherwise shop around, there are many stores that sell parts for a range of prices.

There used to be a brand of kite line called "spider line", it was blue, made from the same stuff as today's Dyneema and Spectra names. I've still got a bit of it on a winder. I think if I knew there were spiders out ballooning, I'd call that as a good day to fly indoors.

It wasn't me being a wimp that prevented me from properly attaching it. I met up with John and found out the knots were tied slightly too close making them nearly impossible to come together. Moving the knots about 1/8" made the kite come together neatly.

Gentler, certainly, but that's not a bad thing. Kites can have high pull and fast speeds that are beyond beginner's skill, that doesn't mean people with intermediate and expert skills will ONLY fly those kites. Not every kite day needs to be an upper-body workout. A lazy day flying kites means flying gentler kites. A kite can be beginner-friendly can can also be fun to fly.

If you are considering quad line kites, the skill sets are mostly distinct. You can learn to fly a quad without learning to fly dual, and you can learn to fly a dual without learning a quad. Quad line kites are generally slower and deliberate, far more precise with the ability to slow, stop, and reverse. Dual line kites have more options including kites with high power or force if you like a workout, kites with extreme speed, and kites capable of amazing acrobatic tricks. Some skills are transferable like understanding the wind window or understanding how air turbulence affects flight, but mostly you can learn either one in about the same time frame. With the help of an experienced pilot that can give immediate feedback you can learn basic control in an hour or two. Without an experienced guide you will need experimentation and instructional videos and it will take longer.

I started thinking about making the six-hour drive from Austin, then remembered I've already got a scheduled kite flying on Saturday. That's a first. I hope the octopuses / octopodes survive with all their limbs, this weekend's weather is forecast to be rather active.

There are plenty more things you can learn. For strong winds you learn the cost of spars after they break, how to patch a torn sail, and how to cut down a snapped line into short lines. You also learn the "fire drill" maneuver to rush to the edge of the wind window in heavy gusts, and the importance of stretch strips sewn into the kite fabric to slow down the eventual wear. For light/variable winds you can learn patience, learn how to read the tells of an incoming wind by watching the distance, and get the exercise of the "walk of shame" out to the kite as it repeatedly falls (or learn about "magic sticks").

Yes, the one I have is exactly that. Half as long, plus a ferrule. Put two together and it is the length of a regular spar. When making a set I suspect they take a regular set of six spars (one spare), run them across a very narrow saw precisely down the center, then add six ferrules. None of the spars are double-ferrule like the center spar typically is, only one ferrule per piece.

Exciting. Then we can get another vote on if they're really tight, or if I'm just a weakling.

It was mentioned in this thread a week ago. Both the Kymera and Hydra are on discount for $112.50, half their regular price. It looks like the price dropped at the start of summer.

Okay then, I'll de-tune the whiskers for maximum raspberries to the crowd.

Thanks, I didn't understand the purpose of a leech line until today.

Yeah, I've spent the past few years flying quads almost exclusively, even though I started on dual line kites as a kid in the '80s before putting down the hobby for nearly two decades. When I stopped flying the Rev was still fairly new and way outside my price range with a job mowing lawns. When I came back to the sport about five years ago it looked radically different. Anyway, looking over my kite logs for 2018 gives me this: 29 days flying outdoor quad (and thinking about buying an indoor quad...) 15 days flying indoor dual 3 days flying outdoor dual (not counting today) On that note, I just came home from flying and had the numbers open from updating my log. I spent a half hour reminding myself how to fly an outdoor dual line on my Eruption because I'd rather break that than my new kites, then another 90 minutes or so breaking in the Kymera. I'll likely start on the Hydra next week. I'm not sure if the wind was too strong for the Kymera or I just never found the right adjustments. It kept making trailing edge buzzing ("kite farts") through most of the wind window so I kept adjusting tensions throughout the afternoon. Windfinder reports the wind was about 8G14 which matches the nearby airport's wind report that averaged 9, 7, then 9 knots over that time frame. With slight adjustments to the standoffs I reduced the buzzing, but never really eliminated it. I really don't want to stretch out or ruin the trailing edge of a brand new kite before it's really broken in. Does someone who knows the Kymera well (ahem, like @John Barresi ) know if that's too strong for that kite, or if it just needs more tuning love? The strongest gusts were probably near the upper end of the kite's listed wind range but I didn't feel like it was overpowering the kite.

Thanks. It does fit together, juse takes more tension than I'm used to. My concern is more about sail stretch. You can't unstretch the fabric nor lengthen spars or standoffs. With two votes saying it feels designed to be stretched tight, I'm less worried.

Picked up the Hydra and Kymera, that's a great price. (Thanks for pointing out the Into the Wind promotional discount in the other discussion). On my first assembly and inspection, the Kymera feels fine but the Hydra sail feels extremely tight. I couldn't lock the loop around the wingtip nock from the tension, it didn't feel safe to do more than put it through the loop and hook the loop over the nock rather than pull it through to the knot. The first side's standoffs were tight, but I needed to balance out the sail material to put the second set of standoffs in. The tension is greater than any other kite I own, even the indoors that were my former tightest kites. I can still assemble the kite, but there's not a single storage-wrinkle left in the sail. I double-checked that none of the fittings were only partially installed, everything seemed proper just very tight. Is that much sail tension normal for the Hydra? I'm concerned if setting up is enough to stretch out the sail, or if this is typical for the first few flights.

This is why quality line sets are important. If you're using cheap cotton line you might be limited to four or five twists before the line starts to bind and becomes impossible to fly around seven or eight twists. Cheap nylon lines might get you an additional twist or two, but still bind up tight by ten twists. High quality line is expensive, but it can twist ten or fifteen times before it begins to bind and become difficult, and 20+ twists before it is a serious problem. Cotton or nylon dual-line sets are $5, quality synthetic lines are $50+ for dual line, $100+ for quad line.