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windofchange

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Everything posted by windofchange

  1. One thing that you may want to keep in mind is that indoor flying requires a ton of foot work. The gliders are totally awesome but you do have to work your feet and body to move around to get them to fly. The footwork can be minimal on some but much more necessary on others. The Chiroptera will climb very nicely and floats excellent with minimal footwork but the Wala, Wala XL, I-Flight and Zero G will require much more footwork to keep them airborne. It is not stressful work meaning you won't be using massive muscle to fly, but you will need to walk around quite a bit while flying. Outdoors in minimal winds it is quite different. These kites can basically park in the air and fly in as little as 1-2 mph winds.
  2. Having flown kites for over 12 years now, and having a kite store - I still get that glassy two headed look from family when someone brings up the kite subject. It amazes me every day how little our society knows about the joys of kite flying. I am saddened at the happiness they are loosing out on. Kiters of the world unite! (unless the wind is blowing....)
  3. I would suggest looking into the Revolution kites. The Snapshot is a great kite but any of the sizes can pull very hard if the wind is right. Plus being a two line kite, the Snapshots will be much harder to set up-launch-land in your condition. The Rev would be much easier, still give you hours of fun and you can fly it sitting down very easily. Launching and landing is a snap with the Revs and they pack down quite small - appx. 32 inches or you can get the Travel Frame for them which will pack them down to a little over 12 inches.
  4. Here's something I quickly threw together. AI format, all vector. I always liked the way the bottom of the Rev kinda forms a dual line kite. Brings both types of stunt kite flying together.
  5. I use Firefox exclusively now days. Main reason - I can customize it for my own likes. With the personas and massive amounts of addons it has become not only a very fast browser, but a tool that I would have a hard time working and browsing without it.
  6. We have LPG in stock in all sizes and lengths. Give me a call or send me an e-mail and I can get you prices on pre-made LPG sets. We hope to have them uploaded on our website soon so you can order directly online. I can also work you a deal on the shipping charges. USPS Priority should only be about $25.00.
  7. Ouch...a Backtracker....even Revolution tends to look the other way when those are brought up. That is not one of the best flying Rev's for sure and as mentioned, if you can fly a Backtracker, everything else will be simple. LOL You will love the B-Series, it is an awesome kite. Biggest thing to learn is that all the Rev controls are in the wrist, not pulling left and right. Once you get that down then the rest will be easy.
  8. Just start out small like you are doing. Remember that the whole reason this is even here is because of your love of flying kites. If you keep that as your main goal and purpose and make the club something that comes along with it, you will be fine and your club will grow. It isn't that important to increase the size of your club. It is important to remember the reason you fly kites. If you want to create a club then be prepared to do 100% of the work to keep it going and operate it. If you get help from others then awesome but it is really hard to rely on them all the time. A club of one is still a club. Start small, fly and have fun and if it grows then great! I have seen many times where organizing and clubs have destroyed the enjoyment of kite flying. It gets to be so much work that it isn't fun anymore. Just keep in mind that if one of the two have to go because of the work or stress, the club is the one that gets tossed. The fun of flying is what is most important. Just my opinion...and it is worth every cent you have paid for it.
  9. For winter use on ski's, I would recommend the larger sizes for sure. The 2.6 would be a great size to play and learn with and when the winds are stronger, you could use it on ski's in the winter. It would be a great starter kite but you would probably want to move to a quad line power kite in the future as they have much better control and better power delivery.
  10. I would recommend something like the Peter Lynn Vibe. This kite is pretty inexpensive and will drag you all over the place. It will have much more power than the framed stunt kites, even the very large ones.
  11. Yup, it is not an active part of the bridle, just there to keep the bridle from wrapping around the keel (tail).
  12. Straps are the only way to go. Although lately I find myself preferring finger straps over wrist straps.
  13. If you are wanting to get into slack line tricks, I highly suggest the Widow over all the others in your list. Second would be the Nighthawk. The Widow is probably one of the best tricking kites in that price range. It will do everything and do it very nicely. It is also a very forgiving kite which makes it easier to learn tricks with. If your timing is off a little then it will still reward you with the trick. The bigger size wing is also easier to fly and lets you see the tricks a bit better than the smaller kites which flick through the tricks so quickly it is sometimes difficult for new pilots to see what actually happened. There are tons of videos online that will show you how to do the tricks. Randy G's sportkite blog is down right now but word is that he is getting everything back up and running very soon. His video's are one of the best around. Another option for you is to find a copy of Dodd Gross Flight School DVD - or Prism's Freestyle Pilot DVD. Both of these you should be able to get from your local kite shop. Hope that helps...and welcome to the forum.
  14. Welcome to the kiting world. Glad you are here.
  15. The kite can just barely handle 15 mph, but you will need to keep it on the very edge of the window and be very careful with it. I don't recommend putting it up in anything over 5-7 mph personally. If the winds are above 4-5, I will be flying something else. Flying the 4D in anything over 10 mph would put extreme stress on the frame and sail and could stretch it out which would hinder it's overall performance in the light winds. Handling 15 mph just simply means it can fly in that without exploding. That could also mean that at 15.5 mph the kite could explode. Staying in the air, parked scared on the edge of the window in 15 mph is not the same as flying the kite back and forth and doing some tricks.
  16. The Skate wing and Kite Wing are nearly the same thing. We have a guy here that used the Kite Wing on a board called a Dirt Surfer and it worked exceptionally well. Most of us just use a normal four line power kite and either a mountain board or a buggy. Here's some pictures of NABX. The one shown is Joe with his kite wing and dirt surfer on the ground getting ready to do some land sailing. https://picasaweb.google.com/chilesej/NABX2011March30#5590162849663745762 tons of pictures are available off of that link.
  17. Revolution does put a small bit of reinforcement on the ends of the rods to help strengthen them where the ferrule slides in. Some rods are easier to see this on than others. Usually the 2 wrap rods show this the most. If you cut the rod then I would suggest using the cut end towards the outside of the leading edge (where the cap is) or using the rod for the vertical. You can cut them pretty easily just as has been mentioned above. I also use a dremel tool but have changed from the normal cut off disks to a diamond blade. This blade is larger in diameter making it easier to cut the rods with and also lasts for ever! I have been using the same cut off blade now for 4 years and it is just now starting to show some wear. Can be purchased at most Home improvement stores (Home Depot, Lowes, Menards...etc...)
  18. ..........and the addiction spreads............................
  19. I had the chance to talk with Brett on the phone the other day. He's a very good guy and I am glad that he will be a part of our kiting community. Also very glad that things have been sorted out and hopefully we can meet up and fly together at one of the festivals. Maybe Kite Party 10! Thanks for the call Brett, talk to you again soon!
  20. One thing to keep in mind is that Revolution does stand behind their product and will bend over backwards to help you.....but..... Revolution has a simple structure, based off of proven structures set up by companies all over the world to provide the best customer service ever. This structure works as Revolution being the factory who's main concentration is to produce the best possible product and to keep that product flowing in a way that their customers can obtain it. Revolution also makes many other products and the kites is only a portion of their overall business. Because the factory is mainly concerned with production, they do not have a fully staffed division for customer service issues. Instead, the seek out and contract the best possible dealers around the globe to retail Revolution product. All Authorized Revolution Dealers are required to not only stock the product, but to also provide replacement parts and customer service. Revolution feels that this type of structure will provide the end user (you and others) the fastest and best service available. After all, if you break a rod, your local shop should be able to give you a new rod the very same day. If Revolution (the factory) was the only place for customer service, it would take days or even a week or so to get a replacement rod out to you. All of the issues you are having should have been taken up with the dealer you purchased the kite from. And that dealer should have been able to either re-glue your ferules in minutes or would have been able to hand you a replacement rod that very same visit. I know that there are several Revolution dealers up in the Oregon area that would have been more than happy to replace your parts and/or entire kite for you on the spot. Then it is up to the dealer to converse with the factory to get the issues solved. This way you would have either a new part or a completely new kite instantly and would be out flying it today instead of having the issues or waiting for the products to be sent out to you from the factory. Now....if you happened to scour the internet looking for the cheapest price, and then ordering your kite from across the globe instead of from your local dealer ... well ... technically you should have still taken the issues up with the store you purchased the kite from - and that store should be handling these issues with you. Either way, if you order from somewhere else instead of local then if you have an issue, you must then go somewhere else to get those issues resolved. Even still, if you take your product into your local shop, even if you didn't purchase it from them, then they would still be able to take care of it for you. They would probably re-glue your ferule for you for either no charge or a very minimal charge or they would sell you a replacement rod for a discount or they may just opt to replace it for free if you can provide a receipt showing the item is new. Even though this is a little frustrating for a dealer to repair kites or handle warranty issues for kites they did not sell, most dealers will still work with you on it because that is what your local dealer is in there for and most dealers are very friendly people who enjoy seeing kites in the air (sometimes more than seeing money in the cash drawer). Now, because Revolution realizes that sometimes a dealer does not or can not resolve an issue with a customer, Revolution allows you to bypass them completely and go straight to the source. They recommend that you first try to work the details out with your local (or purchasing) shop first, but if you can't get the item resolved, call them directly and they will handle it the best way possible. Revolution also realizes that there are many areas in the U.S. that do not have local shops and again, if you can't get service locally, you can contact them directly for whatever you need. This is just another way they try to provide the best possible customer service. When you deal directly with a factory via phone, text, chat or e-mail, you will never get as good as service as if you are standing inside a store working face to face. If your Ford Mustang breaks down do you call Detroit? If your Sony MP3 player breaks do you call Japan? With both of these instances you probably could call Detroit or Japan directly, but to get the best possible (and fastest) customer service, you would take it to your local Ford dealer or to Best Buy (or wherever you purchased the MP3 player). It is nice that Revolution allows you to easily contact them directly just by picking up the phone, and you don't have to go through a massive array of computer commands such as "press 1 for this", " Press 4 for this" and then wait on hold for a half hour or longer before some low level idiot tries to screen your call...nope, call Rev and if Lolly, Dave, Ben or Joe doesn't answer themselves, they answer the phone directly and can transfer you straight to Lolly, Dave, Ben or Joe. Try that with GM, Ford or other companies. Anyways, once you do get your B2 up and flying I am sure you will more than appreciate the way it is designed, constructed and flies. It is an awesome product, even if the label isn't printed quite right. Heck, in a couple years that one kite may be a collector just because it does have an issue with the label. :) Kind of like a rare coin or stamp....who knows. Try your local shop next time you are looking for a new kite. Even if the price is a couple bucks more, the benefit of instant service and friendship is more than worth it! Hope that helps. P.S. If you have any further issues and your local shop can't take care of them for you, you can give me a call as well and I will help you out.
  21. Hey, just came across this on the web. Didn't know there were two Kitelife's, one on each side of the giant pond. http://kitelife.de/?lang=en
  22. Three wrap frame will be fine for 2 or 3 kites, but if you are going to stack more than that or fly them in winds above 10 mph, you may want to upgrade the front kite to a 4 wrap or SLE. If stacking more than 4 or 5 Revs, give me a call and we can get you some custom wraps that are stronger for your stack.
  23. Put the kite that you like to look at most in the front. Then put the strongest frame you have in it.
  24. Yes, no, yes and yes. Yes, you can put them on or take them off at any time. It is super simple, just larks head the stack lines right through the holes in the end of the end caps. They go on and come off in seconds. No, you don't have to leave them on all the time and yes you can remove them when you want without effecting any of the kites in any way. Yes, you can stack multiple kites together. The progressive stack uses a Rev 1 in the back, a Rev 1.5 (or B-series or EXP) in the middle and a Rev II (Or B2) in the front. All of the 1.5 series kites are almost identical in size so stacking an EXP, 1.5 or a B-Series would look very uniform and other than the panel layout, they would look like the same kites. Hope that helps.
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