makatakam

It takes time to get the hang of it. Search "inverted" in the search bar on this forum. Should be a ton of material. Just hang in there. It will happen with time. Watch the tutorial video.

Keep an eye on eBay and this forum. Used ones in good condition show up often, especially when the weather gets colder.

I have one of those. This kite is for advanced pilots. Way beyond my ability. I remember that someone once called it "madder than a box of frogs", whatever that means.

Get the red one.

You're wrong. It's not the color. It's the "magic strings" he uses. 😀

Putting "whump" in at the beginning of movement loads the sail with air pressure and makes the movement immediate and crisp. The kite gets up to speed almost immediately, instead of slowly accelerating until it achieves the ultimate speed at which you want it to move. It adds intensity to the movement and decreases response-to-input time. Depending on the degree of usage it changes the mood of the "performance" from sleepy to energized. There is a detailed discussion of it on this site. Search it if you haven't already. Watch this video and you will see the transition from near zero whump to full whump. I'm not talking about overall speed which also increases to match the music, but how quickly the kite moves from stop to go, or changes direction with almost instant acceleration. P.S. -- It is also being able to "punch" to decelerate the kite quickly, or to stop motion instantly. Here's another video. You can see the lesser amount of overall intensity to match the mood of the music. Whump is what turns kite from toy to art.

You also have a third bridle option. That is the Djinn bridle which has advantages over the other two, but again the differences may not be noticeable until you have more time on the lines. The beauty of this bridle is that you can adjust it to suit specific needs or conditions. I think it is compatible with the 1.5 sized Rev-style kites, but I'm not sure.

You should know that weighting the wing tips makes the kite harder to trick and control because you are giving the leverage advantage to the kite. It will make an unruly kite more stable but at the same time it slows response.

You probably won't be able to notice any difference between the two bridles until you have a couple of hundred hours of experience and even then it may not suit your flying style. Wait until you can try someone else's at a festival. In other words it will not be easier to learn if you use it, but it will rob you of knowing how the standard bridle feels. In addition it adds complexity to the setup that will make it more difficult for a beginner to correct if things get out of whack.

You can try putting a tail on it to add some stability. You'll have to experiment with the length to get it right. My best guess is that the stiffness of the spars in relation to surface area is causing the problem. Most likely the spars are too stiff.

Unfortunately, the learning "sequence" is not strictly linear, where learning one move makes the next one possible. It is a branching structure where learning one move makes two others possible and learning those two makes four others possible and learning those makes eight possible. So, assigning any particular order to what you learn is extremely subjective. Some folks learn certain moves more easily than others, but may have difficulty with what comes easily to those others for various reasons including but not limited to their physical structure. For instance, a person with long arms will be able to throw an axel more readily than someone with short arms. That's why the tutorials on this forum are arranged in groups by (very) general skill level and explained in detail. Club 38 says "do a moonwalk and send us a video", whereas JB actually explains how to do it. Your choice -- figure it out for yourself, or have someone walk you through it. Makes no difference to me. No matter what I do, you will get what you want from flying a quad and reach the level of fun you require. Fun is what it's all about, so don't sweat the little stuff.

Congratulations.

If you spend the same amount of time flying that you would have spent making the simulator you will not need the simulator in less than half the time it took to make it. It's great if you want to demo a Rev to someone who has never flown one before so they believe it is easier to control the kite than it really is in order to make a sale or to introduce absolute beginners to quad line kites, but other than that there's no reason to have one. As an instructional device it is not productive since it creates muscle memory that one must "unlearn" later. It's better not to acquire bad habits in the first place than to undo the damage later.

The buzzing/vibration will eventually begin to shred the trailing edge. An occasional buzz at high speed won't damage the sail but constant buzzing will eventually fray the trailing edge. As riffclown mentioned, not enough brake increases the buzzing and sometimes enough brake while eliminate the buzz completely. Additional brake both decreases the top end speed of the kite as well increasing sail tension by increasing air pressure. Most people tend to use MUCH less brake than they should when first starting out. I can tell you, as a matter of fact, that I flew with 4 or 5 knots less brake for the first 100 hours or so when I started out with quads.

I think it's more work than it's worth. The advantages in performance aren't, in my opinion, enough to justify the effort.

Some do, some don't. I have one that doesn't. Mostly standard sails that have the issue from what I've heard. I would contact Revolution Kites and ask if they have a remedy for it or know what causes it.

Pour a bucket of water on the ground. You'll have to come back to and find the same spot so you'll need to mark it with something. Make a stake using a golf ball and a 1/4" steel or fiberglass rod. It will penetrate much better than a tent stake, especially if you are using a plastic one.

Watch the line management video a few more times. Get the routine straight in your head. It will save you a lot of grief. Ignore the twists in the line as JB tells you in the video. They will pretty much all disappear when you put tension on the line. Regard everything in the videos as Gospel. It is tried and tested and will serve you well as you gain experience. You will eventually develop your own process, but for now do as instructed. It will help with not having to undo bad habits and will build muscle memory more quickly. I know you'll want to fly immediately, but equalize your lines first. If one of them is substantially longer or shorter the kite will be harder to control. Choose good wind to fly in for your first few attempts, ideally 5-10 mph with a standard sail. In bad wind you will learn nothing except how hard it is to fly in bad wind. Last of all, fly with someone who is experienced if possible. There are many quad pilots in the PNW since that is JB's stomping ground. Have fun, smile and don't forget to breathe.

No. Started different projects, mostly playing with increasing sail area and belt-loop type leading edge. Created many color pattern designs on computer that I never built. I remember the orange and blue, and especially like the one that's asymmetrical, checkered and striped, which, again, is quite similar to one of mine. I guess great minds think alike. 🙂

Somehow I managed to miss this thread the first time around. I like the design. Similar to one of mine.

The factory wind speed recommendations are only recommendations. What is possible in reality depends both on pilot skill level and the settings used. Different bridles, frames, and line sets will determine the limits. They are no more than a rough guideline. If you must know the original info provided by the manufacturer you can call Revolution kites at 858.679.5785 and ask. Personally, I feel that the information is totally useless, as wind quality and variability change the range along with each change in the wind, and that can vary greatly several times in the course of a few minutes. To put it simply, the recommended range is beyond a beginner's ability and not even close to what an advanced flyer can do. Where a beginner will have great difficulty flying a standard sail in 5mph wind, the advanced flyer can keep it airborne when there is zero wind. Same problem with top end. Beginner will have no control above 14 or 15mph, but the advanced flyer can push it close to 30mph, and maybe more. Which range would you print on the package, 5-15 or 0-25? Or something in between? The limits are different for each person and, therefore, meaningless.

Good to hear you're doing well.

You can probably skip the leading edge mesh on designs like this one. I doubt it does much of anything since the wind doesn't really "dam up" against the leading edge. Would save a lot of work in the sewing of the sail. You should try it and see how you like it.

Some things don't need improvement or change. For instance the pin "icon" in front of the pinned topic was fine. Why make it so small that I can barely see it. I already had it magnified so I could see things as my eyesight gets worse. I can cope with and am not complaining about improvements. I know things evolve. I don't like extra work that wasn't necessary. It's like having to put a new roof on your house because they painted a new yellow stripe down the middle of the street that didn't have one before. I don't need the additional work or expense. I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" frame of mind. I'm not looking for cuteness; I'm looking for function. A new coat of paint is good, but it's not needed if there's nothing wrong with the current coat. As an employer I would not be paying for the materials or labor costs of having my employees doing "busy work". I don't want busy; I want productive. Sorry about this rant, but I see too much "busy work" lately in general throughout the world, and not enough of labor that produces desirable results.

What are you flying at this time? You will find a need eventually if you keep flying quads, for kites that you can keep airborne in lighter and/or stronger winds than what you have now. Most avid quad line kiters will have at least two if not three different sail and frame combinations to handle different wind conditions. If you're like most who have continued to fly regularly, you may find the need for even more, as different designs offer different rewards. My quiver at present holds 14, but I could probably get by with 9. Your mileage will vary.