makatakam

Did Bazzer actually make B2-Pros?

Cool -- also check eBay during the winter months if you are looking for more, or vented.

You could get one of these. Four-wheel-drive, of course.

Hi, OAP, and welcome to the forum. You will find all things kite here. You're with family.

Looking good!

Congratulations, dr. And you gotta tell us what the mystery prize is once you get it.

Having a standard, mid-vent and either a full- or extra-vent will cover all wind you will encounter except very low to none. Adding an SUL to your quiver will cover everything. I must warn you, though, that learning to fly well in low wind conditions may become an addiction within your Rev addiction, and you may begin craving those 1mph breezes. Most people can't fly a kite when there is wind and are amazed by those who can get it done in low or none. My first 4 years with Revs was all done with a standard sail SLE and a full-vent Phantom. When the wind got over 10mph I would pull out the Phantom because I don't like a lot of pull from the kite. Pretty soon I found I could fly it in 7mph wind, which is the same as a standard in 2mph. Then I made my own Super Ultra Light for wind down to 1/2-mph. It is definitely worth every opportunity you have to fly in less than recommended wind range for each kite you have. Learning to coax every last ounce of "go" from the wind available will allow you to fly effortlessly while others are grounded. The added bonus to less pull from the kite is additional control. When you don't have to fight the wind for control of the kite and have become accustomed to flying with maximum brake doing neat stuff becomes a lot easier. There are three stages of flying any kite, but especially quad-lines. 1. The kite flies you. 2. You fly the kite. 3. You and the kite fly as one. Unfortunately, most people never make it past the second stage. Once you are flying in stage 3 most of the time, you'll know. No one can do it all of the time, but when everything comes together properly it's heavenly. Having a certain control feature in mind and switching frames to achieve it, is something you must try in order to understand what difference it can make. If you don't try, you'll never know, so go ahead and mix and match frame members, but don't do it randomly. Have a goal of achieving a certain result in mind before switching, and use a bit of logic in how best to accomplish the result. You can make flying a Rev as simple or as complicated as you wish, but you can't make it no fun. Don't be afraid to try something new. What's the worst that could happen? A broken rod?

Four to six rods = OUCH! You must be spanking that puppy really hard. I've broken 2 tubes in 7 years of flying Revs. One I knelt down onto while making adjustments, and one by hitting a 55-gallon drum at full speed. Both my bad! At this pace you will become the undisputed King of the Broken Rod by this time next year. Which part of the rod breaks? Middle? End? Clean breaks or splintered? Have you checked for paranormal activity? Something is wrong. You should not be breaking them that frequently, unless you are doing some really radical moves, or flying in conditions that put undue stress on the frame. In either case its time to switch to a heavier frame or a vented sail. If you don't have either or both, then God bless you for getting out there anyway and flying. You will be rewarded with experience. Experience will prevail over all things.

They are the same size (length). The number of feathers on the label, 2, 3, 4, or lack of them denotes the stiffness/flexibility (response time) of the tube. I have, and use, the "green label" as well as the older tubes. I don't find the green label tubes to be so horrible that I would get rid of them, nor as fragile as many people have made them out to be. They do have a different feel to a very experienced pilot that most beginners won't notice, even though the difference is physically measurable. In some lighter wind applications I actually prefer them. They have a softer almost "lazy" flex, but with a snappier rebound. This reference is to the green label Diamond frame. In a sail which has very little mass (read: under 4 ounces kite and frame together) they allow quicker transitions between a loaded and flat sail configuration. This allows the kite to move briskly in very light winds without the amount of body movement required by tubes with slower response times. I don't spank the kite as much as a Barresi or a LeMasters, but I don't baby it either, and I have still not broken any. Like any other equipment, if you push it beyond its limitations it will break. Of course, every contact with objects including the ground, whether intentional or not, does some damage which accumulates over time. Eventually the tube WILL fail. They ALL will. Its called wearing out; for instance, a paper washer will wear out faster than a rubber one will wear out faster than a leather one will wear out faster than a steel one. If its made of steel, it won't get off the ground. If its made of paper it will self-destruct when the wind hits 2mph. Somewhere a compromise must be reached. The process of manufacturing the tubes also plays a role in determining its final characteristics. The final product is always a compromise among several variables. You just can't have both extremes at the same time. One or the other will have to give. Many times it can be desirable to give up some strength and durability in favor of greater performance. Sorry about the rant -- frames are interchangeable among all 1.5 format kites: EXP, SLE, SUL, Masterpiece, etc. Anything that is not a Rev1, Rev2, Zen(rev1 size), B2(rev2 size), or a Speed Series kite can use the same frame.

If you buy bulk spools of line, you can make your own sets for about half the price of commercially made sets. The shorter sets can be made from long sets cut down to the areas with less wear on them. If you're just a bit handy it's not very difficult. You just need to establish a game plan first so that you can be consistent with distances, lengths and the way you tie the knots. Once you've done a set or two it becomes second nature, and if you mess up, just untie and try again. I don't use sleeving on the sets I tie or shorten, so I can complete a set in 20 to 30 minutes. With sleeving takes about twice as long.

Go stand behind the kite of someone who is doing them, and watch. It's not very hard to get used to and learn. Most people switch hands.

I know that increasing the area of the kite without proportionately increasing the number of cells will put additional stress on all the seams, and with enough force the wind may just "shred" the kite. Ideally, the seams should be able to hold at least three times the maximum force that the wind may apply to them. Increasing the number of cells is one method of distributing the load over a larger area. The other way is to decrease the amount of taper from the front to the rear of each cell, but this method also decreases the structural integrity of an inflated cell because of decreased pressure, and will by default decrease lift. These are all calculations which can be made ahead of time (see structural engineering at your local library), or you can just design and build something, winging it, and hope you get lucky. You are opening a large can of worms. Get on the GWTW (gone with the wind) forum and check with some of the old farts in the SLK department to get a good list of "do's and dont's" in building foils and scaling them up or down. It's not as simple as multiplying by 2.

Got the lights. They will work well. SUL Rev-quad in 6mph+ should get 10 of them aloft easily. I'll play around with how to mount them and let you know the results. They weigh 4.18 grams each, so 10 would add about 42 grams to the total weight, which is just a bit less than 1.5 ounces. That should be no problem for the kite to lift.

Until you can do EVERYTHING that you can do flying forward when you are flying BACKWARD, don't even try this unless you have lots of personal liability insurance, and remember that even then, if they can prove you divebombed someone intentionally they won't pay out. In other words, you must be absolutely sure that you have absolute control over the kite before you even think of trying it. If you have children, do not use them for practice either. Play with an inanimate object. Find a garbage can or picnic table. Once you can dive-stop and hover the kite 1inch from that object without touching it, multiple times, and sustain that control for 20 minutes, then you are GETTING CLOSE to practicing on people. Not lying, not exaggerating here. This is NOT for you if you can't control that beast, the wind. Those lines will cut like a hot knife through butter, and getting whacked in the head by the frame moving at full speed is not a good experience, or even vaguely funny.

SLE tubes as uprights would have the added benefit of tail-weighting the kite, which gives you a flatter and longer glide for regaining ground, flatter axels, pancakes, etc. You can, alternatively, accomplish this using 3/16-ounce split-shot fishing sinkers, one in the bottom end of each upright, wrapped in a bit of foam or tape to keep them from sliding to the other end of the tube. I have a couple mounted permanently on a couple of my lightest sails, which give the kite about a 25-1 glide ratio. I recommend trying this if you are into light-wind flying. You may be amazed!

It won't fly. In both versions of your drawings the plastic film will merely drape over the kite unless you can devise a way to "stiffen" it, either by physical means or inflation or both. However, it will still need to be of a large enough diameter to allow the wind to generate lift by putting pressure on the sails of the kite. The full tube will hinder the wind's access to the sails, and the tunnel will do the same although to a lesser extent. In either case the kite and the plastic film will move independently of each other and bump into each other causing the kite to stall and drop. The frame pieces could be extended beyond the edges of the sail to support the film so that both move as a unit, but the additional weight will keep it grounded. If your intent is to light up the film to make it glow, consider making it "line laundry" and using a foil or delta kite as a "lifter" for your display. The lights can be attached to a wire frame at the leading edge, and/or hoops attached at intervals down the length of the structure. Google "windsocks" for some other ideas.

I'm in. I'm a sucker for mystery gifts.

Hi, Brett, and welcome to the forum. I hope to fly with someday.

Yup, almost exactly what I bought on eBay. This is going to be fun. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Yeah -- just saw your post there. I found some on eBay -- probably the same or similar -- and bought 40 for $10. I'll be checking them out next weekend.

@Daougie -- Just search "finger lights" on eBay. Sort US only. $10 gets you 40 of them.

@Koobecaf Uoykcuf -- dude, you gotta post this info somewhere other than in the "hello, my name is..." section of the forum. A lot of people who could use this info don't even look at this part of the forum. But anyway .. . . . . . .. besides holding the longest intro known to man record. . . . . . . . . . . I love your collection of kite stakes. That is just cool! The kites ain't too shoddy either. But what I'm really here for is to find out where I can get some of the finger lights you flew in the second vid. At that price I'm very interested, and it seems they should be quite easy to attach to the kite. Edit: Just looked them up on eBay -- 40 for $10 -- should be here by Friday.

Although not all manufacturers are consistent, the almost-industry-standard is black=brake.

The lines sleeved in black appear to be thinner. If those are the brake lines, that would suggest they are the 200#. If you put some tension on them it may make it easier to see which are thinner. Like riffclown said, there should be a significant difference, and this difference should be something you can feel when you handle them P.S. - Some of my linesets have sleeping too. You should be able to delete that if you are the author, and no one has posted to it yet.

Hi, KA, and welcome to the forum. I looked around a bit but didn't come up with anything. You might also try the GWTW (Gone With The Wind) forum. Lots of dual line old school guys there that have flown and owned everything under the sun.