makatakam

Be careful not to use line that may cut your flying lines if you want to do any "roll-up" type of tricks. You know how that goes, and if you don't, you're lucky.

... and you don't have to call me darlin', darlin'.................and I'll hang around as long as you will let me. Which reminds me -- Throw another log on the fire................

Had a similar experience with an eBay seller. Send the stuff back and get a refund. Open a case on eBay if they don't want to cooperate. Item "not as described" if there was no mention of the damage. eBay will pretty much make sure that you are refunded.

Cool.

Ok -- I'm in. Just found something in my bag that I can't use, but would be a nice addition to just about anyone's bag. And if you've been playing the Karma, then you know that the goodies I offer are really good. So, come on in people, the water's fine. Let's keep this alive.

Congratulations, Bill. Have fun.

Yup, completely counter-intuitive! Both stretch and brake. Don't worry about it too much, just fly. Yes, lengthen the top leaders, you will use more brake eventually, the sooner the better. The easiest way to see brake is like this: 1. -----------------------\ 2. -----------------------| where the slash is the kite, dotted line is your lines, you are the number, side view. When the top of the kite is tilted toward you, the wind "slides" toward the bottom of the kite. Hold your hand out of a car window at 50 mph. Which causes more pressure? Hand held flat against the wind, or angled? Same thing with the kite; more push = more lift.

The lighter frame would be very helpful in 2-6 mph winds. Not only because it weighs less but also because it flexes more allowing wind to fill the sail properly, which in turn provides more lift. Lift is what makes it fly, which is partially accomplished by adding brake. It sounds counter-intuitive, but actually works because it keeps more wind pressure in the sail as opposed to letting the wind "slide" off the sail. Like Wayne said, a 2-wrap or black race frame will improve low-wind performance. Which you will like better depends on whether your flying style is slow and graceful, or fast and crisp. The black race frame has a quicker response time from flexed back to straight. As a beginner you may not even notice the difference. Fly other people's kites and check out what they are using to get an idea. If you can't do that, then just go with what you think will work for you. The kite will fly well with either one and further on down the road you may develop a preference. As far as stretching the sail -- yes, a stiff frame in very strong winds will stretch the sail prematurely, but it will stretch given enough time anyway. It will still fly like a Rev when the sail has stretched, but will only hinder an advanced flyer who is trying to fly with a team in demos, or in competition. Again, as a new flyer you probably wouldn't notice. Having said all that, the thing you want to pay most attention to is getting out there and flying your kite. Disregard all this stuff for now, it will become obvious to you eventually. Have fun, smile and don't forget to breathe.

With time you will begin to love that 4-mph wind range. That is where the tricks you can do with a Rev, like axels and catch and throw, become easy.

I looked at this about an hour ago and checked the bank account. Came back and they're gone! That didn't take long. Congratulations, SHBKF. And they should make for a nice stack too.

There are a dozen or more kite shops in Oz, most of them east and south, but there are some in Perth. Most of them are probably kiteboarding-orientated. Look for an all-around shop. They will be able to advise you and you can skip all those darn import duties if you buy in-country. Otherwise, just search kites on e-bay and thousands will show up. You can then refine your search from there. Don't forget to look at used kites. You can pick up top of the line kites for less than a middle-of-the-road new ones and spend less even with duties. Depending on the ages of your sons and what type of kites you want for them will determine whether you spend the entire $500, or less. You should be able to purchase 3 decent-quality kites for that price. The ones you mention in your post are very good quality and will serve you well for quite some time. The prevailing winds where you live will determine how often you can fly them. There are a few kite flyers down under. Click on the members tab on this forum, and the "Kitelife" forum to see where they are located and contact them. We kite flyers are a friendly bunch and always willing to help others.

Born in Hereford. Left for America at six months of age. Of Polish descent. Don't know why, but learned it. 14 is my lucky number, so it's easy to remember.

Nice! Yes, some feel heavy, some light. They all have their own place. Enjoy.

It's a beautiful thing. I think I'm gonna cry.

All moves are a compromise. The perfect kite does not exist and never will. We all do the best with what we have. Smile, have fun, breathe. It's great when it all comes together, ain't it?

All bow to Brucifer -- damn, son, you good!

I'm 10 stone and ok with anything up to about 2.4 in wind up to 12 mph. It is a compromise among speed, lift and power. If the kite will be used by two or more flyers of varied stature, choose something in the middle of the range, for obvious reasons. That's why I prefer 1.4-ish. Less pull, fast and anyone can fly it. Can be slowed down using longer lines, or flying in lesser wind.

I tried to research it -- no luck. Someone here who has had or flown one will answer your question.

Lucky you! And it keeps getting better and better and . . . .

I just looked at the kite. Jump on it! Reved is a regular here and trustworthy. That sail has no vents. The colors are black and lime -- look brownish because of the lighting. With a new leading edge, it's a steal at that price. Edit: I see Reved got his post in just as I was typing mine -- oh, well.

Also, you pretty much can't go wrong with any that you've listed in your post, so it basically comes down to the amount of pull and the color scheme that you like. A good all-around fun size is anything near a 1.8, and a good all-round fun color scheme is . . . . . . . . Have fun, smile, and don't forget to breathe.

Kind of like this: Get the idea?

Icarex is being used nowadays for the simple reason that it is the best material for the job. Previously it was ripstop nylon; Icarex is ripstop polyester. Generally, whatever is the preferred material for sailboat sails is what will be used for kites, if the cost is reasonable. The difference between the SLE 1.5 and the B-series 1.5 and the B-Pro series is panel layout to improve performance characteristics and additional reinforcement once you get to the B-Pro's. Durability also improves as you go up the scale. I played with vent covers a few years back when I couldn't afford getting a midvent. My solution was to sew a ripstop nylon (cheap scraps) cover for the vents and attach them to the sail using two 3/32" solid carbon or fiberglass rods (buy a $2.00 kiddy-kite) that I would flex and insert into small holes burned into the sail in the area where the sail and vent are doubled over and sewn together. One rod at the top of the vent, one at the bottom, nothing along the upright edges. The rods were inserted and glued into a pocket at top and bottom. The cover was placed over the vent on the front of the sail by inserting one end into a hole and flexing the rod to get the other end into the second hole. Repeat at the other end of the vent. The wind and sail tension hold it in position. You can knock out this modification in a couple of hours if you can sew, or you can just hot cut the material and only roll the top and bottom edges. However, you need to burn four holes per vent into the sail, which will begin to wear and possibly tear eventually. I don't have this kite anymore so I can't post a photo of the modification, but I will post a drawing of it as soon as possible.

There are two used Revs on e-Bay right now. Both look very good. The B-series is complete, including snagless handles and custom stake, but has line problem, which means you could make it into two shorter sets with a little bit of work. The Pnk/Gld/Blu 1.5 SLE is kite only, without the SLE leading edge tubes. I have purchased from this seller before, more than once, with no problems. My preference would be the B-series because of the extras. I didn't check Craigslist. They occasionally show up there.

The kite you have is good; I would be proud to own one. The tubes that come with commercially available kites are what the design itself calls for, and should last until worn out through abrasion, which with good maintenance and minimal abuse should be half a lifetime. The only time I broke a tube on a dual line (left lower spreader on a Prism Zephyr) was caused by spanking too hard while attempting to learn a maneuver. Didn't even contact the ground! Popped that puppy in mid air and had to run toward the kite to prevent the death spiral from breaking more tubes when it hit the ground. Put a nice hole right through the sail. I would venture to say that with that many broken rods, you might be prone to using too much force in your control inputs, and at the wrong time during the maneuver. Too much power + bad timing is never good. What SHBKF said at the end there is that once you become more experienced, the amount of damage you cause will decrease dramatically. Remember that there is no such thing as a kite you can't break. If they were built like a brick sh*thouse, you couldn't get them off the ground! You could use stronger tubes, but that will increase the vulnerability of the other tubes, the sail itself and the hardware that holds it all together. It may also affect the performance of the kite overall. Anything you change will change performance on any kite. Playing with these variables, however, is half the fun, and definitely a learning experience.