Light Wind Kite Loses its Edge...

[RobB]

Hey All...

I have a light wind kite that seems to loose its edge in a turn> I don't know how better to describe it, but a pull turn will almost immediately loose the edge, and a push turn holds the turn for about 90 degrees, and then skids out. I've experienced this with two smaller, cheaper light wind kites (HQ Floater, and Rhombus Kamakaze) but the new kite I got is actually used, and it was sold to me as a NikNak or possibly I-Nak. It has no markings on it, and it came in a generic sleeve. It's 6-7 feet across, and has battens at the wing tips. I can't tell how old it is, but it could be ancient. It looked like it would be the answer to my light wind woes, but it just isn't a great turner, and I think that maybe I should give up on it and buy a real kite like the Silver Fox UL. I've seen what people are doing with that kite in videos, and I can barely get this one to do much of anything.

I would be interested to know if anyone recognizes this kite, and whether it's worth anymore time to learn it, or if I should just bite the bullet and buy a real kite. And of course, which one ?

Thanks...

~Rob.

[mcruzzer]

Rob,

That sounds like a Nik-Nak, vs. an i-Nak.

Either way, both kites are more "old school" in their flight characteristics. And neither one is going to do the tricks you see a SF UL (or other current UL trick kites) doing (at least not easily).

They are excellent light/no-wind flyers. But if you're looking for a kite to do the current tricks in UL winds, you need to get something more like the SF UL kites, a French Connection UL, perhaps a used Freestyleist UL... There are others but those three come to mind as relatively inexpensive UL kites that will do the tricks you're attempting to do.

As an aside, I love my Nik-Nak and i-Nak, especially when I just want to fly in low or no-wind conditions and not really care about lots of tricks. They have excellent build quality, are pretty rugged (nice for teaching when the winds aren't very good).

Jim

[RobB]

Hey Jim....

Thanks for the reply. I thought these kites were current, but I get what you mean about old school. I have a couple of older big wings that have similar flight characteristics. I got a chance to fly it again, and it does have great balance once you get used to the light touch. When I got mine, the upper spreader was missing, and I replaced it with what I had. Do you know if the upper spreader is supposed to be very rigid, or have some flex ?

Thanks...

~Rob.

[ant man]

rob the kite you have is a wren an older version of the wren .. that kite is a slow mover but a great kite for the 0 to 6 days you can get the wren pro its a little faster but the kite that your looking for would be a silver fox light or quantom pro sul

[mcruzzer]

rob the kite you have is a wren an older version of the wren .. that kite is a slow mover but a great kite for the 0 to 6 days you can get the wren pro its a little faster but the kite that your looking for would be a silver fox light or quantom pro sul

Ant: No, it definitely appears to be a Sky Burner product...most likely a NikNak.

Note the scalloped trailing edge and battens on the tips. The NikNak flies from 0 to 10mph; the Wren is rated up to 5mph.

Rob: Either way, both kites are great for their intended use. They are both 'current' products, but just because something is still sold (ie, current) doesn't mean that it's designed to fly the latest tricks. As noted, kites that you should be looking at include the Silver Fox SULs, the French Connection UL, the Acrobatx UL (all available new at reasonable prices), the Quantum Pro SUL, or look for a nice used kite such as a Cdc STX UL or possible a Blue Moon SUL (lots of great kites from Blue Moon...too many models to list here, really). You cold also find a nice Sky Burner Freestylist UL, either new or used, that is a great trick kite.

You don't say what your skill level is, but if possible see if other kiters in your area have kites that you can try and see what you like.

Jim

[RobB]

rob the kite you have is a wren an older version of the wren .. that kite is a slow mover but a great kite for the 0 to 6 days you can get the wren pro its a little faster but the kite that your looking for would be a silver fox light or quantom pro sul

Hey Ant...

This kite should be called the epiphany... I learned more flying it yesterday in 1 mph wind for an hour than I have all summer (not that I got much chance to fly this summer). I was bummed when the wind died as soon as I got to the beach, I had to put my Mirage away after only a half hour of flying, but I wasn't ready to go home. So I took out the mystery kite. It was more than happy to jump into the air. I quickly figured out that it wasn't going to axel or lazy susan, but I could get it to stall after I figured out how to balance it, I could land and do tip stands. It's really cool, because it wasn't a struggle to keep in the air like any of my other kites in those conditions.

Anyway, thanks for the info (I never thought of it being a Wren)

~Rob.

[RobB]

rob the kite you have is a wren an older version of the wren .. that kite is a slow mover but a great kite for the 0 to 6 days you can get the wren pro its a little faster but the kite that your looking for would be a silver fox light or quantom pro sul

Ant: No, it definitely appears to be a Sky Burner product...most likely a NikNak.

Note the scalloped trailing edge and battens on the tips. The NikNak flies from 0 to 10mph; the Wren is rated up to 5mph.

Rob: Either way, both kites are great for their intended use. They are both 'current' products, but just because something is still sold (ie, current) doesn't mean that it's designed to fly the latest tricks. As noted, kites that you should be looking at include the Silver Fox SULs, the French Connection UL, the Acrobatx UL (all available new at reasonable prices), the Quantum Pro SUL, or look for a nice used kite such as a Cdc STX UL or possible a Blue Moon SUL (lots of great kites from Blue Moon...too many models to list here, really). You cold also find a nice Sky Burner Freestylist UL, either new or used, that is a great trick kite.

You don't say what your skill level is, but if possible see if other kiters in your area have kites that you can try and see what you like.

Jim

Hey Jim...

Like, I said, whatever it is, once I learned its unique 'feel', I really made progress with my over all flying skills. I have just recently gotten a good feel for flying 2 line kites. I don't have any other local fliers around, so all that I can learn from videos and internet and trial and error have built my skills to now. I have mostly what most experienced fliers would consider cheap kites and factory lines. Being that I just really learned how to do some beginner tricks, I don't know if it's that important that my light wind kite do those tricks, now that I've seen how much can be learned still about stalls and smooth turns.

Is it a characteristic of old school kites to not want to do pull turns ? I have a couple of 8ft+ 15+year old stunt kites that can't do pull turns, and I thought they must just be mis-adjusted. They do make ALOT of noise, though.

~Rob.

[mcruzzer]

rob the kite you have is a wren an older version of the wren .. that kite is a slow mover but a great kite for the 0 to 6 days you can get the wren pro its a little faster but the kite that your looking for would be a silver fox light or quantom pro sul

Ant: No, it definitely appears to be a Sky Burner product...most likely a NikNak.

Note the scalloped trailing edge and battens on the tips. The NikNak flies from 0 to 10mph; the Wren is rated up to 5mph.

Rob: Either way, both kites are great for their intended use. They are both 'current' products, but just because something is still sold (ie, current) doesn't mean that it's designed to fly the latest tricks. As noted, kites that you should be looking at include the Silver Fox SULs, the French Connection UL, the Acrobatx UL (all available new at reasonable prices), the Quantum Pro SUL, or look for a nice used kite such as a Cdc STX UL or possible a Blue Moon SUL (lots of great kites from Blue Moon...too many models to list here, really). You cold also find a nice Sky Burner Freestylist UL, either new or used, that is a great trick kite.

You don't say what your skill level is, but if possible see if other kiters in your area have kites that you can try and see what you like.

Jim

Hey Jim...

Like, I said, whatever it is, once I learned its unique 'feel', I really made progress with my over all flying skills. I have just recently gotten a good feel for flying 2 line kites. I don't have any other local fliers around, so all that I can learn from videos and internet and trial and error have built my skills to now. I have mostly what most experienced fliers would consider cheap kites and factory lines. Being that I just really learned how to do some beginner tricks, I don't know if it's that important that my light wind kite do those tricks, now that I've seen how much can be learned still about stalls and smooth turns.

Is it a characteristic of old school kites to not want to do pull turns ? I have a couple of 8ft+ 15+year old stunt kites that can't do pull turns, and I thought they must just be mis-adjusted. They do make ALOT of noise, though.

~Rob.

Rob, both the NikNak and Wren are quite capable of doing both pull and push turns, so not sure why you might be having a problem with that.

Jim

[RobB]

Hey Jim,

The kite I've got has 3 attachment points on the leading edge, and one at the center T. Is it possible that the bridle is just mis-adjusted ? It seems to fly OK, just with the pull turns loosing the edge. I have some kites that will carve a turn when you just pull, but the NikNak doesn't respond very well at all to just a pull on one line. If you combo turn or just push turn, it responds and turns much quicker, to a point. Does this bridle set-up and handling characteristic sound like your similar kites ?

Thanks....

~Rob.

[ilh]

I'm not familiar with the kites in question, but it sounds a bit like what can happen when a bridle is set too high. It might be worth bumping it down a bit to see if that makes a difference.

--Lee