Silver Fox 2.5 UL

[tak2mark]

After fling this kite in less than ideal conditions for about an hour in 30 deg sunshine, I found it to be fun. It's slow, but I think I like that. I can take what I learn on the Silver Fox to my Std kite. It did take a bit of effort to keep her in the sky in low winds. I took the upper spreader off and flew it in both '3point' and 'turbo'. I am a NooB pilot and I was able to make a fade rise to the top of the window, I did my first axles, and with a little practice, I think I can do a pretty good side slide. I felt more in control of this kite than any other kite I've flown. (*remember I am NooB) I can tell that I am going to enjoy this new toy.

-Mark

[Shultzie]

  tak2mark said:

After fling this kite in less than ideal conditions for about an hour in 30 deg sunshine, I found it to be fun. It's slow, but I think I like that. I can take what I learn on the Silver Fox to my Std kite. It did take a bit of effort to keep her in the sky in low winds. I took the upper spreader off and flew it in both '3point' and 'turbo'. I am a NooB pilot and I was able to make a fade rise to the top of the window, I did my first axles, and with a little practice, I think I can do a pretty good side slide. I felt more in control of this kite than any other kite I've flown. (*remember I am NooB) I can tell that I am going to enjoy this new toy.

-Mark

Nice to hear that you are enjoying this new Silver Fox of yours. I had the opportunity to work 3 days with my new Silver Fox 2.5 UL at Cannon Beach, Oregon... In various wind condititions.

I used a pretty accurate wind meter....and I enjoy the ride this kite gives in about 4 to 7mph with the turbo setting....without that weight that slides over the spine.

Like you say..this kite flies....ever soooooooooooooooooooo slow but also is so predictable and precise. I love the way it snaps stalls and just stays nailed to the sky. This UL 2.5 spills air ever so quickly and also just loves to recover from the fade with such ease. The cascades are so slow and beautiful...half axles to cascades...again so EZ and precise if one keeps aware of the wind window direction.

This kite LOVES SLACK LINE STUFF but still takes MORE FORWARD ARM SWEEP and STEPPIN' FORWARD that most of the other kites in my tattered bag of tricks.

Especially fun...when POPPING it off the ground with the nose pointed down wind..tap in a good touch of hand input..YEEEEEH HAAAAAA...talk about time to rock n' roll.

talk about a nice rotation into a multi-barrell rolls etc. What a pleasant surprise...that it still does things sooooo darned slow, but predictable. FUN, Fun Fun...

Fortunately I also had some extra steel bushing sleves that fit perfectly over that lower spine that were exactly half the weight of the supplied weight and toyed with these when the winds came up into the 8 to 12 range.

Perhaps the bottom line advantage...to this heavier frame is that there is so little distortion or flex. Plus the kite remains quite quiet and doesn't make much flutter n' flap. Pure solid and predictable...

This kite seemed to give an EXCEPTIONAL WIND RANGE...more so than most of the UL and SUL's in my delapitated kite bag of crap.

Also, the only other single non-color kite in my bag is n' old Vapor and I had almost forgotten just how nice a pure and simple WHITE-BLACK N GREY KITE actually looks in the air....SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL WHEN BACK LIT BEHIND A BRIGHT BLUE SKY BACKGROUND...or A GOLDEN SUNSET!

Also I was AMAZED AT HOW MANY FOLKS WOULD WALK UP AND SAY JUST HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS COLOR-LESS KITE LOOKED IN THE AIR and they kept asking where they could find one of these kites.

I was more than pleased to recommend the nearest and dearest kite shop in the CannonBeach Seaside area that just LOVES FLYING AND SELLING THESE NEW SILVER FOX KITES...which are on display at:

ABOVE IT ALL KITES www.aboveitallkites.com that is owned by two amazing kite friends.

Dave & Keli Colbert in beautiful close bye Seaside and Longbeach.

(bye the way....John, if you are lurking:

They said to say hello and they gave me a little packet showing the mighty iQuad team with

John Barresi-David Hathaway-Bazzer Poulter-JD Fabich-Jay Nunes-Adrian Flanagan-Mike Kory-ToddRudolph-Steve de Rooy and Benny Dantonio!!!

HOW'S THAT FOR A BUNCH OF ADDICTED KITE-KRAZEEE'S???

[Hedgewarden]

SF 2.5 UL - Yes!

Just got back from a few days at Long Beach, WA. Morning breeze was rather mild, so I flew my HQ Floater for a while. When the wind picked up, I tried my new SF 2.5 UL.

I'm was still trying to accomplish an Axel (NOOB!) so this flight was important to me.

I can verify - the Fox is SLOW. And it needs some wind or you will run yourself into the ground. It is not a happy flier in the lower breezes as is the Floater. However, I have not tried removing the tail weight or the upper spreader. Those tips I'll apply next time I start struggling to keep it in the air.

The Fox is also PRECISE - which I love in a kite. I'm not interested in Free-Style - the Ballet style is more interesting to me. But you have to punctuate a ballet with some cool moves to keep it interesting and to interpret the music.

So - the results of trying to axel? Every attempt lead to a recoverable situation . Yes, my axels mostly stink still. But the kite glided right into the flat spin upon any clumsy request. Recovery ranged from almost OK to "almost hit the fr***ing ground". I guess you cannot ask for a kite to be a more gentle teacher.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the Silver Fox series. Even though, I've had to apply glue to many rubber tips and C-clips to keep them in place.

-Howard