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kevmort
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First - have you flown one at all? Before you try short urban lines - I recommend starting out with the 80-85' lines that came with it. Get all the basics of flying down - then try urban flying. Most urban lines are somewhere in the 30' range, BUT at that length, things happen pretty fast! You'll go side to side in the wind window in about a blink of the eye!! So again start on longer lines first.

 

Wind range? 5-15 mph, maybe a little less. Really depends on your skill level, how comfortable you can be in different winds. If I had my choice - go out on a decent day of 7-10 mph - not too much to control, but enough to fly relatively easily. With the decent winds, you can concentrate on learning how the kite works, not worrying about getting it flying. 

 

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And down the rabbit hole you go...

Unwind your lines and check that they are all the same length. Even a little bit different can matter.

Do your handles have long leaders on top? That is the bit to line with a series of knots at regular intervals. If so, connect on about 3/4 the way out.

60 footers are OK to start on. Things will happen a bit faster but so long as you are prepared for it, it's all good.

Ok, Urban flying.

30 foot is great for tight spaces and for moving freely about. Check out the thread "Urban kiting tips" for so info. (I'll get the link and post back).

If your kite has the EXP rods they are 3 Wraps or 3 Feathers. They will be ok for about 8mph up. If in an urban environment the wind can vary greatly, from zero to lots.

Breath...

If the kite looks like it's going to crash, step forward and push your arms in front of you. This takes the energy out of the kite.

But most of all, lets us know how you are going. Quads are damn good fun.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not perfect but workable! Try tying knots in the top leaders about 3/4" apart, starting from the end to about 3-4" from handle. Gives you some adjustment! 

Now start flying doing this - put your lines on the outermost knot on top and innermost on bottom. See if you can launch. If not, let the bottoms out a knot at a time til you can. If you're all the way out on bottom and still can't launch, move the tops in knot by knot, In the end, you should be on a closer bottom knot and a further out top knot, that is the difference you hear about. Stock setup is to have both the same. It's easy to launch, but control suffers in the air!

If you have access to leader materials - I would scrap them altogether and start over. Tying knots in the tops already fixed in length will mean as you add knots - they get shorter - kinda against what we want !! If you do make your own - leave plenty of extra to work with and make sure to make your knots as close to humanly possible - the same!! Yes - both leaders need to be as close to the same as possible!

PS: not sure on the postage thing, but John sells a mean set of leaders here on KL!

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How long are they?? Probably never use those close in knots on the tops, if you want to try longer, just untie the inner 2-3 knots.

Start attaching lines at about the middle knot on bottom and all out on top, then move in top as needed to launch. Use your bottoms to field adjust line length if needed.

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There 13 inch on the tops now , so far I've been flying with both top and bottom on the outer most knots with the old leaders that kept the handles vertical and all turns have been done by the brakes , using the brakes to turn is correct ??

Thanks again Wayne

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I'm going to say that your bottom leaders length is being counter-productive to the top leaders and is just increasing the total length of the fly lines.

If you was to take one of the bottom leaders and cut it in half or even shorter, both pieces would be about the right length.

If your blue and red top leaders are 13" your knots are 1" apart with about a 2" loop as I see in the picture. Your bottom leaders according to your picture should only be about 2" long, the first 2 knots is more than enough.

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Maybe John can put up a pic of those he sells? The tops are plenty long at 13", it's just that you should almost never need to bring the top lines that close to the handles - that's why I suggested untying the first 2-3 on the inside. Overall length is good. 

Bottoms are OK with 3-4 knots really, you can use the knots to field adjust your lines if needed. But as was said - they really don't need to be quite as long.

So next time out flying - try attaching the top lines at the outermost knots and bottoms near the middle of knots (assuming you shorten them to 3-4 knots). Try launching. If unable, move the tops in, knot by knot, til you can. You may have to add a step back to your launch routine and not just use your arms. But as you get used to this new setup, you'll find you have more control once airborne. The kite will wait til you direct it, not just shoot off at every gust. It starts responding to your will, not the other way round! 

PS: It will feel different!! Stick with it! Makes all the difference in the world on how these kites respond!

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Well said.

ImageUploadedByKiteLife®1460682817.782401.jpg ImageUploadedByKiteLife®1460683117.103076.jpg

You should be able to see the general proportions there?

End of the day, ANY kite by Revolution needs the top lines to be longer whether your style likes more gas or more neutral power... Extension is irrelevant on the bottom, the top will go in or out to reach either tuning extreme.

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Hi @kevmort, and welcome to the forum and to Rev kite flying. Sounds like you're doing well and having some fun also.

There are three sizes of the "Rev" design: 1, 1.5, and 2, with the size decreasing as the numbers increase. The "Speed series" is a completely different beast as you will eventually find out. I can't open the photo files you posted (don't know why), but I'm guessing your kite is the 1.5 size. All the 1.5 size frames are interchangeable, and depending on the the type of sail (ultralight, standard, vented) may or may not be advisable, but are definitely do-able. Obviously, the less the frame and sail combo weigh, the lighter the wind you can fly in without having to struggle to keep it in the air. Frames can swapped in each size, but not across sizes. The individual pieces of each weight of frame can also be mixed and matched to create "hybrid" combinations.

In general, the bigger size 1 sails are made for lower winds and are slower, graceful, and pull a bit more. The 1.5 size is what most pilots fly most of the time. The 2 size is quite fast (faster than what you want to learn on) and has less pull.

Keep asking what you need to know, and we'll fill you in as best we can.

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Thanks for that makatakam and I'm not shore why you can't see the pics I've put up but if memory serves me correctly then I have an exp from around 1995 with the LE being around 7 foot give or take but it's been a long time from when I measured it , yes I'm having lots of fun learning and being part of kite life it's self

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