kp - 21 March 2010 03:37 PM

Hi,

I have a 2009 8m and 6m. Your bar for that year was lovely.
I was hoping to upgrade to the 2010 but the new bar is just
horrible lump of plastic and not nice when holding with bare
hands. Such a pity…Will wait for your 2011 gear in the hope
you have a more comfortable bar next season…

Disappointed

Kyra

Hi Kyra, thanks for the comments, we can use any input for improving future designs.
With regards to the bar padding material, it seems to depend on personal taste a lot. We’re not likely to go back to the old cheaper stuff as it wasn’t the most durable. The material we use now is rubberized EVA and will last must longer.
We have heard a few comments on the roughness of new bars. It’s a bit like new shoes, you’ve got to break it in a bit. It takes a session or two - depending on launching soil, sand wears harder. If you don’t want to wait, you can carefully sand down the grip texture with paper 280.
As for your comment on the lump of plastic, you’re in fact holding a forged centerpiece with custom extruded bar ends in heat treated 6061T marine grade aluminum, with a 3 point break load of 285kgf, which probably makes it the strongest kite control bar on the market to date.
The padded bar ends add comfort and safety, as there have been incidents with riders suffering cranial trauma after being hit by a hard plastic bar end.
Our own fearless John Z willingly demonstrates this safety feature in the bloopers section in the end of this wonderful video:

If you have any more questions please feel free to post them here. In case you’re not fully convinced, ask your dealer about the 100% satisfaction guarantee. The 2010 gear is super sweet, I’m hoping a bit of grippy EVA won’t let you miss out on it!

andy - 21 March 2010 01:52 PM

Not another noo noo kiting dilemma so sooooon…..

Wait for what Colyn? 

It’s simple….You have the 11. So get the 9 and then the 7

Or were you thinking that the 8 would be the answer?

I suppose it depends on how many kites you want in your quiver mate?

I loved the 2009 8m when I used it at Nitinat. Never did get one though and now the 7 does me just right - but I’m lighter than you dude!

Have I confused you enough?

Hello Andy bud

Na 8m for me for sure. 7m too small.

I had a big plan. Buy the 11m (sweet as) and wait while using my modded 9m ONE until 2011 kit started to appear, then rotate 1 kite year on year. Problem is every time I use the 11m I start to rethink the plan. Damnation!

Although I take your point 9m would be a sweet size for sure. hmmmmm

Another slight chink in my plan is the bar. I got the smaller one. Fantastic but I find the performance of the RISE is better with the 3m extensions but the smaller bar doesn’t quite crank it round fast enough. On shorter lines it loops fantastically. If it was a teeny bit quicker i’d be one happy fella.
So Plan B also involced the 8m with the bigger bar and just swap em over.

Sounds like a plan.

While I’m on it can you confirm dates for Vansurf 2010? I have a new recruit too!

El Rudo - 21 March 2010 10:51 AM

my experience so far: amazing range, smooth, fast, precise. pulls my 220lbs ass up and around w/o problems. A fun machine!

Stormchaser has a new order for a 7m Rise   , my weight is 140lbs.
I like those small size kites for the quick kite/downloops so much fun, can’t wait to fly it.

The bar looks great.  Pardon me while i go change my pants.

___________________________________________________

educational software
Houses for sale

A go pro vid from this last week.
I thought I had set up far enough away from the hill for clean wind when I launched.
It turned out to be super rotored and the bar got ripped off my hook (twisted dd)
It sure makes a rider feel confident when the safety works and you can still make it out.

Nice vid Craig,
What are you doing to self land in the end? Are you grabbing both centerlines then pulling in a bunch of the left centerline?

regards
Kirk

thanks dude, that was a real treat to take a break from a house remodel
and step right out onto the beach at low tide and go kiting.
I was kind of in the lee of a steep hill, and the winds on the beach were
pretty messed up, like on a scale of 1-10 for rotor danger, it was a 10.
There were big powerful redirections of wind that torqued my bar hard until I made it to the water.

and yes.
That is one of my techniques for self landing lately.
Carl from the gorge/portland area turned me on to this.
I bring the kite down until its about shoulder high off the ground,
then grab the depower rope above the bar and give it a firm yank.
In really powered conditions I also pull in on the upper most front line so the kite naturally
rotates during the landing and settles leading edge into the wind.

i posted earlier asking on rise’s - did buy a couple so i figured might as well post the outcome.  overall very nice kite.  different than delta’s ive flown last 2 years- not as grunty but higher end much better.  relaunch not as good but bar pressure much lighter.  trade offs- but rise is a nice kite and well built.  bar is nice.

wishlist-
i too have a ‘sticky’ depower rope others have mentioned
wish bag had a outside strap that i could cinch a pump to for walk to the beach
at least one backline ohshat handle for emergencies- that single front line is high up(liquid force bar is the refence)

other than that- very happy w/ rises

I’ve come to a point i can tell more about my XPD 10m Rise.

First time flying
Wasn’t used to such light bar pressure, i was pulling the bar to have a bit power on the kite. After a few sessions i realised that doesn’t work with the Rise just let the bar go and it will not stall in light winds.

The low-end
Very good when you got to know this kite, get some speed and the venturi does his work and keeps you going.
In light winds i prefer to set the steering lines on the first knot (furthest away from the kite) so you don’t backstall the kite, from 17 /18 knots of wind i’ll set it to the 2nd knot to have more bar pressure and from what i think you can get more boost for jumping.

The boost and hangtime
It is amazing in the mid- and high-end range (20-26knots) because you are hanging there for such a long time that’s great for oldschool, kiteloops are nice too but with some more bar pressure it would respond faster.

Overall i’m very happy with this kite but somehow i would like to have an extra “knot” of bar pressure, with a little more bar pressure the kite would be more responsive i think (steerling lines are slacking a bit) although the kite is pretty fast.

The new SLE 3.0 bar
It just feels so good in your hands that you wouldn’t want anything else, other bars feels like a wooden stick that has no comfort at all ! Depowering works well after being replaced by a new chickenloop.

Still i haven’t got the chance to try my 7m XPD Rise because of this weird light wind year !

Made a short video with my new Gopro HD (click on it to get Fullscreen and select 720p) , later more videos but i’ll have to wait for strong winds !

Has anybody tried the Rise on 21m lines?

I’ve yet to get a decent high wind session on my 7m and just wondered how it would perform?

andy - 06 June 2010 12:42 PM

Has anybody tried the Rise on 21m lines?

I’ve yet to get a decent high wind session on my 7m and just wondered how it would perform?

Come to Denmark and find out!

tried the 11m Andy. Sharpens it up nicely but it knocks the low end and takes some of the lift and float away. Those 3m’s make a real difference to the power

Just interested how others found it. Ben says he took his extensions off straight away and always flew his Rises on 21’s

yeah I definitely prefer the feel on 21m lines. Sharp and direct but I think you lose some float. I need to experiment some more I think.