Hi Guys,

I have a couple of 2007 Diablos as the main kites in my quiver, an 8 metre and a 12 metre. On saturday whilst pumping up the 12 I heard a squealing noise from one of the one pump attachment points on the main bladder. I’d been having a slight loss of pressure over the course of a session for some time and one of the guys had mentions when launching me he’d heard similar a few weeks ago but after a quick tap it stopped leaking.

This time though the fault persisted and after pulling the bladder out of the leading edge we found that the valve in question (its the one on the main bladder, not the strut) had started to come away from the bladder. Unfortunately my repair kit was at home.

I’ve since effected a repair after pulling the valve clean off and re-attaching with some vulcanising solution and then patching over the top, not pretty but it stayed solid for a full 3 hour sesh on sunday so I’m hoping its now OK.

My question really is, have there been any other incidents of this on the 07 Diablos or is this likely to be an isolated incident? From what I’ve seen on my local Beach the OR kit is the last I’d expect to do this and its certainly been more reliable than other kit I’ve seen spontaneously pop for no apparent reason. Just wondering whether I should look to get a spare bladder in just in case, or maybe just get some patches over the other valves as a precaution?

Any info/advice appreciated.

Ta

Phil.

Phil - dunno if I’m understanding your problem correctly, but suspect if it was a loss of bladder valve adhesion to the bladder, I’ve read that this can be caused by storing the kites at too high a temperature ( i.e. in warm locations inside a locked-up car in hot sun ). The high temperature weakens the adhesive between bladder and valve, and they leak next time the kite is inflated. This failure mode is not brand specific.

I have not experienced this myself, only read about it somewhere. Maybe someone else who has can say more about it.

Thanks Greg,

I was aware that excessive heat could cause perishing issues, though my main reason for asking was that there was a known fault with Slingshots and their one pump valves on a specific year of fuels so I thought I’d check to see if there was something similar with the Diablos, or if I’m just unlucky lol.

Ta

Phil