After a bit of experimenting with the turbo bar, I found that the Viper S works perfectly with it, even in inconsistent wind. The twister does not
work well at all. I thought it might be helpful for others looking to use a bar with their fb to compile a list of kites that work and don't work to
save some frustration. Personally, I'm a handle guy, but a bar does come in handy to free a hand up when needed. I will update the list.
Kites that work:
PL Voltage 4m, 8.5m
PL Viper S 5.3m
HQ Toxic (All sizes)
PL Hornet2 2m, 3m, 4m
Beamer IV, V
Imp Quattro
Method
Flow
Octane
Hornet 3m
Blade V 4m
Crossfire 5m (seen, not used)
Zebra Z1 2.5m, 3.4m
Flexifoil Sting 1.7m
Pansh Adam 5.5
PKD Brooza 3m
Kites that do not work:
PL Twister 4m (2013)
PL Core 3m, 4m, 6.7m
Reactor II 4m
Century II 2.8m
Hornet 5m (a bit iffy)
Nasa Star 2's
I'm surprised about Core's not working on the Turbo bar... My Cores always behaved very well on brake input.
Now I've heard that Reactors IIs or 2013s do badly on the Turbo bar, Reactors DO NOT like to be flown heavy on the brakesJohn Holgate - 23-7-2014 at 08:11 PM
Works:
Beamer IV
Imp Quattro
Method
Flow
Octane
Hornet 3m
Blade V 4m
Crossfire 5m (seen, not used)
Doesn't work:
Reactor II 4m
Century II 2.8m
Hornet 5m (a bit iffy)
Nasa Star 2's
IMK - 23-7-2014 at 08:19 PM
Works:
Zebra Z1 2.5m, 3.4m
Flexifoil Sting 1.7mssayre - 24-7-2014 at 02:58 AM
Quote:
I'm surprised about Core's not working on the Turbo bar... My Cores always behaved very well on brake input. Now I've heard that Reactors IIs or
2013s do badly on the Turbo bar, Reactors DO NOT like to be flown heavy on the brakes
I was surprised my twister didn't work for the same reason. There must be other characteristics other than turning well on brakes that allow the kite
to work on the bar. My twister, for example, turns very well using brakes only.ice kiter - 25-7-2014 at 03:11 AM
how I can see , all Beamer V is work well,
Toxic under 5 qm not to good . The original X-over bar is better
(that pull longer) use with all but not to comfortable to use
like the turbobar.
but the bar in the blown out good wind to be useful ssayre - 25-7-2014 at 04:35 AM
Ice kiter, does the 5m toxic work well?hiaguy - 25-7-2014 at 06:34 PM
I'm surprised about Core's not working on the Turbo bar... My Cores always behaved very well on brake input.
I agree, they love break input. But I was never able to balance the input on one side, without too much on the other, so they kept stalling. After an
entire afternoon I gave up and stuck with handles.ice kiter - 26-7-2014 at 12:00 AM
ssayre , depends from wind, because so a bit one reacts slowly , I use only at constans wind .ice kiter - 26-7-2014 at 12:11 AM
to my mind, this bar like this was invented
for the more comfortable people , so it works well...BigMikesKites - 26-7-2014 at 03:13 AM
You can add the Peter Lynn Voltage 4m and 8.5m to the works with Turbo bar listRichie - 26-7-2014 at 12:36 PM
such a shame the twister doesnt fly well in the bar, hoping it will be perfect for high winds with my sting 2.4mDemoknight - 26-7-2014 at 03:46 PM
I'm noticing a pattern with the turbo bar in that it seems to generally prefer larger kites. The smaller sizes look a bit hit or miss.John Holgate - 26-7-2014 at 05:11 PM
Quote:
I'm noticing a pattern with the turbo bar in that it seems to generally prefer larger kites. The smaller sizes look a bit hit or miss.
I've had the 1.5m Imp Quattro and the 2m HQ Beamer IV on it and they've both flown perfectly well. (although the 1.5m was like flying an angry wasp
on steroids). I don't think it's size related. I am surprised however that some kites that do well on brake-only turns are not performing well on
the turbo bar.
Good idea for a list though ssayre - 26-7-2014 at 09:00 PM
Quote:
Good idea for a list though
Hopefully this will be a work in progress because as far as I can see it is nearly impossible to speculate what kites work. There is much more to it
than assuming a kite that turns on brakes will work. When the turbo bar functions correctly, it is extremely nice and would be worth having paired
with the right kite.Smeagol - 26-7-2014 at 11:52 PM
I've used the turbo bar on a PL Viper S 2.6m and Toxic 3m with no issues. Haven't tried anything smaller yet. ice kiter - 27-7-2014 at 03:50 AM
Good to see how are somebody who is can the smaller one to use the bar well
with the more nervously ones ! This gives perspectives...lasrocas - 6-2-2016 at 10:15 AM
pkd brooza 3mtr works a treat on the turbo bar.
set up yesterday in 30mph windsssayre - 6-2-2016 at 12:13 PM
List updated WELDNGOD - 6-2-2016 at 02:22 PM
@ Sean
I wish I still had my Turbo bar, I would like to see if I could fly a PKD Cent II with it. I think it will,you might not have had it dialed in right
or something. I fly mine by brakes with a stock PKD handleset(short strop). Were you flying static or buggy? ssayre - 6-2-2016 at 02:30 PM
@ Sean
I wish I still had my Turbo bar, I would like to see if I could fly a PKD Cent II with it. I think it will,you might not have had it dialed in right
or something. I fly mine by brakes with a stock PKD handleset(short strop). Were you flying static or buggy?
I didn't try the century. The list only represents what people report. My personal contribution and testing was only on a pl viper s which flew like
it was made for it and a 4m twister which flew like crap no matter how much tinkering I did.
The list is hopefully a good guideline but not definitive of course.ssayre - 6-2-2016 at 02:32 PM
It was John Holgate that reported that the century II in the 2.8 size didn't work.John Holgate - 6-2-2016 at 04:15 PM
Quote:
It was John Holgate that reported that the century II in the 2.8 size didn't work.
Yep. Too much brake input on the bar resulted in all the air getting squashed out of the inside wingtip = stall then spin. With a bit of practice
and gentle turning you could fly it ok...sort of... but it was far from ideal. Same result with the Reactor II 4.4m.
You can slacken off the brake lines a bit but then they end up being really loose in flight.WELDNGOD - 6-2-2016 at 04:22 PM
The problem lies in the fact that with handles ,you can apply one brake WITHOUT altering the other. With the turbo bar,you are changing the other side
as well. pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 04:43 PM
I have a Pansh Adam 8.5 that was pretty nuts on handles (static body dragging, etc), but behaved very well on a homebrew version of a turbo bar.
I'm basically a noob, but (unless I misunderstand) I'm not sure why a bar always affects both side of the kite. Seems like if you don't move the
"other side" of the bar, the effect of the other brake will be really small (ie negligible). Definitely not zero effect, but on a fixed bridle, the
power line tension is so much greater than the brake line tension, if you're even a little bit careful not to move the "unaffected" side of the bar,
there will be (nearly) zero effect on the non-braked side.
Not trying to present a challenge, and if I'm way off on this, I'd be anxious to know what I'm missing from someone more experienced. Maybe I'm just
more anal about only moving the end of the bar from which I desire a response??
pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 04:44 PM
I have a Pansh Adam 8.5 that was pretty nuts on handles (static body dragging, etc), but behaved very well on a homebrew version of a turbo bar.
I'm basically a noob, but (unless I misunderstand) I'm not sure why a bar always affects both side of the kite. Seems like if you don't move the
"other side" of the bar, the effect of the other brake will be really small (ie negligible). Definitely not zero effect, but on a fixed bridle, the
power line tension is so much greater than the brake line tension, if you're even a little bit careful not to move the "unaffected" side of the bar,
there will be (nearly) zero effect on the non-braked side.
Not trying to present a challenge, and if I'm way off on this, I'd be anxious to know what I'm missing from someone more experienced. Maybe I'm just
more anal about only moving the end of the bar from which I desire a response??
pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 04:47 PM
I have a Pansh Adam 8.5 that was pretty nuts on handles (static body dragging, etc), but behaved very well on a homebrew version of a turbo bar.
I'm basically a noob, but (unless I misunderstand) I'm not sure why a bar always affects both side of the kite. Seems like if you don't move the
"other side" of the bar, the effect of the other brake will be really small (ie negligible). Definitely not zero effect, but on a fixed bridle, the
power line tension is so much greater than the brake line tension, if you're even a little bit careful not to move the "unaffected" side of the bar,
there will be (nearly) zero effect on the non-braked side.
Not trying to present a challenge, and if I'm way off on this, I'd be anxious to know what I'm missing from someone more experienced. Maybe I'm just
more anal about only moving the end of the bar from which I desire a response??
pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 04:48 PM
WHY do my posts show up TWICE?!?!?!?!?
head------->desk desk desk
pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 05:01 PM
ok, partially checking to see if it posts this twice, but also wanted to mention.....my Pansh Adam 8.5 sees a power line steering input as a sort of
"suggestion", where a brake line input seems to get it's attention (ok, maybe I'm anthropomorphizing (is that even a word?) a kite more than I
should.....but hooked to my harness, I'm pretty sure I KNOW what it's thinking :o
WELDNGOD - 6-2-2016 at 05:10 PM
If you move one side of a bar ,the other side moves. Brake input is slight AND MAKES A DIFFERENCE. Any brake input is going to have some kind of
effect. pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 05:25 PM
ok, now I've just had a *duh* moment....I was picturing the "other" brake line as the fulcrum.....but the center (powerlines) will act as the fulcrum
(due to the aforementioned higher tension (DUH)....now I need to grab a sharpie marker, put some marks on my lines, and see what's moving (although
I'm pretty sure your mental picture is more accurate than mine)......I hope you're happy.......picturing me being dragged through the snow, trying to
pay attention to which lines are moving relative to the pulleys, and which ones aren't :P
WELDNGOD - 6-2-2016 at 05:53 PM
pi_r_squared - 6-2-2016 at 07:11 PM
but seriously.... assuming the fulcrum is the power lines......on a turbo bar, while the brake side goes from relatively neutral to "horsing on the
brake" due to the 2x motion effect of pulling on the pulley, if the non-brake side goes from slack, to more-slack, is there any real effect on the
non-brake side?WELDNGOD - 6-2-2016 at 07:28 PM
Pay close attention to the kite. If one side goes positive + ,the other goes negative -,and it has the opposite effect on that side of the kite. that
is why it goes into a spin. Think propeller blade! If you don't want that to happen then you need handles.
