I just got my Peak 1 kites and am a little worried about the stiffeners. How tough are they? I want to pack the kites as small as possible and know
stuff will be thrown on top of the kites when I pack the car.
Can I crush the kite or break the stiffeners?
indigo_wolf - 23-3-2015 at 03:49 AM
Chris packing a Peak.... don't think you are going to get it much smaller.
ATB,
Sam
Peter Piper packed a pilots Peak per precise posting perogative ...
skimtwashington - 23-3-2015 at 06:19 AM
I don't know where the stiffeners are so I can't tell if he bent or bowed stiffeners or rolled around length of them without and flexation or folding
of stiffeners(flat platic wands).
Probably a folding technique to do exactly the latter in origami non parallel folds. rtz - 23-3-2015 at 01:36 PM
The stiffener material may well turn out to be "string trimmer" cord. Nothing wrong with that; but that may well be what it is. Try not to fold it
in half and crease it.
"most single skin traction kites use weed whacker cord to stiffen their leading edges"
Ha, I have always suspected that's all it is when I feel it through the fabric. I don't worry about hurting those at all, but I have worried about
the bottom stiffeners poking through at the "hinge point" Chris reinforces is. I keep mine in a baseball bag so I don't have to make that second
fold.Feyd - 23-3-2015 at 04:14 PM
The stiffeners are a monofilament much like the weed wacker material. In fact that is what is used here in the states when a stiffener needs to be
replaced.
Depending on who you speak to there are a couple of positions. One says you can bend them pretty much anyway you want. Another (and this is what I
subscribe to) is that they are very resilient but should not be bent at hard angles. You can imagine what would happen if you bent a sharp angle in
weed wacker filament.
When packing it's easy enough to pack the kite down tight without risk of damaging the leading edge battens.
If you haven't reinforced the hinge points on your Peak one I recommend that you do. We haven't seen any catastrophic failures in those hinges but we
have seen some high wear after a season of heavy depowered riding. A little tape does wonders.
:Ddoneski - 23-3-2015 at 08:42 PM
Excellent advice. Thanks everyone. Proletariat - 4-4-2015 at 10:01 PM
You stop cringing after the 5th time packing it, FYI
