Power Kite Forum

PKD Combat

Pablo - 1-11-2007 at 06:10 PM

Well, finally got a couple of them in the air today, really low winds for the 3.5m, but I got it in the air, seems to fly nice, but no where near enough power to be fun or do anything.

Moved on to the 10.3m. Wind was around the 5mph mark, leaves barely rustling, leaves on the ground were sitting still, nothing really moving. Kite went up no problem, landed it, tightened the brakes and up she went again. With some controlled brake input it would turn on a wingtip, not bad for a large kite, gonna want to put it on some pulley handles though. Not the same stupid grunt that the 13m Century had while sitting at the edge of the window, but it turns so much faster that you're able to keep it moving and keep the kite speed up. I think I'd probably get close to the same range out of the 10.3m Combat as I did out of the 13m Century.

Small park though and light sketchy inland winds, after a couple 3-4ft jumps decided to pack it in for the day, hope to get out on the weekend with the buggy, pics will be up soon.

Paul B

tridude - 2-11-2007 at 06:20 AM

sounds nice Pablo! The color, pure black?

Bladerunner - 2-11-2007 at 07:54 AM

Davinch,
I'm still hoping to hear a review of the 13m Century. That big beast pretty much ran on it's own wind !

Sthrasher38 - 2-11-2007 at 04:52 PM

Snowbird, 9m flexi,10m phsyco,12m arc,16m Nashi. What wind speed do you fly these in? Are you inland or on the ocean? I need a low wind kite for 3-8 mph. wind to have fun in. Ideas?

Pablo - 2-11-2007 at 04:56 PM

The first set of Combats is solid black, white lettering, white air intakes, aside from that, the bridal's pretty dark so it dissapears as well. Also available in blue or red. The black looks extremely sharp on a deep blue sky.:smilegrin:

SecondWind - 2-11-2007 at 06:24 PM

Hey Snowbird - the 13m Century was really impressive...crazy low wind grunt at only 6mph of wind. It actually was too much kite for me. I bet it was perfect in the buggy, but with a Dirtsurfer, I just got overpowered too easily. It was stronger than my 19m SA2.

I sold it to a guy over at Foilzone who is going to use it on water (with a depower mod).

Pablo - 2-11-2007 at 08:11 PM

Oh man, you gotta pass on any pics/vids or other feedback from him. I was thinking of it on the water. And yeah, stupid strong.

Anyhoo, couple pics of the Combats in the sky.

3.5m Combat, almost no wind.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f201/targo88/Combat35.jpg?...


Same day, 10.3m Combat, light wind, pulling fairly strong.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f201/targo88/Combat103-1.j...

khooke - 2-11-2007 at 11:01 PM

Wow, in black I have to admit that's the meanest looking kite I've ever seen :wow: That looks like it means business...

Bladerunner - 3-11-2007 at 09:23 AM

Davinch,
I agree. That thing had a wind range of 2mph until it started to create it's own speed in 2mph wind and I was done . :rolleyes: . I may have been able to get used to the massive power but it just seemed to want to yank me downwind once it lit up. GREAT KITE :thumbup: I hope the guy takes it out BEFORE a Mod. I'm thinking this kite will lose most of that raw power if it's trimmed ?

38,
I don't ever use my 9m airush or the 12m F-arc. The Phsyco is my depower for that wind range now. Both kites are for sale. Both in good shape but feeling old and neglected. Having lost their bars to fixed bridle Flexi's.

I haven't used the 16 in 2 years. I tell myself when I get on the water it will be my low wind kite. I loved it ! That's crazy + it takes up a huge space in the locker. I could probably sell the 5 line bar faster alone and for almost the same price as sell it with the kite these days though.
That's a whole other topic :wink2:

Black is beautiful :smilegrin:

Pablo - 3-11-2007 at 09:40 AM

Static the 13m was bad, lots of work to keep it moving and turning, hard to hold down when it swept across the window. Once you got moving in a buggy it was a totally different story, Hey Ken, remember that day in seaside, nothing else flying and me and Jim ripping up and down the beach, effortless.

Jon's still got a 16m though......

Pablo - 3-11-2007 at 07:06 PM

Well, got the 10.3m out today in 8-12mph winds, nice kite, huge power, suprisingly easy to fly compared to the 4.8m Proto Combat I've been flying, seems they've figured out how to tame the kite down a little without losing it's raw power and speed. All in all I'm more than happy with it.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice and windy, I plan on putting the proto 4.8m head to head against the 5m production run Combat. I'll let you know how they go in the higher winds.

Pablo - 4-11-2007 at 10:21 PM

Well, final verdict,

After comparing the 4.8m proto to the 5m production run combat I can say that they've really upped the bar, same speed and turning, but way more stable/smooth, It's nice to have a race kite that'll almost completely depower with careful brake application without balling up. So you've still got control over the kite, let off the brakes and fire off again.

Spent most of the time on the 3.5m though, again, another nice smooth kite, lots of upwind obstacles though, made the mistake of flying on 20m lines so I had some issues keeping the kite high enough to stay in the cleaner winds without getting yarded out of the buggy.

Wind was 20-25mph for the better part of the day, I kited for a solid 4 hrs, got lots of practice getting my upwind/high speed downwind turns nailed. All in all another great day out. Time to send one of them off so others can get a chance to fly them.

Oh yeah, the black kite in a sky full of rainbow kites looks wicked as well.

Sthrasher38 - 5-11-2007 at 06:38 PM

Glad to see you had a fun day of flying Pablo. Congrats. I have only had wind enough to fly 3 I say 3 days the whole month of october.:sniff:

Pablo - 5-11-2007 at 07:00 PM

That's when it's time to go big or go home, I won't rest till I've got the 15.2m Combat for those really low wind days, I need some way to catch up to Jon when the wind dies.

Sthrasher38 - 5-11-2007 at 07:09 PM

15.2 Combat! MONSTER.:borg:

Pablo - 5-11-2007 at 09:28 PM

Well, JEllis has the 16m RM+, I believe that's the biggest race kite around, Eli's in a close 2nd with the 14m Yakuza. My 10.3m still seems puny in comparison,

Yes I'm suffering from kite envy

Pdxnebula - 6-11-2007 at 12:05 AM

Im still Getting used to the shear size of 9.0mē & you guys are talkin of an extra 10'+ on the size of the 9.0mē... All I can say is... Careful with the Power & More power to ya!!!

:yes:

Im lovin 9.0mē...:yes:

Pablo - 6-11-2007 at 06:37 PM

It's a sickness really...





And I'm glad I have it.

Sthrasher38 - 7-11-2007 at 06:52 PM

What ever it is it sure is contagous.

ripsessionkites - 8-11-2007 at 02:48 AM

it would be nice to see your 15.2 or is it a 15.4? pkd states 15.4, and a few of the pkd german riders have the 15.4. must be a typo.

i would love to see your 15.4 Combat to my 15.4 Nitro Evo II. let me know when you get yours. I have mine in the bag ready to go.

Bladerunner - 8-11-2007 at 08:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ripsessionkites

i would love to see your 15.4 Combat to my 15.4 Nitro Evo II. let me know when you get yours. I have mine in the bag ready to go.


I never new you had a 15.4 Nitro :wow: Is that a demo ? I'ld love to give it a try in , say 2mph wind ! :cool2:
How does it perform for the lighter folks like us?

Pablo - 8-11-2007 at 07:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ripsessionkites
it would be nice to see your 15.2 or is it a 15.4? pkd states 15.4, and a few of the pkd german riders have the 15.4. must be a typo.

i would love to see your 15.4 Combat to my 15.4 Nitro Evo II. let me know when you get yours. I have mine in the bag ready to go.


Hey Ricardo, you sure you can fly that thing without hitting the park bench and breaking some body part yet again, how many times has it been this year?


Reason I don't have one is I haven't needed one yet, For the week I'm down in Seaside It's just easier to talk to Jon or someone and grab one of their big kites. Without the long beaches locally I've found that a monster kite isn't that useful. I'll get one eventually, but when I've got nothing better to spend my $$$ on.

For now I'll see what I can get out of the 10.3m on longer lines.

ripsessionkites - 8-11-2007 at 08:17 PM

I bought it for the big boys here ... but we havent had light winds to get it out the bag or space for that matter. I dont think its fair to be running 35m lines in such a small park. we have to share the space we have with both sport kites, single liners, and other buggiers.

I have no problem flying it, its only 2.4meters bigger than my old Airea Raptor 13.0. At least we'll have a few big kites for OR and our summer winds. I can always swap my 15.4 for DS's 13.0 (shhh, its his christmas present)

All my kite injuries only make me better ... LOL.

I swore the broken toe on the weekend totally wasnt meant to happen, the buggy slid slideways and i cut it too close to the park bench. Either way broken toe or not I kept buggying and boarding. I'm having a rough time this year with park bench and trying to jump over picnic tables on the board. I think its time for an early vacation back to LV, I really need more space.

Pablo - 8-11-2007 at 08:51 PM

Wouldn't sharing the park also mean kiting in a manner that doesn't involve you crashing into benches near where the sport kite flyiers like to hang out as well as not being traveling fast enough near the busy pathway to break a toe.

We both know one serious accident there will involve the park getting taken away from all of us, It's the main reason I'm downsizing my kites that I use locally. Our parks just don't support that large of a kite or aggressive out of control buggying. I'll save it for seaside or mud bay where there's more room to move and less spectators.

By the way, was that your demo or just a buddy that crashed the 7m LEI into the pathway?



(edit) Ricardo,

Also, seeing as you haven't flown one of the production run Combats and aren't asking any serious questions about the Combat, the only reason I can see you posting in here is to try and discredit me or try and embarrass me in some way. This shows a major lack of character and morals in my opinion. I'd appreciate it if you kept further posts in this thread on topic.

ripsessionkites - 8-11-2007 at 09:40 PM

Quote:


By the way, was that your demo or just a buddy that crashed the 7m LEI into the pathway?

(edit) Ricardo,

Also, seeing as you haven't flown one of the production run Combats and aren't asking any serious questions about the Combat, the only reason I can see you posting in here is to try and discredit me or try and embarrass me in some way. This shows a major lack of character and morals in my opinion. I'd appreciate it if you kept further posts in this thread on topic.


not worth my breath to argue your statement. whats the difference between your production Combat, and the team rider one i flew at the Ostern-SPO event back in 2005.

as for the LEI, wasnt my demo kite. I fly JN-Kites. Actually it was a BEST 7m, and bought from your Skypilot Shop.

Pablo - 9-11-2007 at 05:49 PM

Couldn't find a good pic of the Combat prototype in the air, but here's one of it laid out in my living room. It's the 4.8m Combat sitting beside a 4.5m Century.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f201/targo88/4.jpg?t=11946...


Here's a pic of the 3.5m Combat production run in the air.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f201/targo88/Combat35.jpg?...


The first noticable difference is the air vents, they've completely reworked them from the proto to the production run. They've got the kite to be a lot more controlled when it's filling and way smoother when recovering from a luff or gust.

Second, the prototype has a forward swept rear edge to the wing, it was quite drastic as the picture shows, the production run is quite a bit straiter. Proto sat pretty flat in the air, the production one has a bit more curve to it as you get to the wingtips. I'm told the bridal has changed as well, but I haven't had the time or need to start measuring them.

What this has done is somehow made the kite much more predictable without giving up anything in the control dept. I loved the sheer speed and power of the prototype. I hated the complete lack of stability and found myself enjoying the ease of flying the old Century. Now with the production run, they're pretty close to the Century for stability and smoothness, but they've still got the speed of the prototype. The production run doesn't overfly/luff anywhere near as bad as the proto, recovery is way smoother. I feel much more confident flying the production one compared to the proto.

The proto I had was from the 2005 run of kites they made for their team riders, so probably much the same kite you test flew.

For the record, I'm not a part of the Skypilot shop, They sell kites, I supply them. They're a shop, I'm a distrubutor. I help them out with the land based stuff because they don't have much experience with it. I believe in supporting the local guys for whatever area you're in.

kitergal - 10-11-2007 at 01:29 AM

ppsst pabs honey your proto combat was fitted with a new bridle and not the old ones.

Pablo - 10-11-2007 at 07:31 PM

Yeah, Roger changed the bridal on the proto I have right before it was sent this way. So it's not quite like the ones the guys were racing on 2 yrs ago. Either way, the production run is years ahead of the proto.

tridude - 18-8-2009 at 11:40 AM

couple of "Bats" on da Flea goin cheap................................I got a bid in..........................:lol::lol::duh::duh: