Power Kite Forum

Fly depower on handles ?

DAKITEZ - 1-4-2008 at 01:32 PM

Can it be done ?

NPWfever - 1-4-2008 at 01:57 PM

I believe you can fly an arc on handles and keep the depowerability even, in theory at least....

bloah - 1-4-2008 at 02:06 PM

yes, you can fly 4 lines depowers on handles such as speeds and montana's

Bladerunner - 1-4-2008 at 02:28 PM

Wanna buy one !

powerzone - 2-4-2008 at 12:01 PM

may we ask WHY in the world you would ever want to do it?

awindofchange - 2-4-2008 at 12:34 PM

I too would like to know why you would want to do this?

Flying a Depower on handles basically eliminates the "Depower" and the kite will not perform anything like it was designed. I would not recommend doing this at all for safety reasons as well as performance reasons. If you want to fly handles then your best bet would be to save up the extra money NOT spent on a depowerable system and purchase two or even three fixed bridled kites to fly on handles.

DAKITEZ - 2-4-2008 at 12:48 PM

Couple reasons auctually. First off I have never flown a depower or even seen one in person so this is why I must ask this question. As for the reasons : I'm already used to flying on handles so that way I wouldn't have to relearn how to fly. Also if I did like it and kept it I would have all kites on handles and one on a bar, just trying to simplify. Second, the bars are soo expensive, if it can be done on handles it would cut the cost of getting into depower. I understand the idea of the depower and it makes sense to me. About the only negetive I have heard is that it requires more upperbody strength to physically pull the bar in to power up. You can't just let the harness do all the work. My saying on that is like we used to say when I rode street bikes " If you drop your bike and can't pick it up you better buy a smaller bike" Thoughts ?

DAKITEZ - 2-4-2008 at 12:52 PM

awindofchange you posted while I was typing. Thats basically what I wanted to know. Sorry I wasn't clear. I didn't want to know if it would fly, more than I want to know if it will function properly. If there is no way to activate the depower than it would be useless. Thank you

Baluk - 2-4-2008 at 07:02 PM

Aight, about the harness... you need barely any 'upper bod strength'. Especially on a kite with vair low bar pressure. Not sure how old you are, but you shouldn't have any problem really at any age for use a bar for depower. The Harness does nearly all the work. Try one out sometime before you buy and you will see that they don't require much strength.

I've flown an HQ Montana II 7m on handles to play around. I could not get goin' on a bar either hooked in or unhooked. Just not enough wind/power at that time. I switched to some flexi handles and boom and I was goin' with a reasonable speed for the winds up and down on my ATB. You are going to get a LOT of brake pressure flying a depower on handles because they are meant to have some presure. When using a bar, you do not feel any strain as its dispersed differently. On handles you need to push the brakes down [probably with your thumb; forwards] and there is a bit of 'finger strength' needed.

Do you get your 'depowers' worth on handles? Short Answer: No. Long Answer: Nope...

You really don't get any usable depower, to power up it gets a bit hard on the fingers after a while.

All this above, in reference to flying unhooked... but then again that defeats your whole purpose of reducing needed body strength, no? So you'd fly a depower hooked in, so you'd need the handles to put up and down freely on the strop [which would have a direct line to the powers], but then you still hav ethe same about of bar [now break] pressure. Whats the point? Its like having a bar, but broken in two piece and you have to try to keep them at a fairly equal length up or down the strop.

Hope that helps a bit :D

acampbell - 2-4-2008 at 08:37 PM

Baluk offers an excellent analysis. Flying a de-power on handles would be the biggest waste of time, ripstop and Dyneema.

Baluk - 3-4-2008 at 06:17 PM

Quote:
Baluk offers an excellent analysis.


Angus offer an excellent point. :P