Hi guys,
Well as some know I recently got into traction kiting and bought myself a Core95 MBS and Ozone Octane 4m kite with the bar. The bar set up is the 4 line bar with the harness chicken loop and safety wrist band.

I do not like this bar. It is not a 'standard' kite style bar like those in modern inflatable kites and it has no vertical movement unless I release the bar and depower. The chicken loop is fixed to the bar, has no vertical adjustments and that annoying wrist band for full depower sucks!
Frankly I am tempted to use one of my normal kite surfing bars which has the proper chicken loop and quick release ring that attaches to the safety line on the back of your harness. But the Ozone does not allow for this, so I am tempted to remove that annoying wrist band with a QR ring and drill a hole through the bar to have the whole thing move through the middle. Of course that voids all warranty and safety designs, but it would be more convenient. In fact I bought my setup 2nd hand so I imagine Ozone will not consider upgrading my bar to the Power bar? pleeeeease?! Most likely that will not happen and I just have to get used to the system and think of this as a non-water kiting sport.

Have any of you had similar issues with these bars? Some Ozone customers have bought the exact same kite but received the Ozone power bar with it, which has everything gliding through the middle, and has brake lines. Maybe I got an older pre 2012 model? The website has little information for me to see what year and adjustments I can do with that bar.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated. In fact, have any of you had similar issues and swapped the bar with a normal water kite 4 line bar? Maybe it would not work as those kites have the power connectors sort of in the middle of the kite, whereas Ozone have top and bottom bridles.

Not happy.

Thanks

Hello loftywinds and welcome to PKF!

The ozone octane is a fixed bridle kite. It does not depower. The bar set up is to take the strain off your arms and to kill the kite. A depower bar would just apply the brakes and slow the kite.

I would just start with your 8m surf kite. I started riding with a depower kite right away. I actually find it harder to ride with a fixed bridle because I can't power up if I lean back to much. I also have more kite practice flying depower and thus am more confident flying.

Have you ever skateboarded of long boarded? If you have learning to ride should be easy for you!

Good luck and smooth winds!:D

So by 'depower bar' you mean the Ozone Power Bar?

I have to agree with you. The Octane is a great zippy kite, but in light winds I am constantly doing figure 8's to power it enough for a ride, with the bar I have. Wuld it be easier to control with a Power Bar?

Ideally; if your 3m Octane isn't powerful enough in a given wind; get out the 4m Octane. If that's still not enough; get out the 5m. Unless you only fly in certain wind ranges or you have consistent wind of the same speed; it would be kinda hard to kite a lot with only 1 size kite.

I think with the Turbo bar; it would just allow the kite to turn quicker compared to your regular style bar:



It's just a matter of what you want to do on your land board. Look into the "snow kites" for some depower options:

Thanks for the tips guys.

What I am really after from all this, is to be able to do these moves ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6gEN5c9Hrk

If the standard control bar that came with my Octane 4m can allow me to do that style of land boarding, then I am just going to persist with it and practice, practice, practice.

Ideally, I want to reach this level ...

http://youtu.be/rYKtWL0bkkg

I am learning from you guys. No one here teaches this and I look to be the only one doing it. So I really appreciate your help.

Short answer... no, your octane will not allow you to do tricks like that. I would not recommend jumping with your octane as it is too small to provide enough float to guarantee a safe landing.

I am guessing you don't know the difference between a fb(fixed bridle) and a depower. A fixed bridle is a kite that is at max power 100% of the time. This allows you to use a smaller, faster, more agile kite. It is primarily used for kite buggies. Depower kites are larger for the same amount of power as a fb and have the ability to reduce and increase there power by moving the bar in and out. This allows the user to use the kite in a larger wind range and to boost. Boosting is sheeting in to increase power during a jump to go higher and stay up longer. To pull off the tricks in those videos you need a depower kite, and lots of practice.

The kites in both of those videos are still pretty new so expect to pay close to $1000 for one. But you don't need anything that high performance yet so your octane and surf kites will do. carltb(the guy in the first link you posted) has some good videos on how to ride atb and he is a regular on this site. Be sure to check those out.

Feel free to ask some more questions! we are here to help

Awesome Snake. So a FB kite is really more for just well... to get going on the board one way and then the other, similar to kite surfing, but of course without the jumps.
Thank you for the advice, cause yeah, I imagine an Octane would simply be too small to loft and land softly especially being at 80kg. But I am sure with the gear I have, I should be able to practice riding the board around the park, and that's good enough for me.
I did see an Octane video of kids jumping on them, but they looked like around 60kg or less.

Should have gotten the quad handle option instead, loftywinds. Even with smaller fixed-bridle kites, I just cannot use them properly with control bars. Quad handles allow you to apply brake pressure to keep the kite inside the wind window, allowing it to generate more power, be more stable, and make it act more like a depower kite. (And the quad handles option for the Octane costs about $20 less.)

That Ozone "Turbo Bar" is supposed to combine the stability of using quad handles with the convenience of a control bar, but it costs $300 by itself. :shocked2:

^I think she said she bought second hand, so I don't think she had a choice. I'm sure you can find a set for around $10-20? Check the for sale section, I think there was some listed there recently.

LOL @ snake. No I am not a she, but a mad he. My avatar is a 'friend'.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will get a set of handles and kite killers and give it a go, but I cannot fault my 8mtr hybrid depower kite. It was made for both land and water and works very well. I will keep the kite though and try and use it instead of my depower because learning to land kite on a proper FB kite is like learning to tight walk on a wire over Niagra Falls. Once you learn to walk, then I can run... Err fly in this case. :saint: