Like I've seen in a bunch of threads, I started kiting and am now addicted The pull is a bit more fun that my stunt kites, go figure!

I bought a 5m depower as my first power first kite and and very comfortable with it after flying it for half a year or so. But after flying for a while in various conditions it's clear I need more kites!

I was thinking of picking up a used 3 and 7 to start but most of the ones I've found are static and I've only flown power kites on a bar. Considering I've gotten my 5m to drag my buggy side ways I can't imagine putting that much pull on my arms and still being able to hold a beer later! I guess I could use a strop but I'd prefer a better safety system at this point.

The naive me says, gee, just put the 4-lines on a bar and attach the brakes to the bar or maybe a loop... but I'm assuming that you can't do that for some reason, maybe the safety system wouldn't hook up right, the lines are not meant to do that or the kite is just not built for that type of control :puzzled: I've got no idea and haven't been able to find any useful info on the net. Though I did see some funky bar setups with pulleys in the corner of the bar that look like it was flying a static kite?

So is this possible? Possible but not recommended? Or should I just stop whining already and fly with handles or maybe just stick with depower kites?

You can use them with what's called a crossover bar, but if you have a quick release (QR) a strop is just as safe as a what you are used to, a chicken loop with a QR, tension is taken off the powers, and put onto the brakes. What 5m do you have?

http://en.radsails.com/noticias/ver_noticia.asp?v=n=crossove...

I've got a HQ Montana 5.

Thanks for the link! This is more or less what I saw in some pics, I just couldn't seem to find product. Looks like you'd just need to reach down to the harness strap and pull the QR.

The kites are bullets... with your nudge I was also able to find that Flexfoil has 2 bars for fixed kites:
"Flexifoil 4-line Control Bar" with a killer
"Flexifoil 4-line Extreme Bar" with a loop

My Google skills must be dull

I did some "strop searches" (warning do not misspell) and it look like you just hook the strop into a quick release line or pulley. Found some strop/qr threads on here finally too. But it doesn't look like there's a commercial strop qr. In fact you had a few posts on that thread!

Thanks for some direction, spinning in circles is only fun for so long!

I owned a 4.5 and 7m Bullet. I liked them both ! Good buggy engines. Not so good for jumping.

My 7m Bullet was very happy on a crossover bar. My 4.5 just flew awful on one !

If you have a depower set-up now , why are you looking at fixed bridle kites ? I moved the other way. Away from my bullets and in to depower. To me it is better ?

Once Scudley figured out He could smoke a cigarette while flying depower He has never looked back :tumble:

Get an Arc !!!! With the auto zenith you can have that beer and smoke. Both with the kite still hooked up to your harness !

a three meter fixed bridle is going to overlap with your 5m montana. a 5m depower is really a high wind kite. Depower sizes roughly correspond to a fixed bridle kite that is 30 - 50 % smaller than the depower in question.

Depower kites go on depower bars and fixed bridles on standard bars. The reason being is that they load the bar differently. Depower has power lines through the center and fixed bridle has power lines to the outside. You could potentially break a depower bar if you rigged a fixed bridle kite to it.

Good info.

I'd ultimately like to stay in depower land, but due to price I figure I'll build a couple kite quiver with a few fixed that I can eventually turn into depower.

fixed bridle kites don't turn into depower. You can fly them on a bar but that's not depower. There are some kits you can buy to convert a fixed bridle kite to a depower kite (UDS, Wingwarp) but the results will be mixed and you'll need to upgrade your lines so all four are the same stregth.

Cross-over bars don't make a fixed bridle kite depowerable, they simply add some brake tenstion to improve turning performance. If you are looking at fixed bridle kites I'd suggest you just go with handles. They offer so much control and can easily be integrated to a harness to reduce arm strain. I've got ruptured discs in my neck which have caused numbness in my left arm, damaged left forearm muscles and half a right pectoral muscle with a damaged right tricep (so you can see both sides of my upper body are compromised) and I fly only on handles and when hooked in I've skied or landboarded for 2 or more hours straight without problem. My legs give out long before my arms when I'm hooked in. Of course I keep in shape and work at minimizing the effect of the various sports injuries I've suffered but if I can do it, than most able-bodied people can too.

This reminded me that I have a Flexi bar collecting dust. I'm gonna toss it up for sale if you haven't ordered already. I'll go snap a pic and post it right now.

Quote:

Originally posted by Bladerunner Once Scudley figured out He could smoke a cigarette while flying depower He has never looked back :tumble:

I like the Alaska but, I can not say that I have given up flying fixed bridal. For our tiny field fixed bridal is the way to go. The Alaska just wants a huge space, like NABX or SOBB have, to really utilize its power. At Garry Point three sine waves of the kite and you have to jibe. I have not even finished accelerating yet.

S

Scudley ,

3 words, Park and Ride :wee:

Don't you still have a 7m Bullet ?

Now you are converted to the Alasca and Reflex's This guy may want it ?

My Pansh Ace turned into a depower :bouncy: With some work.....

Oh, and with an Arc, who says u even need to be hooked into them to drink a beer and smoke a cigarette? I know Dman would drive a stake into the ground, hook it onto that, and sit for an hour or so, drinking some beers, taking a break with buddies :eekdrull:

Way more fun to be able to milk the kite for for everything you can get, than to park it and take what comes.
Sold both my Bullets. The guys who bought them seem to wish they bought my Reflex instead.
I like a more dynamic flying style than you seem to like. I do not think I could handle flying your FlySurfers, lots of power but they seem very slow moving about the window. I like something that can move through the single lines with a little more precision.
S

Quote:

Originally posted by Bladerunner Scudley , 3 words, Park and Ride :wee: Don't you still have a 7m Bullet ? Now you are converted to the Alasca and Reflex's This guy may want it ?