Today was one of those good days to be alive and able to kite buggy! I had just the right amount of wind today to have a great buggy session with my 9m P2. I had recently switched the tie points of the bar's pigtails to the outside (came stock on the inside) giving me just a bit more effective bar width and therefore reaction to my control. I love its responsiveness set up like this!

I've filmed at this site before; it is my site with the big hill between a soccer field and baseball diamond. Wind was blowing right across the pitch of the hill so I was able to make laps up and down this large terrain obstacle many, many times. It's a rare day around here that so many things came together; free time, good steady wind blowing in the optimal direction, fresh mowed grass, bountiful sunshine, AND NO SOCCER PLAYERS or other buggy site poachers. Yeah!

I wish similar happiness on all my PKF brothers and sisters! :D:D:D

I've had quite a few sessions with my 9m Peak2 - and now really getting the hang of making it do what I want, go where I want, and I'm better too at working around the collapses and other quirks, keeping it flying. I really like the direct feeling from the kite, it's fast and lightweight, stays up there longer than std. twinskin foils. Compared to my friends Ozone Summit (2015 8m std) it's way different, his kite is super soft and elegant, has lots more lift but also feels much slower to me, in input reaction/ feedback, and the way it reacts to the wind too. But to me the 9m Peak has lots more pull, I guess single skin is not the best for jumping? The Peak also has more performance (for my style of kiting) within a much much bigger wind range. And it is lots cheaper.

Peak 2 9 meter - the best 1 kite quiver ?? Seriously big range, good performance, very light and pretty easy. Not for water though, sadly.

I'm chiming in here today mostly to recommend trying out putting line extensions on your PeaS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s. I've tried my 9m with 12m extra, worked OK, but went back to 21m because it can be challenging to allocate all the space you need around you to fly that big blue hunk safely ;-) Last 2 sessions though, I've been on 6m extensions on my 9, and it's effing great!! Takes some of the hard edge off the characteristics of the Peak, and gives more room to manouver and find and hold the wind.

*I fly static or on ATB, by the way. Half/half.

Also, yesterday, we put 12m extensions on the Peak2 4m in a moment of insanity. Sooo cool !!! :cool2: Made that 'wasp on a string' much more civilized. My friend kinda hates his 4m and I think he even might regret getting it, but yesterday he flew it for more than 1 hour straight! Also, even if the 'safety range' gets huge with 12m extensions on this one as any other kite - it's much smaller and faster (to get out of the way from fellow kiters) so it doesn't matter as much.

Glad you got a good session Steve.

@khaakon, nice write up. I love my peak for my conditions and the more you fly it the smoother you get and the wind range is huge on my 6 meter. I've been looking for a 9 meter for a little more power on the 10-12 mph days.

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

I had recently switched the tie points of the bar's pigtails to the outside (came stock on the inside) giving me just a bit more effective bar width and therefore reaction to my control. I love its responsiveness set up like this!

I did this even before taking mine out for the first time Also, early on, trimmed in the mixers a little according to information here on PKF

Tusen Tak khaakon for quoting my thread contribution!

Nice write up on the line extensions. I have a 5m set of line extenders that I currently have on my 12m P2. Definitely a good addition for tweaking that little bit of extra power out of it. I like the idea of the 12m extenders, but regrettably I do all of my flying in relatively small places and already start running out of room with only 5m. I end up taking risks flying the kite out over obstacles to eek out a little extra running room before my turns and have gotten burned a couple of times. With 12m extra I fear I'd really get myself into trouble.

I liken the 5m extenders as giving me an effective 2m extra area on the kite, effectively turning the 12m P2 into a 14m kite. Using that sort of thinking khaakon, how much extra kite do you estimate you get when adding 12m lines to the existing 21m lines on the Peaks?

I've been thinking about that, because i've been reading that adding line extensions 'adds' to the size of your kite. Bigger/stronger, I don't really know, actually - I'm not experienced enough to guesstimate sizes - I just thinks it changes the characteristics slightly to softer feedback and slower response, and gives you a 'bigger' wind window to play around in. If you got the space needed around you, of course.

*When it comes to what kites can and cannot do, I feel like a newbie and stranger to lots of things I haven't looked into. We also have quite gusty and different conditions here, so I have a hard time making comparisons before I get more experienced.

Fair enough, I'm certainly a newbie myself, having only started buggying this year.

About other kites; I've now recently had the opportunity to try out Speed4 8m std., our 3rd club member got his first kite a school-used one for a good price, and I must say I liked it quite well (hate the trim adjuster). Really wanna try it out some more, felt like a luxury ride somehow - wasn't much wind that day, but nice and even.

I haven't brought out my Matrixx 12m much yet, so I have a lot of catching up to do there (Peak2 9m covers its range, and more..). I do feel the Matrixx is quite powerful and lifting me up more than I can easily control, so I'm a bit scared and waiting for winter and snow to cushion me walloping about :P. I really hope for it to be a good kite for me to get into twin skins / closed cells, which has some abilities beyond that of single skins. Too bad Lotuses and Chrono2's are so damn expensive...

Back on topic; Hey Steve, I am a little bit envious of your complete quiver of Peak2's. I keep thinking of extending mine, I would have loved to compare 6 & 12m to my 9, not just the 4m my friend has. Nice one on the new profile picture btw, but whatnokite? And "We were all born with a single skin so why fly more?" really made my day :D

Quote:

Also, early on, trimmed in the mixers a little according to information here on PKF

khaakon can you elaborate on this in layman's terms?

Or point me at the specific thread?

I've seen the thread about tip tucking and things like shortening C, wrapping B etc etc but is all double Dutch to me!

I got an ex demo 12m Peak 2 and it has been suffering from really bad tip tucking. I've been persevering with it in hope that I will dial into how to fly it, but still struggling. I've flown my 6m Peak 1 a LOT and as far as I can tell I'm keeping the 12m well powered and away from the edge of the wind window.

Is this mixer trimming easy for somebody that doesn't really understand how the bride is made up?

Thanks!

@khaakon: The 6m and 12m P2s are fine kites. They do have a lot of wind range. I have used both on the same day as shown in the video below. This video was shot before I owned the 9m. I would say the day would have been ideal for the 9m (sort of right in its sweet spot) but most certainly doable with the overlap in the Peaks. The thing with being able to fine tune the Peak size for distinct wind conditions is the whole sweet spot thing. Not necessary, just ideal.

Flying the Big Lady (12m) in relatively high winds is "interesting". No need for coffee, that's for sure. It moves slowly enough that with care you can keep yourself out of trouble with high flying, sheeting, trim adjustment, etc. Landing solo, now that's another story. :karate:

@ Paul: sorry to hear you continue to have issues with your Big Lady. It may in fact be time for you to "mix it up". :o

Quote: Originally posted by robinsonpr

khaakon can you elaborate on this in layman's terms? Or point me at the specific thread?

I dunno, but I can try. The information I found back then is mostly summarized in another thread, but you've read it for sure.

It's mostly about shortening the loops on the lines that holds the 2 pulleys.

Click on the pictures to enlarge;


There are 2 pulleys referred to as B and C [which then by function will be the 'mixers' b&c], and can be identified by the little tags on the lines.


* Slide the larkshead to open the loop on the grey line that holds the pulley (like on the B mixer in the picture). PS! This picture is with the rings in adjusted position, not in starting position.

Mark out the RINGS !! (I carefully used thin black marker on the lines) BEFORE you work loose the ring !!


* Move the metal ring that's hooked twice into the gray line to adjust the length of the pulley-loop.
* To move the ring, you just have to loosen the gray line a little, to reposition the ring. And then retighten the line around the ring. Be careful as not to damage the line!


* Slide the larks head back down and stretch things a bit to make sure everything sits in place.

You will see that I have moved the B metal ring about half as much as the C metal ring [tiny black ink-marks circled in red in the pictures]. You might also notice that I ended up tightening the loop for the C pulley almost as tight as it goes, moving that metal ring ~ 4 cm.

! And the steering line adjustment inside the neoprene handles at the bar is at its shortest setting, 0 on the built in diagram. (no picture)

Peak 2 Line plans at Flysurfer web site [Link]

Quote:

This is what John from PowerZone had to say: "Sure thing, I can tune er up for ya. One last thing you can try on your own (if you want) is to adjust B and C proportionally not separate measurements. So if you make Cmain 2cm shorter than Amain…. Adjust Bmain to half of the distance or 1cm. see if that improves the flight first then we can discuss a tune up"

Maybe other forum members like Feyd can elaborate - or simplify - or clear up any wrong use of terms by a layman

PS! It is not brides ("for somebody that doesn't really understand how the bride is made up?" really made me snigger, Robinson) or bridals, but BRIDLES. /rant over

Hahaha goddamn predictive text. Thanks for correcting me on the bridle spelling, I'm hanging my head in shame!

Still lost in the B, C, Mixer etc. Definitely not in a position to be moving rings and knots 😆

Mixer-schmikxser, pulleys, whatever - All you have to do is move the little metal ring up a little bit, ca. half on B what you do on C. Come on, you surely can do it as soon as it's daylight and you're sober and everything's hunky dory (sunshine and 4-5m/s).

*edit, sry; maybe 3-4m/s, since you're on the 12m..

To be fair you've spotted my problem, I've had many beers tonight, Pistols rock. Tomorrow I will re read. Thanks...

Hey, just noticed your location says Oslo! Prob going to Geilo in December, maybe sneak in some snow kiting!?

Hehe, thats cool. But I'm probably mostly heading for Norefjell or Hurdalsjøen for daytrips, and Sälen in Sweden for anything that includes sleeping over, 'cause I now have a contact there with a place to stay, saves me $. Or to Maridalsvannet just north of Oslo, first port of call, when its frozen.

*Edit; I edited the post with the mixer-pictures. A lot. Hopefully it is easier to read now.. Keep on rocking!

Well it's daylight and I'm sober. ish. Took the big girl out this morning with the intention of trying some small tweakage. But, kite flew beautifully. Different location to my normal field with turbulent winds. I'm going to leave it well alone. I think the wind in my usual field is the culprit...

Paul - I am very happy to hear that things went better today in cleaner wind! I think it prudent to leave well enough alone if at all possible, but to take our fine Norwegian brother's advice if necessary. I buggied with my Big Lady yesterday at the spot you've seen in several of my videos with the hockey rink building with concrete bleachers built into the hill below it and the drop in elevation from the soccer field to baseball diamond. The wind direction was such yesterday that it came right over the building before tumbling down to the fields below, about 90 degrees off of its ideal trajectory. As such the wind was highly turbulent and swirly. I dealt with more tip tuck and related collapses yesterday than I had in recent memory. In "clean" wind (clean for me is certainly still janky compared to ocean breezes) I have virtually no issue with tip tuck at all at this point if I don't commit gross pilot errors.

Everything is a trade off. Try packing and carrying a 12m twin-skinned Lady. Bend at the knees! :frog:

Today proved to be a wonderful wind day for DP flying in the buggy. Wind was measured at an average of about 16 mph with plenty of gusts going 20+ and a measured gust of 25.2! I had the 6m P2 in the air which was great for the base wind and lighter gusts. I was wishing I had the 4m in the air for the stronger gusts! Got to love the ability of these great kites to scrub power with sheeting out.

I hope you enjoy the video and music! :karate:

I notice that you ride with the clam cleat adjustment full out. I'm beginning to think the adjustment either is not needed, or I haven't been in gnarly enough conditions. I've had the kites out in the upper wind range and beyond and find that detuning isn't needed as the depower range is so large. I had the 12m out one day in midrange air and couldn't get it to go until I noticed that I had trimmed in about 6-8 inches. as soon as I dumped the trim it took off. I have the 6m P1 with no adjustment and never felt that I needed it.

Ted - While I have only flown my 4m P2 one time (probably could have been two if I had flown it yesterday) I have flown the other three quite a few times each. I've found the same thing. I set the cleat for each kite about where you saw it in this video, viz., about 2-3 inches. Any more than that and the kite looses a lot of power and starts acting less than optimally. If I let it out all the way it seems to not be quite right either. I suppose the cleat is in some way a "nice to have" should some of the lines stretch over time, but honestly I've not found it important yet.

The only time I've ever cleated in has been when I'm overpowered in the buggy with too much kite in the air for the conditions so I do that to purposely detune the kite. This is more a safety thing than anything else as the kite doesn't behave all that well when I've done that. I've only done that with the 12m. It used to be the only P2 I owned, but now that I have the complete quiver (and have a bit more experience under my belt) I tend to choose the right kite for the conditions (or close enough, like yesterday) and don't need to fiddle with the cleat.

There are a lot of folks on this thread that swear by their P1s. I've never heard any gripes about them out at the kite at all. To the contrary, the dreaded "tip tuck" issue only seemed to have surfaced with the P2s. I've never held it in my hands, but I've read that the P1 bar is not as refined as the P2 bar, particularly at the hole in the center. This is a nice smooth opening in the P2 set up.

I've had issues with V-1.0 single skin kites this year (first with the PL Uniq Quad and most recently with the B-K LongStar). It's great to know that Flysurfer largely nailed it with their 1st generation Peaks!

One situation where the cleat is useful is when landing the kite in strong winds. Landing the kite on the leading edge/upside down, pulling the trim all the way, and letting go of the bar, causes the kite to sit almost flat on the ground with only a bit of the trailing edge in the air (see picture below). I find this method works better than the typical way of pulling the brake lines and landing with the leading edge up.

@pstkk - THAT's ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!

I can't wait to try that. I can't tell you how many nervous moments I've spent trying to land my P2s in high winds. Scary as crap sometimes. I'll try this next time for sure.

I tried working with the cleat adjustment in a couple of ways yesterday with my 6m P2. With great thanks to pstkk I will emphatically confirm that his technique of anchoring the kite to the ground upside down with the cleat adjustment pulled all the way in works brilliantly. THAT WAS A GREAT TIP.

Yesterday was a great wind day to experiment a little bit. I was buggying on a sports field with artificial turf which offered very low rolling resistance. The winds were pretty steady for around here, averaging about 13 mph with some gusts up into the upper teens, but really pretty steady. At first I launched my 4m P2 based on the thought that the low rolling resistance would make this a good choice. Wrong. Not enough wind for that kite to behave well in my hands and create consistent pull. This was only the second time I'd ever flown this particular kite and I still have a big learning curve to climb with it. I won't pull it out again until the base wind is at least in the upper teens and the gusts are 20+ mph.

So... I put the 4m away and launched the 6m P2. Took a few laps with the cleat setting as I usually have it (all out, save about 3 inches) and I was a tad overpowered, going a little to fast for comfort (not for the straightaways, but for the very frequent turns I needed to make). Decided to play with the cleat setting. Pulling it in all the way is too much; kite sort of craps out. At cleat adjustments between 1/2 to 3/4 pulled in the kite still behaved well but lost some grunt. Perfect for the conditions. If I had to put a sort of magnitude to the effect I'd say pulling the cleat adjustment in this much put this kite's pull about half way between the 6m and the 4m kites, effectively giving me a 5m P2 in the air.

I think this was particularly pertinent because of the low rolling resistance of the artificial surface I was riding on. It was very sensitive to pull resulting in lots of acceleration. This gave me a whole new appreciation of the usefulness of this feature. It put a big grin on my face to successfully manipulate this kite to fine tune it on the fly for my specific requirements. :D

Interesting. I need to start messing with the cleat adjustment.

Good read Steve. Occasionally I'll trim my p1 when winds are high, just can't do it on the fly.

I got confirmation of my order so the 9m p1 has evaded me no more. :cool2:

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

I got confirmation of my order so the 9m p1 has evaded me no more. :cool2:

Problem solved!

"pink Lady's" big brother that I call simply "blue" arrived and took flight today. Winds were high all day and calmed down just enough to make a buggy a run on the first day of having it. Wind was really better suited for the 6 meter but I couldn't resist. It flew and handled great but unfortunately I was flying extremely guarded as the wind was still punchy so I didn't make any speed runs or throw it around much. Wind was punchy enough that every time I let my guard down and lower it into some power, it would get spooky, especially when just getting used to it. There really wasn't any surprises, it flies pretty much like pink lady only bigger and a considerable amount more grunt for the given wind. Surprisingly, turning felt very similar to the 6. Maybe just a touch slower but really has a similar feel. Look forward to some mild to moderate wind to really do a thorough test. Sorry for the bad picture. I really need a gopro but that will have to wait.

Yeah! She's a keeper that one. Happy day for you!

You are selling yourself short; that's a fine pic. I know what you mean by buggying with a too-large-for-the-conditions Peak in the air. Completely doable, but pretty nerve racking.

I've got a Chinese knock off "GoPro" that I would sell you if you'd like. If interested then let's take it off line via U2U.