I fly a Rage 6.0. I'm typically scudding, but have purchased a trike and I'm interested in taking a try on Ski's. I'm considering my first depowerable and looking at the Frenzy. I know you can go large with depowerables than flying with handles. Can some let me know if the Frenzy is a good choice and if you'd recommend the 9m or 11m (I'm leaning towards the 11m). Thanks.

Size is wind and weight dependent. Without knowing those, we really can't make a valid recommendation.

I'm 160 lbs and fly and the average wind speed by me is 9 - 10mph.

The 11m or maybe even the 13m. I'm 160 and ordered a 7m and an 11m to cover most of the wind range, but on really light wind days I think I may end up needed something a bit bigger.

Is the Frenzy a good buggy kite?

At your weight I wouldn't go over the 11m. The 13m is really for bigger guys more than light wind in my opinion.

9-10 mph is pretty low. The 11m might have slightly better low end than your Rage, but maybe not that much. I also think that an 11m is kind of a lot of depower kite to start out with. That 10 Apex might be a good choice and probably costs half of what a new 11m Frenzy costs. It won't get you jumping though.

Also that Rage should be fun for snowkiting except that you're going to get tired very quickly flying with no harness.

The Apex is less than half of a new 11m Frenzy. The Apex is $500 and a new 11m Frenzy (with bar) is around $1250.

I've flown the Apex in 7mph, though it didn't produce a lot of pull, it definitely produced some.

Quote:

Originally posted by aronma Is the Frenzy a good buggy kite?

very, very high speed generator.
i have an old 7.3m Frenzy.
here's the story. about 35-40 kp/h. first or second time on wide open 1/4 section of land.
i was running a 3m Beamer (3.8 Reactor was too fast as I was rusty)
brother was running a 3.5 Razor.
I am 40 lbs less than him so we were running neck and neck.
i tried his 3.5 Razor and in that wind holy cow was I moving.
*the thing that struck me most was the huuuuge increase (smooth enough hit but a quick hit indeed) in speed when the gusts hit. like hitting nitro. with other all-arounder (non Race) kites i'd just get a good solid yank on the handles more or less when the gusts hit. the sudden speed hit sensation was pretty new to me since we usually size for gusts, don't have real long runs and are more often maneouvering around obstacles than simply long hauling.
anyhoo-decided to hook up buggy to give tandem rides. passenger was close to same size as me. 3m Beamer was pulling but slow and my arms were quickly losing the battle.
unrolled the Frenzy and had all the power on tap that i wanted. after tandem rides were finished i decided to try a few solo runs with the Frenzy (7.3m in ~40 kp/h).
brother was unrolling med AR 5m FB and not having it. i was simply doing some short passes waiting for him to get his game sorted. i knew i had some real power and decided to
go for a good run or two while he got his gear sorted (to much wind for his 5m fixed bridal).
anyhoo...the old (depower) Frenzy surprised me when at top speed it did exactly what the (high AR fixed bridal race kite)Razor did. the depower took the gust and rocketed me along. wow i couldn't believe this kite just did that. usually with depower.. when a gust hits i'll get jerked sideway a bit and that's about it no real instant hit in speed.
my brother has a 12m Frenzy and it has loads more pull than my 12m Flysurfer Pulse2. night and day difference. I was skiing on about 3/4 trim with my FS 12m fast enough and completely in my comfort zone. i switched out with my brother's 12m Frenzy (which he had trimmed out about same or little more) I was roketing and soon enough was trimming for less power. i was not happy until I had the Frenzy trimmed to about 1/3 power. Frenzy has a lot more bar pressure as well. there have been several buggy times when I am fine/fun with my 12m Pulse2 and whoever is running the 12m Frenzy is pretty much hanging on for dear life.
You may want to try some different makes before you buy.
depower range tried on 'newer' Flysurfers is about 1:8 and I'm guessing the Frenzies (i'v flown, not real new) is like 1:3 or 1:4.
Paul