Hello, looking for some advice.

Bought a used but in good condtion (well the kite seemed it) on ebay. A '05 F-one 4u 12m. Came with kite, bar lines and pump. All for £100, great deal i thought.

Used it a couple of times, and it was very resitant to fly (would appear to fly then just drop). Went to skegness, went on the beach and tried for 2 hours to get it to fly. Was plenty windy (15-17 Knots-from a windmeter i own). Flew once but then just dropped all the time. The only time i could keep it up was if i kept running backwards (that shouldnt be normal). every time i grabbed the bar it dropped aswell on launch, i was launching properley aswell.

The kite would only fly when i held the chicken loop and not the bar on launch, as soon i grabbed the bar it fell to the ground.

Extra Information: it has a 'leash free safety system, and im not sure if its meant to be a 5-line kite but this only has 4 lines. Plus has 3m extensions connected when i got it delivered so i have left them, i tried to leave the kite as i got it. Have i bought a 'duff' kite or is there something i am doing wrong? Im at the point of dumping it atm.

If it flew on the chick loop, but not the bar, it really sounds like you have the lines inverted (i.e. power lines attached to the brake leaders and brake lines attached to the power leaders)

Assuming the 2004 and 2005 kites set up the same way, is this what you are doing?

The following is from the 2004 manual (the '05 manual is off-line).
"Unroll your lines walking backward against the wind and put down your bar up side down. Untangle your black sleeving lines and connect them to the kite’s front wing tips (gray connectors) (5). Untangle your back lines red and green sleeving and connect them to the kite’s back wing tips. Green on green and red on red. (6). Your front and back lines should not cross."

ATB,
Sam

Are you using a harness with this kite? If not then you really need to get with someone who has more experience flying this type of kite so they can give you some pointers and help. These kites can be very dangerous and even fatal (to you or others around you) f you fly them in conditions that are beyond their recommended ratings or fly them not set up properly.

Thanks for the replies guys. Erm, i emailed the seller about the way the lines go around. I set them up as he said. I was flying with the lines, centre - to the front (leading edge), outside - to the back (trailing edge).

I tried to follow that manual aswell, but A) there are no black sleeving lines (maybe been replaced) and B) the connectors arent like the manual said. As in the connectors are male and female not both the same to avoid putting the wrong lines on the wrong place.

Any suggestions on the just falls backwards everytime, i have read somewhere about shortening either the outside or inside lines?

I am trying to fly this with a harness, and would love some 1 on 1 help. I live near Hunstanton if anyone would offer to help me for a hour or two. Show me exactly what to do and check everything is fine.

I bet you back(outside) lines are too short. When you grab the bar does the kite back out of the sky?

Check your lines. Most kites work with all lines
equal when the trim strap is all the way out.

Cheers
Dave

Maybe you have your Depower strap completely opened up and are trying to fly in too low of winds ?

Try the strap about 80% tight on launch then adjust it so you have just a bit of backstall with the bar pulled in .

Were you in the suggested wind range for the size?

Thanks again for the replies, ill have a look at both your suggestions. And yeah it just backs out of the sky as soon as the bar is pulled. So check to see if they are equal when the strap is full, if they arent what should i do.

I was flying in 15-17 Knots, and the wind range is 10-20.

prison-you need to get the lines close to the same length. you said there were 3m line extensions...on all 4 lines?

Hello, yeah there are extension ropes on all four lines, and there was a bit in the manual about 3m line extensions so i assume they are 3m line extensions but the exact length of them i do not know. Was rainy heavily all day so i couldnt go to the local park just to check the line lengths. Thanks for all the help guys.

prison-yeah it's hard to have the space to run your lines all the way out to check measurements and make adjustments. Good luck! It is most likely that your back lines are short for some reason. Very possible that your front lines(they take nearly all of the load) have stretched out to cause this problem.

I agree with you. I think your 3m line extensions are probably just line extensions. I expect they are on all 4 lines and look like the lines?
If there is a small difference in lines you can make it up at the kite or bar leader lines sometimes.
I still think your kite is fine but the wind was too low and you had the depower strap fully open. Pulling that depower strap tight effectively shortens your front lines and that is what you needed to do.

Heya, thanks for all the help, all lines are the same length, i checked today. I have been carefully 'studying' the depower strap. Will try using that as you stated before. At around 80%, going for a last mintue holiday to skegness next week, so hopefully will be able to get some windy days, and get it fully working.