After a bit of experimenting with the turbo bar, I found that the Viper S works perfectly with it, even in inconsistent wind. The twister does not work well at all. I thought it might be helpful for others looking to use a bar with their fb to compile a list of kites that work and don't work to save some frustration. Personally, I'm a handle guy, but a bar does come in handy to free a hand up when needed. I will update the list.

Kites that work:

PL Voltage 4m, 8.5m
PL Viper S 5.3m
HQ Toxic (All sizes)
PL Hornet2 2m, 3m, 4m
Beamer IV, V
Imp Quattro
Method
Flow
Octane
Hornet 3m
Blade V 4m
Crossfire 5m (seen, not used)
Zebra Z1 2.5m, 3.4m
Flexifoil Sting 1.7m
Pansh Adam 5.5
PKD Brooza 3m



Kites that do not work:

PL Twister 4m (2013)
PL Core 3m, 4m, 6.7m
Reactor II 4m
Century II 2.8m
Hornet 5m (a bit iffy)
Nasa Star 2's

Works:
PL Hornet2 2m, 3m, 4m

Doesn't work:
PL Core 3m, 4m, 6.7m

I'm surprised about Core's not working on the Turbo bar... My Cores always behaved very well on brake input.

Now I've heard that Reactors IIs or 2013s do badly on the Turbo bar, Reactors DO NOT like to be flown heavy on the brakes

Works:

Beamer IV
Imp Quattro
Method
Flow
Octane
Hornet 3m
Blade V 4m
Crossfire 5m (seen, not used)

Doesn't work:

Reactor II 4m
Century II 2.8m
Hornet 5m (a bit iffy)
Nasa Star 2's

Works:
Zebra Z1 2.5m, 3.4m
Flexifoil Sting 1.7m

Quote:

I'm surprised about Core's not working on the Turbo bar... My Cores always behaved very well on brake input. Now I've heard that Reactors IIs or 2013s do badly on the Turbo bar, Reactors DO NOT like to be flown heavy on the brakes

I was surprised my twister didn't work for the same reason. There must be other characteristics other than turning well on brakes that allow the kite to work on the bar. My twister, for example, turns very well using brakes only.

how I can see , all Beamer V is work well,
Toxic under 5 qm not to good . The original X-over bar is better
(that pull longer) use with all but not to comfortable to use
like the turbobar.
but the bar in the blown out good wind to be useful

Ice kiter, does the 5m toxic work well?

Quote: Originally posted by soliver

I'm surprised about Core's not working on the Turbo bar... My Cores always behaved very well on brake input.

I agree, they love break input. But I was never able to balance the input on one side, without too much on the other, so they kept stalling. After an entire afternoon I gave up and stuck with handles.

ssayre , depends from wind, because so a bit one reacts slowly , I use only at constans wind .

to my mind, this bar like this was invented
for the more comfortable people , so it works well...

You can add the Peter Lynn Voltage 4m and 8.5m to the works with Turbo bar list

such a shame the twister doesnt fly well in the bar, hoping it will be perfect for high winds with my sting 2.4m

I'm noticing a pattern with the turbo bar in that it seems to generally prefer larger kites. The smaller sizes look a bit hit or miss.

Quote:

I'm noticing a pattern with the turbo bar in that it seems to generally prefer larger kites. The smaller sizes look a bit hit or miss.

I've had the 1.5m Imp Quattro and the 2m HQ Beamer IV on it and they've both flown perfectly well. (although the 1.5m was like flying an angry wasp on steroids). I don't think it's size related. I am surprised however that some kites that do well on brake-only turns are not performing well on the turbo bar.

Good idea for a list though

Quote:

Good idea for a list though

Hopefully this will be a work in progress because as far as I can see it is nearly impossible to speculate what kites work. There is much more to it than assuming a kite that turns on brakes will work. When the turbo bar functions correctly, it is extremely nice and would be worth having paired with the right kite.

I've used the turbo bar on a PL Viper S 2.6m and Toxic 3m with no issues. Haven't tried anything smaller yet.

Good to see how are somebody who is can the smaller one to use the bar well
with the more nervously ones ! This gives perspectives...

pkd brooza 3mtr works a treat on the turbo bar.
set up yesterday in 30mph winds

List updated

@ Sean
I wish I still had my Turbo bar, I would like to see if I could fly a PKD Cent II with it. I think it will,you might not have had it dialed in right or something. I fly mine by brakes with a stock PKD handleset(short strop). Were you flying static or buggy?

Quote: Originally posted by WELDNGOD

@ Sean I wish I still had my Turbo bar, I would like to see if I could fly a PKD Cent II with it. I think it will,you might not have had it dialed in right or something. I fly mine by brakes with a stock PKD handleset(short strop). Were you flying static or buggy?

I didn't try the century. The list only represents what people report. My personal contribution and testing was only on a pl viper s which flew like it was made for it and a 4m twister which flew like crap no matter how much tinkering I did.

The list is hopefully a good guideline but not definitive of course.

It was John Holgate that reported that the century II in the 2.8 size didn't work.

Quote:

It was John Holgate that reported that the century II in the 2.8 size didn't work.

Yep. Too much brake input on the bar resulted in all the air getting squashed out of the inside wingtip = stall then spin. With a bit of practice and gentle turning you could fly it ok...sort of... but it was far from ideal. Same result with the Reactor II 4.4m.

You can slacken off the brake lines a bit but then they end up being really loose in flight.

The problem lies in the fact that with handles ,you can apply one brake WITHOUT altering the other. With the turbo bar,you are changing the other side as well.

I have a Pansh Adam 8.5 that was pretty nuts on handles (static body dragging, etc), but behaved very well on a homebrew version of a turbo bar.

I'm basically a noob, but (unless I misunderstand) I'm not sure why a bar always affects both side of the kite. Seems like if you don't move the "other side" of the bar, the effect of the other brake will be really small (ie negligible). Definitely not zero effect, but on a fixed bridle, the power line tension is so much greater than the brake line tension, if you're even a little bit careful not to move the "unaffected" side of the bar, there will be (nearly) zero effect on the non-braked side.

Not trying to present a challenge, and if I'm way off on this, I'd be anxious to know what I'm missing from someone more experienced. Maybe I'm just more anal about only moving the end of the bar from which I desire a response??

I have a Pansh Adam 8.5 that was pretty nuts on handles (static body dragging, etc), but behaved very well on a homebrew version of a turbo bar.

I'm basically a noob, but (unless I misunderstand) I'm not sure why a bar always affects both side of the kite. Seems like if you don't move the "other side" of the bar, the effect of the other brake will be really small (ie negligible). Definitely not zero effect, but on a fixed bridle, the power line tension is so much greater than the brake line tension, if you're even a little bit careful not to move the "unaffected" side of the bar, there will be (nearly) zero effect on the non-braked side.

Not trying to present a challenge, and if I'm way off on this, I'd be anxious to know what I'm missing from someone more experienced. Maybe I'm just more anal about only moving the end of the bar from which I desire a response??

I have a Pansh Adam 8.5 that was pretty nuts on handles (static body dragging, etc), but behaved very well on a homebrew version of a turbo bar.

I'm basically a noob, but (unless I misunderstand) I'm not sure why a bar always affects both side of the kite. Seems like if you don't move the "other side" of the bar, the effect of the other brake will be really small (ie negligible). Definitely not zero effect, but on a fixed bridle, the power line tension is so much greater than the brake line tension, if you're even a little bit careful not to move the "unaffected" side of the bar, there will be (nearly) zero effect on the non-braked side.

Not trying to present a challenge, and if I'm way off on this, I'd be anxious to know what I'm missing from someone more experienced. Maybe I'm just more anal about only moving the end of the bar from which I desire a response??

WHY do my posts show up TWICE?!?!?!?!?

head------->desk desk desk

ok, partially checking to see if it posts this twice, but also wanted to mention.....my Pansh Adam 8.5 sees a power line steering input as a sort of "suggestion", where a brake line input seems to get it's attention (ok, maybe I'm anthropomorphizing (is that even a word?) a kite more than I should.....but hooked to my harness, I'm pretty sure I KNOW what it's thinking :o