A new LongStar has appeared on the Born-Kite website...and very promising it looks too. From the piccies, it seems to be more like a Peak2 than the
LongStar 1. Very interesting..... LongStar 2
Agreed - look greatly refined from the Long Star V-1.0. Double stopper ball is similar in concept to the Peak2's stopper ball and is a superb feature
in a DP kite, ideal for making it a 1-finger controlled park and ride kite under long open conditions.
I believe I was the US "early adopter" for the original Long Stars. Somebody else gets to do it this time. Plus, I've got the smaller sizes well
covered in single skin fury with my 4m and 6m Peak2s. I'm holding out for a (hoped for) gargantuan Peak3!
Congrats extended to Steffen nonetheless for what appears to be a fine kite.
Must work out a bit cheaper in US dollars. In AU dollars they're around $100 cheaper if you include the bar. Now, I'm only guessing by looking at
the pictures, but it looks like they may have a rear line safety....so maybe some of the older Ozone and HQ bars might work on them - and that would
save a bit of $$.
Hope to have one heading XS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s way for a demo.
Oops... forgot to include price of bar, John...:duh:
Bar is as much as the 3.5m kite.
... so maybe an older Ozone/HQ bar might save $, indeed...Bet some could even make one(just add safety release-and consider the $10 Panic Snap
option).
AUD to USD rate is 1 to .74,BTW...so costs are 25% less here than for you.
So can this compete with a Peak is the question? Maybe.
John has his "cheeseburger wrapper" and "little burger" Peak2s (6 and 4m, respectively) for some dandy head to heads. Most interested to see and read
your report Mr Holgate!
If you look closer at the pics, it appears as though it is a different sort of depower. Like with the NS3 where the "depower" comes from crumpling the
nose, it looks like the depower on the LS2 crumples the midsection of the kite. I might be wrong, but the sizes to me indicate that its not a true
depower as we know it.
Someone could sell me their gently used cheeseburger wrapper
aka Pek2 6m so they would have some $$$$ towards getting
a Longstar2.
Seriously, I am shopping for a Peak2 6m for Christmas..
Get in the spirit.
Always on the steep part of the learning curve.
Gin Shaman2 6m, 12m
Flysurfer Peak1 6m, Peak2 9m,Peak4, 3m
Misc. other kites, never getting out of their bags.
Riding a Libre Fullrace with an AQR on the beach
Riding a Blokart inland when gust factor > 4
And a couple Manta Singles for friends to ride.
If you look closer at the pics, it appears as though it is a different sort of depower. Like with the NS3 where the "depower" comes from crumpling the
nose, it looks like the depower on the LS2 crumples the midsection of the kite. I might be wrong, but the sizes to me indicate that its not a true
depower as we know it.
Look closer. It sure looks to me like it's a regular depower kite. It clearly shows the 2 pulley mixer and you can tell when it shows him flying. Also
I didn't see any lines to the "nose".
The close up in the video shows a really interesting design feature. Single skin kites that I've seen (Peak, Uniq, the "Skin" and Ian's Hammer) have
a lot of ribs that go from the leading edge to the trailing edge. This one seems to just have a bunch of small ribs that puts shape into the nose.
It appears that the rest of the shape is created by the bridles much like a NASA. Pretty cool.
I have to agree that this is an interesting looking kite. I suspect it is a 4.5 liner; I don't see a system for flagging out the kite with a 5th line
all the way to the fabric. Agree too that the rib design is intriguing. The conditions in the video were clearly ideal with beautiful wide open
space for clean strong wind. I'm curious about "tip-tuck" and other miladies that can plague the Peak2s from time to time in less-than-ideal wind
conditions. Kites looked filled out and steady as a rock in the video of course; no tip tuck, no trailing edge flutter, etc. Someone mentioned above
about up-wind capability. That too is important of course.
Another thing I'd be curious about is how much DP these kites have. Hard to tell just seeing the close up shots depicting the AOA change. The 6m and
4m P2s (cheeseburger wrapper and little burger) have crazy amounts of DP, especially little burger. I've been on the Ivanpah playa with little burger
up screaming along with the bar in and practically rolling to a stop with the bar out. Sure little burger is flapping like an angry seagull with the
bar out, but who cares? IMHO, massive amounts of DP is what make these (relatively) small SS kites really shine.
I'm always pulling for Steffen and Kerstin and want nothing but success for them. Steffen is a crazy dude and I'm happy he's in the game and
innovating. I'm excited to see how the LS2s pan out, in somebody's hands other than mine. :evil:
In some diagrams that Steffen sent me, the angle of attack will decrease as the bar is let out and the curve/depth of the kite will flatten out also.
From the diagram it looks like the fabric at the trailing edge can go quite slack - having said that, I'm only looking at line drawings.
From the other pics I've seen (and you can see them on this thread here: http://www.extremekites.com.au/topic/16520-born-kite-longsta... ) it looks like a trailing edge safety along both sides of the kite. Not sure if
it's a separate line for those or just a release to rear lines. I think I can see five lines in the video. I'll be able to let you know in a week or
two.
It really will need to be as good or better than the Peak 2's as that's obviously the closest competition to the LS2 and the price (with bar) is not
hugely different.
Oh, and it's got 182 bridles! I was also interested to note that there are no ribs on the belly of the kite like the Peaks have. And just going by
the video, it seems to hold a better trailing edge curve than my Peak 2's do (which was the reason the 6m got called a 'hamburger wrapper' by Chook
who will remain completely anonymous. Oh, damn, I typed that out loud!
In some diagrams that Steffen sent me, the angle of attack will decrease as the bar is let out and the curve/depth of the kite will flatten out also.
From the diagram it looks like the fabric at the trailing edge can go quite slack - having said that, I'm only looking at line drawings.
From the other pics I've seen (and you can see them on this thread here: http://www.extremekites.com.au/topic/16520-born-kite-longsta... ) it looks like a trailing edge safety along both sides of the kite. Not sure if
it's a separate line for those or just a release to rear lines. I think I can see five lines in the video. I'll be able to let you know in a week or
two.
It really will need to be as good or better than the Peak 2's as that's obviously the closest competition to the LS2 and the price (with bar) is not
hugely different.
Oh, and it's got 182 bridles! I was also interested to note that there are no ribs on the belly of the kite like the Peaks have. And just going by
the video, it seems to hold a better trailing edge curve than my Peak 2's do (which was the reason the 6m got called a 'hamburger wrapper' by Chook
who will remain completely anonymous. Oh, damn, I typed that out loud!
182 bridles.... oh my! :o
Steffen most kindly dropped me a note a couple of days ago alerting me to the delivery of his new baby. I posed the following questions to him this
morning. I'll post what I find out:
"Lots of good chatter on PKF and XK about your new LS2s. Us kite geeks are curious about a couple of things: First, is your pulley system such that
you now have more or less a traditional de-power setup with the pulleys up by the bridles such that movement of the bar in or out only changes the
angle of attack? I don't see the pulley system anymore at the bar that you had to reverse things with the LS1. Second, how does your safety system
work? I'm thinking you now have a 4.5 line system similar to, say, a Flysurfer Peak2, such that deployment of the safety flags the kite out on one of
the brake lines. None of us watching your videos have noticed a 5th line going all the way to the kite. Third, are you able to compare the amount of
DP you achieve with pushing the bar out, again compared to the 4m or 6m Peak2? These just seem to be the most comparable kites which is why I'm
referring to them again and again. Finally, something that is a bit of a problem with Peak2s is "tip tuck" collapse and extreme trailing-edge
flapping when pushing the bar forward. How are these traits with your new LS2s?"
I got an email back from Steffen Born. So, straight from the horse's mouth:
But now to your questions:
The pulley system is now in the kite and the depower function works according to the following principle:
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
The LongStar-2 flies amazingly stable, it is a huge difference to the LongStar-1.
It also flies significantly different than the peak 2.
The safety is provided by a lateral safety line on the front line.
Just as it is practiced with two lines kites.
[img][/img]
A comparative to other kites should not be made by the manufacturer. For this reason, I sent a test kite to John Holgate. He is competent and will
certainly make an objective judgment.
it looks like a trailing edge safety along both sides of the kite.
Just goes to show how looking at pictures can bring you undone I had
assumed that the picture with 'trailing edge leash' written on it was for the safety. Obviously not....
Very interesting; it looks like from the diagram above that the Depow engages one of 2 sets of bridles to flag in or flag out, haven't seen that
before, that may explain the number of bridles!
Thanks for sharing that Steve!
I stand (or at least I sit) corrected!... Just looking at the photos (yes I noticed the pulleys) it looked like the middle or trailing edge just
crumpled. I couldn't see the change in AoA.
It deffo looks like a cool kite, but the sizes (short of the 7.5m) all seem awfully small for DP, even as SS kites.
I couldn't afford one anyway... gots to go make kitchen cabinets now
Nice new video with those endouring sweet tunes! I like Kristen's jump to a freeze frame 3/4ths through. Ah yes, the kite... looks stable and smooth
in the light winds. Most interested to hear and see its performance as a buggy engine.
![[*]](images/perspective/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
I had
assumed that the picture with 'trailing edge leash' written on it was for the safety. Obviously not....
