Can someone tell me if all blades come with the mesh covering over the air inlets? Or just certian ones?

Yes, all their open-cell foils do now, right down to the the lil' Sting (mesh is new for this year)

Correction: Except for the Stackers and the Buzz series... (2-line)

Thanks Angus.

That's the only thing I really never liked about the Blades - the mesh would get rough looking after crashing a few times on the leading edge...

The mesh sucks. It has no structural value and aside from leaves, it keeps nothing out of the cells and snags any loose debris on the ground (snow, grass, whatever) and then it gets all tangly and rough and messy looking. Really a crappy thing to put on such nice kites.

Give me big, open cells any day over that mesh crap.

And the funny thing is they use two kinds of fabric in their weave, one is mesh the other is like a nylon strand. The strand stays fine but the mesh gets fouled quite easily. I wish they'd just use the strand in both directions or a screen of somesort or better yet just leave them open.

Skycountry is using the " screen of some sort " material. It's very nice. Super tight to keep the snow and junk out. Tough enough material. It looks like it will last but the kites I've seen are new still.

I'd rather not have the mesh. It's a pain at the beach because it makes it harder to get the sand out.

I thought the purpose for the screen was to help keep the shape.

Susan

Flexifoil has said in the past that the mesh has nothing to do with the aerodynamics or performance of the kite - it is simply a debris guard. If anything, I'd say the mesh does more to disrupt the LE shape as when it gets mushed it pulls together and distorts the shape of the cell. Royal PIA IMO.

Glad SC is using the screen. Someone around here didn't feel like sending their blade back to the UK to have the mesh cut out and repaired after excessive bunching so they sent it to some US kite repair guy and he used a screen type material too. Can't remember the rider or the repair guy but do recall the rider saying he was quite satisfied with the repair.

I'd prefer to just have open cells - even if debris gets in it, just turn the kite to the ground and pump the lines and snow will fall out so I assume sand would too.

I honestly feel the mesh does more to attract and retain crap than it does to keep it out. I'd cut mine out but I know that would destroy the resale value of the kite.

Nothing like $20 worth of mesh ruining the appearance of a $700 kite after one relaunch across tacky snow.

All the bullets have mesh also dont they? You know my first kites were open foils I think it was a stylus or something anyway it did not have mesh and it was alot easier to get grass or sand out. But after use in heavy wind which may have been the problem the vents seem to strech out. So mabe the mesh does help with holding shape, But it doesn't sound like its worth it. Imo I agree with B-roc.

Can you take the mesh off and not affect the flying of the kite?

Has anyone taken the mesh off?

I am seriously thinking of taking the mesh off my one and only Blade. The mesh is what is keeping me from buying a full set of Blades.

Scott

Man, this is a rough crowd!

FWIW from the 2007/ 2008 Flexi Catalog re: the Rage...

"We built many prototypes both with and without the gauze in the leading edge to see if it contributed to the performance of the kite. We found that it ensured the leading edge of the kite kept its shape better, which allowed us to make the profile of the kite more powerful. Ultimately, the Rages with the gauze flew better than the ones with a fully open vent."

Re: the Sting...
"Leading edge gauze mesh provides the kite with exceptional stability meaning that you do not have to worry about the kite folding or falling in gusty wind conditions. This has also led to easy re-launch faciility. Moving just one handle allows the kite to roll off its leading edge...."

I fly on a beach with lots of dried plant and seaweed matter. I have more trouble with that crap in the bridles on all my kites than I do with a few Flexis with mesh. I buggy with the Rage a lot and it is one of my favorites. I dunked my Blade in the drink once when I flipped the bug and the only downside of the mesh was that I did not catch dinner.

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell Man, this is a rough crowd! FWIW from the 2007/ 2008 Flexi Catalog re: the Rage... Ultimately, the Rages with the gauze felw better than the ones with a fully open vent."

I guess I stand corrected about the mesh and FFs past statements about performance. Could have sworn they said it was just a debris guard on the B III series.

They can do what they want with their kites but I'll bet you the overwhelming majority of fliers could not discriminate between the differences in performance between one of their kites with and one of their kites without the gauze. However, anyone can look at fouled gauze and know right away it looks bad.

I still love my blade but like Scott, its the mesh that would likely have me go Ozone or Bego all the way before FF.

I belive now just a matter of prefference. also how and where you fly.

Yeah and I wasn't trying to "correct" B-roc or anyone, just passing on Flexi's take on the subject. I bet you'd have to fly both back to back all day to realy quantify any difference.

i had it in my head that the mesh helped to strengthen the cells
must have dremped it though haha
i don't find it a problem on my bullet, although it is looking tatty from when it met a hawthorn bush, the mesh just made it harder to untangle
hopefully that was a one off tho

I flew a guys Stylus P4 down the beach at Lincoln City, about a month or so ago, & just from what I noticed in the short time I flew it, the mesh seemed an awfully tight weave, Just to keep out debris, & really seemed to hinder filling the cells of that bigger kite,

(although he was only flying it on 2 strings, He'd just gotten it at a Garage sale for 100$ & had no instructions with the kite just the lines & kite, So I set him str8 & told him how to go about hooking up the other 2 lines (brakes), & he'd already gotten some good 220lb spectra for those, I think the power lines were 300lb),

but there was a good steady 10-12mph wind all day & the kite didnt seem to have much pull for its size, Probably a combination of the AOA & AR, Plus having the mesh covered vents, IMO...

But the mesh really didnt seem to do much as far as I could tell for the way the kite handled... Plus IMO theres Not much Debris "IN" the air when a kites flying, its only when launching or landing that one worrys about getting "Junk" in the cells or tangling the bridle,

I know I cant "STAND to see a peice of grass, or twig, or whatever hanging from my kite line" right after its launched, but I've not had any sand in my cells, as far as I could tell after flying for hours, just when I put away the kite & get a bunch in the backpack...

My local beach has a ton of dried seaweed. If I don't keep the kite well parked on the floor and it drifts a little, the lines pick up a bunch of it and it looks nasty hanging from the lines.

I can only imagine what a nose-dive into it would look like with that mesh. :barf:

I don't think I could bring myself to cut the mesh out of a new Blade IV, but once the stuff gets tattered...I'd sure be thinking it!

Again, has anyone tried it?

I'm super tempted to cut the mesh out of my 10.5 meter Blade. It's a real pain to get sand out and it gets fouled in the dried seaweed. The weed is exceptionally difficult to get out of the mesh. I've got a couple cells that the mesh is ratted up so much it's distoring the cell intake. I've tried pulling the mesh apart to get it back to shape but it's not happening.

Has anyone cut the mesh out? If so did you notice a performance issue? I'm not looking to win a world championship just looking for ease of use of my kites.
Seriously, the mesh is keeping me from buying a whole set of Blades. I was on the verge of doing this earlier in the summer (from Coastal Wind Sports). Unfortunately, I found the mesh on my 10.5 getting battered very quickly. I didn't want to drop a couple thousand into kites only to have them ratty looking inside of a year. I've got a feeling the mesh is going to be the downfall of my 10.5 in the long run.

Scott

It is what has kept me from buying blades too. My mesh got fouled in one day when the winds were iffy and the ice surface sticky. When the kite landed inverted the mesh seemed to stick / freeze to the ice instantly and the relaunch fouled the center cells and wingtips - very uncool.

I can only imagine how much of a hassle dry seaweed must be.

I don't think you'd need to cut all the mesh out. On my 8.5 the mesh is on the horizontal weave but the vertical is somekind of non-woven synthetic (or maybe its vice-versa).

I've considered just cutting the weave and leaving the synthetic so you'd still have some stability in the cell but not nearly as much covering and only in one direction so anything that's fouled should slide out.

But I haven't had the heart to do it, especially since its a kite that can resell well and mine aren't all that bad but the little fouling there is drives me crazy :flaming:

Maybe ask the question on the flexi forum to see if anyone there has cut it out. I know a number of riders in the UK have commented that they've sent the kites back to flexi for repair when the fouling gets excessive. You'd think FF would recognize this as a design flaw :puzzled:

I'll send a question to Flexi. I hope I can cut it all off the kite.

Scott

My Air Evo has mesh snow screen on the inlets. However, it feels pretty durable... We'll see how it does this winter.

Here's a pic of the inlet:

Click Here

Thats what this guys P4 looked like only the cells were wider, & rounded, but im still thinking really, it didnt look like anymore than your run off the mill nylon screen-door Screening, which I've found out is the "SAME" thing that you can put together as a set of "Air Brakes" for your stunt kite... (Hmmm, im thinking if they use the stuff for "AIR BRAKES" for your kite in high winds, would'nt it do the same as far as SLOWING down the air intake into a set of Foil cells???)... NP here I dont have any kites im planning on getting rid of so If I get a kite with mesh over the cells (I'll just get out the Scissors & start snipping very carefully... Just my preference)

I think screening would be better than mesh - screens don't, afterall, fray and bunch.

-Scott, please let us know what flexi says.

I sent a question out to the Flexifoil repair center. Hopefully, we'll hear back from them pretty soon.
Scott