What is a power ring?

Thanks,

Jerry

Power rings are a way of keeping the angle of pull of the brake lines closer to that of the the power lines. They were considered a must for the original Rhombus Firebees and some Mac and Jojo kites. Basically they are rings suspended from the power lines. The respective brakes lines are run through the rings. You will have to experiment with the length of line between the ring and your power lines.
On the Firebee's, which were considered a fairly high aspect ratio kite at the time, they helped with luffing and the tendency to over fly the window.
There is a fairly long discussion of how make power rings over at http://www.racekites.com
I found them to be of immense help in stabilizing my 3m 'bee.
What kind of kite are you thinking of putting them on?

S
Anyone else learn to fly on a Firebee?

I found the post on racekites that explains in detail.... I was wondering what they were. My Beamer III/4 seems to "fall" backwards out of the Sky if I leave it static in 5-8 MPH winds, I was looking for a way to assist this but I doubt the power rings would do this. Keeping the kite in the window to keep constant traction is difficult.
Thanks,

Jerry

In a 5 mph wind, your Beamer will want you to keep it moving forward. If you let it stall in low winds like that, momentum is working against it and it will back down. In low winds like that, you can arrest the fall by turning the kite so the leading edge is leading again and it will take off again in the right direction.

Would power rings help with my Ace? It luffs like crazy and overflies the window all the time.

Power rings probably won't help your ace since it doesn't like routine brake input if its like the other 4 Panshs I've flown. You have reached a level of kiting where merely having an 8 meter kite just isn't enough. Now you are annoyed by inconsistencies and trying to figure out how to make them go away. For a complete elimination of your Aces flight problems, you could just get a Blade IV. I've been in your shoes and have come to the other side. Notice both my Pansh kites were gone by the time I had to send Tridudes back to him? Notice there aren't any threads on how to fix all the problems that a Blade IV has? It could be that things are exactly as they seem to be for a reason. WE are Pansh's R&D department. Flexifoil and HQ (and most all the other brands that sell kites for more than $200) (NOVA ECLIPSE EXCLUDED WITH MALICE, but that isn't really a brand anyway) have their own R&D departments, that are working out these problems for us before we buy them. Fly a Blade IV (or probably the soon available HQ Crossfire II) and come back to say it isn't kiting nirvana. You might want to save some money first though.

And therein lies the issue my friend......as I sit here sewing my 5m ARC. :D
Donate to www.helpnickbuyaparaglider.com

or
www.helpnickbuykites.com
and maybe I can get something! :D

(they aren't real btw) :tumble:

Ok, then. We both know that we both know. Now I'd still like you to get to try one someday soon. When Tridude called me up and asked me if I'd like to give the Blade a try, I said why sure, that'll be fun. Not knowing that I was already at a level that I could appreciate it so fully, I walked right into the spider's web. Just think, a summer job could help you raise quite a sum of money before school starts back up. Or even two jobs

Yeah, I mite go out to NY this summer for 6 weeks to live with my Aunt on a kitesurfing adventure. And if so she found a job there for me, 30 hours a week for $12 an hour, but all that cash would go towards paragliding. That would get me give or take $300 a week for 6 weeks....almost $2000. That's about 1/2 of what I need for paragliding. Then get a job when I get home as well for the remainder of the summer. Better than my old job, $6.91 an hour bagging groceries.

My beamer 3.6 TSR has rings that you run the brakelines through when it's on a bar. Would those be power rings?:puzzled: And if so, can I still run through them when using handles?

You might want to try thinner brake lines as well. I use 50-80 pound test spectra for my 8 and 10 meter kites. The less drag on the brake lines the better. I have found my Quadrifoil Competition XXXL does not fly well with brake lines above 80 pound. There is just to much air drag on thick lines.
When you double the diameter of a circular object you quadruple the drag of the object through the air.

I like BeamerBobs comments on getting a nice kite and not having to worry about issues, problems and inconsistencies. Just get a high end kite i.e. Flexifoil Blade and all your problems are solved. Note I only have Flexifoil and Quadrifoil kites other than a couple LEI's that I won (North Rhino 6) or given to me (North 4 meter).

None of my kites have flying problems. They all fly perfect everytime.

later-Scott

Quote:

Originally posted by NPWfever Would power rings help with my Ace? It luffs like crazy and overflies the window all the time.

if your brake lines look like they are hang down in a loop from your kite, they may help. If your brakes lines have no sag, probably won't help, but seeing as you can make set for less than $5. it won't hurt to check them out.
S