I finally got around to rolling out the 10m Rage that I bought from Powerzone. It's designed as a three line kite and I want to convert it to four lines so I can fly it on handles. The bridling has me a little confused...either that or the fact that I've never touched a bridle for any purpose other than untangling it.

People who are familiar with the kite will know what I'm talking about, but for those who aren't...here goes my best explanation. Keep in mind this is coming off studying the bridles for about 5 or 10 minutes and a very bad short term memory and study.

- There are six sets of A,B,C bridles on each side of the kite. There's a line that goes from one side of the kite to the other and connects each of the A,B,C tie points.

- The rear bridles...


Awww crap!!!! I can't remember how it all goes and I've got to leave. I'll study it again tomorrow or Sunday as time allows and post a better description. I was trying to go off of what Jojo has posted on their website and it just seems different. Anyway, I'll get back to the description as soon as I can.

The Rage was based on the JOJO RM (not the +) kite and modified for use on water. First, are you going to use this on the water or on land? There are several mods than could be made to improve performance on land that only cause problems when on the water.

If for land, try to get a hold of an RM and then copy the bridles from that. Doubt that you can still order bridles for them. Bridles tolerances are very high for most of the JOJO line so copying the bridle will take some time.

You may be able to get away with just removing the cross-over steering part of the bridle and then fabricating new brake bridles. But I don't know how well it will work.

I'd like to use it on land and water but the priority is on the water.

Out of curiosity though, what would help it on land that would hinder it on the water?

From what I have heard that kite is a real Bear !
About as far from your Pulse II as you can get ! :evil:

Here's a link to the JoJo Rage technical spec archive on their website:

http://www.jojowing.com/powerkiting/rage/rage.php

Here's a front view bridle diagram that might help discussion:

http://www.jojowing.com/img/pk/design/zoom_rage.swf

Gotta say that looks like one weird bridle set-up, and at first glance I don't see the simple mod to four lines. Why not ask Powerzone? He's rerigged and modded umpteen kites, and probably has a solution for that one.

krumly

My best guess is figuring out some way to split the brake bridles, from one center, with all the lines, to 2 side ones with half the lines. How you would do that, I'm not sure.....

I'm nobody to question the manufacturer, but the picture of that bridle layout doesn't look right. There are only three tie pionts at the bottom of the bridles. Also, There are 12 sets of front bridles and 8 brake bridles. I'll get the kite out and give it a better look once the dew burns off the grass so I can post a more accurate description. Getting up with Powerzone is probably in my future too.

Clint

Allright, here's the best my vocabulary will allow me to do.

Let's look at one side of the kite and we'll start with the front lines. There are six sets of A,B,C bridles. Each A,B,C set is collected to a single line which then comes to a common tie point with the other single lines. Let me try to break it down better. ( by the way, I don't know if this is common bridle talk or not, it's just what I can come up with to make sense of it all) We'll call the tie points at the tip A1,B1,C1 and the ones at the center A6,B6,C6. Lines A1,B1,C1 collect to what we'll call line 1, Lines A2,B2,C2 collect to line 2, Lines A3,B3,C3 collect to line 3 and so on. There's an additional line that runs from one side of the kite to the other and it is tied to each of the A,B,C tie points. So from all those tie points you have lines 1-6 coming to a common point. This is where the front line attaches.

Now for the back or Z lines. There are eight Z lines and we'll call the tip Z1. There are four Z tie points. Z1-Z4 collect to tie point 1. Z3,4 collect to tie point 2. Z5,6 collect to tie point 3 and Z7,8 collect to tie point 4. As with the front tie points, there's a line that goes from one side of the kite to the other that attaches to each of the Z tie points.

Here's where it gets interesting and we'll look at the whole kite. The main front tie points also have a pulley. This is for some sort of crossover, I'm guessing to help in steering the kite. Instead of all the Z tie point lines collecting to a single main brake line, only 2,3,4 and 4,5,6 (I'm keeping the numbers seperate to help aid in visualizing the kite having two sides) come to a single point. The 1st Z tie point line goes from the Z tie point, to the pulley on the main front tie point that's on the same side, and the crosses over and goes to the A,B,C 8 tie point. The other side, which would be the eight Z tie point runs from there, to the pulley on it's side, to the A,B,C 5 tie point.

My biggest question is do I get rid of the crossover system and just collect the z lines in two seperate bundles or should I try to keep the crossover system and if so how?

avoid that kite if you can...I've had those and every session ended horribly...In my 20+ years of kiting, I've never flown a worse kite, ehg..maybe pansh

I bought a brand new 6 M Jojo Rage 2.5 years ago and used it a total of 3 times. I had Elton of Ocean Beach reconfigured the bridles to fly on handles. From what i remember, he just split the brake bridles in 2 equal part and connected each to the brakes (bottom of handle) while the crossover system stayed with the steering bridles (top of handle). The kite is like a freight train when you have it powered up but it is just too slow for my taste. Maybe it has something to do with the way Elton set up the crossover, i dont know. But go and try this set up and see what you think. It will fly, no problem, you just have to fine tuned the brake lines until you get it right.

Here's a drawing of an 8m Rage I made when I was thinking of converting it to depower, in case I took it apart and couldn't remember how to get it back together. :puzzled: I fly mine with handles, I've tried it with and without the crossover steering lines. It came with a set of four pairs of bridle lines, varying in length from 1.5 to almost 2m, but no instructions. I first installed all four of the pairs on the brake clusters and removed the crossover steering. Each side of these new extensions were extended with one approx. 1m line with knots for the rear line attachment. It was slow to turn but worked. I use it only for snow kiting, and only on those days when on skiis on hard pack snow, because it pulls like a train and I find you need to be able to side slip in the gusts to control the power when carving up wind. There's two things this kite does well; go up wind and it's usually the first in the air on light wind days when larger de-powerables like 12m Frenzys won't fly. The steering will improve if the outboard brake extensions are removed and the crossover setup used. I also cut out the leading edge inlet valves so it would inflate easier in lighter winds.

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I can get you RM bridles sets that will solve your problem.

HINT:

do an OVERLAY of a Speed 1 lineplan....