I have a Flexifoil bar that basically just sits in my trunk with no use. It is a 4 liner regular pulley brake setup.

Can I convert this to a depower setup? And if so, how? I ahve looked at several pics and it does seem possible- has anyone tried this yet? Also, Will I need any special fixes on the kite?

I would like to have more control over my speed in the buggy and was thinking this might be an advantage.

1st off you need a hole in the center of the bar for your chicken loop line to run through. You can purchase a bolt on for that. Next you need a trim strap and chicken loop set-up. Also a safety.

Once you have done all that you need to get the kite modified to take advantage of the depower. You can't simply put a depower bar on a fixed bridle kite. The A,B,C and E bridles need to be set up different + pulleys added.

Used 4 line ( short travel ) bars are so cheap it wouldn't be cost effective to buy the bits !

Selling the bar and buying a proper depower kite will be more simple?

agree Ken........take a hard look at BBs 9.5 M3 for sale................flew it this weekend and it performs!

Thanks Bladerunner- I have not done much research on depowers so this is a good start. Can I adjust the power and brake lines instead of the bridle? I do not want to mess with any of my kitess bridles. My thought is if I can get the right lenghts on the line formula it should work to some degree.:dunno:

Here is a simple diagram of a de-power that can explain the difference between the de-power bridle from a fixed bridle.
http://www.coastalwindsports.com/servlet/the-De-dsh-power-Ki...

By definition you must mess with a fixed bridle to make it de-power and there are after-market kits to do this.

As for the bar, your flexi control bar has the requisite hole in the middle, and since the center parts of a de-power bar (chicken loop, center line, power adjust strap) are wearable and replaceable, you can by replacement spare for a retro-fit.

But I agree with others that you are better going straight to ready-rigged de-power. Save some money if necessary by going used. After that you will have the knowlege to modify a fixed bridle or the realization that it's best to leave that to someone else.

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell But I agree with others that you are better going straight to ready-rigged de-power.

+1

You are partly on track.

Many of the new kites are coming out with AOA adjustment.

With the fixed bridle it is done by adjusting the a,b,c, bridles sets using an adjuster piece and knots.

Some AOA kits are available for some models on the aftermarket.

Thanks for the diagram Angus- I found it very informative! looking at it it makes me think the following;

Would a traditional bar setup with the brakes going through the hole in the bar to a chicken loop attached to a harness work almost the same? They would be on a pulley above the bar and then reduce to one line through the bar.

You would have the powers attached to the outside of the bar to steer and when you wanted less power you would push the bar forward to allow the powers to slack and the brake lines to take hold. Essentially, all that I would have to change is a travel hole in my bar.

Maybe I have tunnel vision but I think it would work- ok who's 1st to shoot me down??

My guess from looking at how my kites work... and I would actually like to find a good documentation source for this outside of nasa and fluid dynamics texts, if anyone knows of a source. While I'm sure there's patents I would seem hard to keep a secret with sheer fabric.

I believe fixed bridal kites load control lines (as opposed to brake lines) where as de-power load the AOA lines and the control lines are not under nearly as much load (since they attach to the back of the kite). It would seem that you maybe able to technically make the setup but it would produce break rather than actual de-power. A bad analogy might be airplane flaps vs air brakes...

Also this is assuming you had a sturdy bar that wouldn't buckle under the pressure but you since normally for de-power bar the load is transferred to the harness, which in your case would be just hanging to your harness and at rest under near 0 load...may even fall off I assume cross-over bars are designed fro this kind of load?

The bar would also want to fly up the lines away from you so you'd need some ball mechanism to keep the bar at bay in case you let go.

You'd also want to think about a safety, or at least I would! Presumably you could make an emergency release above and or below the bar with either a quick release or one of those large rubber knobs and a pin...

Wonder if what I posted is true or bull...

Tomorrow I am going into the basement and coming out with something!

Remember that a de-power bar has anything like 12-14" or more of travel, and the range of motion of the brakes on quad handles are about half that in normal maneouvering. I think you would have to limit the bar movement quite a bit with stopper balls to keep from easily drifting between complete luff to full stall. By then, what have you accomplished besides using up a bunch of parts? But try it, as I have not and could be completely wrong.