Interesting concept by Zeeko. its a bar with no cam cleat or depower strap.

Not sure how well it would work in reality, or what the long term durability of the system would be. There are also question marks about the depowering process when you're massively overpowered, but that said, its nice to see one of the smaller brands trying to simply things using innovative concepts.

Thats brilliant and so simple, using a basic larks head setup to grab the rope and its self adjusting too.

I am going to be tinkering after KS.

Cheers
Rich

Thats great I can see that taking off nice and clean.

On another note some of the coarse race guys don't have a cleat at all they have a stopper with is preset to max power and they play the trim line with one hand ( they have the trim line extra long so its down past the bar ) and they steer the kite with the other hand .

I'm gonna have mine next week normally! If anyone want to have a look just PM me.....

I have had this bar for some 12+ months now and it works a treat.
there is no wear issues and this one bar is used on all kites I fly.

I import Zeeko so take these comments as biased.

PM for any more info.

as for depower concerns :- the depower strap has a lot of travel and copes with any depower need, short of ditching to safety.

the beauty of this system is that the depower strap is right at bar wherever you set it.
you also have a suicide leash setup that still goes to full safety when you operate the Chicken loop.

there are no pulleys.

there appear to be two pulleys, one in the black cover at the base below the bar, the other one is visible....
I'd certainly like to try one... it seems OK for 4 and 5 lines depending on where the red safety line leads to...

Wouldn't you at stabber kites call it a stabBAR...?

RAL INN said...

I have had this bar for some 12+ months now and it works a treat.
there is no wear issues and this one bar is used on all kites I fly.

This system has been released 2 weeks ago so I doubt you've had it for 12 months... Must be the 2011 one with the 2 long straps...

au_rick said...

looks good but I cannot understand why so many manufacturers have a "push away" safety release.

If you are being dragged by the kite, then having to "push" a release in the direction you are being dragged seems illogical.

Seems that a "pull" release would be safer, as you'd only have to latch onto it and the kite pulling away from you would release itself ?

Look at the release mechanism on the 2007 - 2008 airush bar to see what I mean.

What about the people that unhook and pull the CL towards them after a trick?

I've got a pull to release CL and i'd much prefer a push to release

Saffer said...

au_rick said...

looks good but I cannot understand why so many manufacturers have a "push away" safety release.

If you are being dragged by the kite, then having to "push" a release in the direction you are being dragged seems illogical.

Seems that a "pull" release would be safer, as you'd only have to latch onto it and the kite pulling away from you would release itself ?

Look at the release mechanism on the 2007 - 2008 airush bar to see what I mean.

One simple reason. The pull release doesn't work on the kite if there is no pressure from the kite itself. I.e. lets say for argument that you have a kite falling out the sky and you know its going to rip you. With a push release, you're pushing against the chicken loop hooked into your spreader bar, with a pull release, there is no pull from the kite so it won't work.

Same could apply to release your kite in a wave. i.e. if your kite drops out of the sky and is washed towards you, there is no pressure on the lines so you can't pull the QR.

Some people use the velcro pull concept on one side (Takoon) but the disadvantage of this is that it works with no pull from the kite, but is only available to pull with either your right side or left side of your body.

makes sense, thanks.

Great use of a couple of basic climbing knots and certainly a flexible system.

One question though, how is it to set some depower before launch or removed depower once landed, these knots from memory are typically painful to work with when there's no tension on the rope?

RAL INN said...

There are NO pulleys, the top goes through a ring and the bottom through a guide in the Chicken loop, in the bars so far in Australia.

The Next Gen Bar as you are looking at it was first released to public with the 2011 Notus 3 kites last January. I had one before that.
The 2012 Zeeko Krush was released last September.

the bar in the video is coming soon.

Yes it can be set up for other kites, but may need some fine tuning of which knots etc. to use to best work with other kites, as all are different(slightly)

In the real world the actual changing of depower length at most happens once a session.
which means there is no reason for any wear beyond normal.

PM me for pricing etc. I won't post such stuff as it upsets Laurie.

Unless I don't know what a pulley is, I'm pretty sure this is a pulley

Top effort for thinking outside the square on this bar

Now being a huge Ronstan strength and safety 'Pulley' fan - a few mods to get this bar to up where it needs to be..

1. Pulley needs to be fail proof obviously - use a 6 mm pulley, the rope thru will not break if the pulley shaft does




2. Use this type of Low friction ring to aid easy line movement and reduced line wear and a little less messy also if the ring should break... you are still rope conected



A few extra pics that show why pulleys fail - remember the bar video clip conection too...
An incorrectly setup pulley will prematurely wear, buckle and break eventually - if setup like this without a continuous line loop to balance the load bearing surface evenly !!!

This shows bad attachment (red) results in single side pressure, not recomended by Ronstan as it leads to failure - sometimes a standard practise in kite industry



This pic shows the result of the off centred attachement and also it can buckle and break shaft end




and lastly the intended ronstan connection loop for balanced loading



I guess those who kite with pulleys may need to start rechecking/moding stuff unless of course your awesome at mutiple mega looping up the beach car park

Just had a few sesh with my new Zeeko bar. Works perfect, very clever system, so easy to use. Kites are terrific too.

au_rick said...

Saffer said...

au_rick said...

looks good but I cannot understand why so many manufacturers have a "push away" safety release.

If you are being dragged by the kite, then having to "push" a release in the direction you are being dragged seems illogical.

Seems that a "pull" release would be safer, as you'd only have to latch onto it and the kite pulling away from you would release itself ?

Look at the release mechanism on the 2007 - 2008 airush bar to see what I mean.

I broke my finger on Christmas eve activating the lease with saftely line wrapping around my finger as it dived. Ripped tendons, broken finger, still getting OT. And yesterday got taken out by a stingray as well. Not bad for a 8 week newbie??
One simple reason. The pull release doesn't work on the kite if there is no pressure from the kite itself. I.e. lets say for argument that you have a kite falling out the sky and you know its going to rip you. With a push release, you're pushing against the chicken loop hooked into your spreader bar, with a pull release, there is no pull from the kite so it won't work.

Same could apply to release your kite in a wave. i.e. if your kite drops out of the sky and is washed towards you, there is no pressure on the lines so you can't pull the QR.

Some people use the velcro pull concept on one side (Takoon) but the disadvantage of this is that it works with no pull from the kite, but is only available to pull with either your right side or left side of your body.

makes sense, thanks.

Thanks for that, keep us posted.
did you previously have the next Gen bar?