Hi Peeps,

We have just returned from the Boards and More, Duotone (Formerly North, ION and Fanatic dealer meetings. This was 5 days of total emersion in all the new gear.

I have heard a lot of rumours and mistruths that are being circulated by other brands and persons with their own agenda's. There are plenty of people who like the "tall poppy" thing, and some who just don't know what is going on.

We have now heard from the CEO himself (Till Eberle) who was at the dealer meeting all week. All rumours were put to rest as we were officially told the entire story and where the new brand was going and what impact it was going to have for us, the retailers, and you, the end users.

FIrstly, pretty much the entire North Kiteboarding team from CEO to shapers, designers, team riders, marketers and everyone that was involved with North kiteboarding has all signed across onto the Duotone brand. The three main designers Ralf Groesel, Ken Winner and Sky Solbach remain committed to ongoing improvement to their respective models.

Duotone are committed to supporting North customers with spare parts and repairs for years to come. ALL Duotone components will be compatible with North ie, bar parts, lines, footstraps and such will of course all be compatible.

ALL model names will remain the same ie Rebel, Neo, Dice, WAM, Nugget, Whip, etc The factories where all the gear is made, have not changed. Same materials, same factories, same quality.

There is however a change; the name. Duotone, this is the only change, oh and that there is no further royalty cheques to North Sails for use of the name. The money will be put back into R and D for further improvement of product range and performance.

I can't post any pictures online but we have some demo kites and boards from the 2019 season in store now so you don't have to take my word for it, drop in and have a look for yourselves.

Bring on the 2019 season.

DM

Upcoming big air wednesday seems like a good day to test it out too!

Is it true... all managers have been dropped and ROWDY is now CEO. Leo Zebra Loro is now spokesman in charge of publicity. Plummet heads up the design team... and Cauncy runs the canteen?

Well, they're already advertising...

Thanks for updates. Do you know if Duotone are still going to do the Evo? It seems to be missing from the reassurances so I wondered if they were dropping it or whether North were keeping it.

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Relaunch said..
Thanks for updates. Do you know if Duotone are still going to do the Evo? It seems to be missing from the reassurances so I wondered if they were dropping it or whether North were keeping it.

They will be doing it saw it in the Duotone dealer book only kite that wasnt there was the dyno

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Relaunch said..
Thanks for updates. Do you know if Duotone are still going to do the Evo? It seems to be missing from the reassurances so I wondered if they were dropping it or whether North were keeping it.

Yep
the guys have been refining it prior to release

Hi Relaunch,

Yes, the Evo will be back. I flew a prototype of it back in Mauritius in May. It was a nice kite. They will be released early this year just after the first shipment of kites arrives, so I would expect around mid to late October.

DM

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cauncy said..

Relaunch said..
Thanks for updates. Do you know if Duotone are still going to do the Evo? It seems to be missing from the reassurances so I wondered if they were dropping it or whether North were keeping it.

Yep
the guys have been refining it prior to release

Looks like the rebel and evo

And it looks like they might actually be improved this time around

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ActionSportsWA said..
Hi Relaunch,

Yes, the Evo will be back. I flew a prototype of it back in Mauritius in May. It was a nice kite. They will be released early this year just after the first shipment of kites arrives, so I would expect around mid to late October.

DM

No photos or it didn't happen. What's the rrp on evo 10

Hi TPP,

Sorry mate, am in Mauritius and don't have access to price list here. It's on my other computer at work. I am sure someone will be able to give you an idea, if not, contact the shop the boys and girls should be able to tell you.

DM

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cauncy said..

Relaunch said..
Thanks for updates. Do you know if Duotone are still going to do the Evo? It seems to be missing from the reassurances so I wondered if they were dropping it or whether North were keeping it.

Yep
the guys have been refining it prior to release

That's a cool photo. All it takes is some rope and an empty concrete bag to have fun. I'll remember this on next gnaraloo trip in case I have gear failure

DuoTone is a coffee shop in east perth, can you now get a kite with your latte?

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juicerider said..
DuoTone is a coffee shop in east perth, can you now get a kite with your latte?

Soy Decaf latte.

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ActionSportsWA said..

Soy Decaf latte.

And with that comment you just killed the brand.

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juicerider said..
DuoTone is a coffee shop in east perth, can you now get a kite with your latte?

first result in google....

www.facebook.com/pascal.joly.50/videos/10156047351233183/

Last "Duotone" trademark registered in Oz for sporting goods was by F2 for snowboarding gear back in the 90's. Wonder if Boards & More will bother registering their new (old) mark here?

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Adoy said..
www.facebook.com/pascal.joly.50/videos/10156047351233183/

And then Alex Sanz comes in with his Charger II 19m kite and he's jumping higher than all those kooks

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azza2u said..
Last "Duotone" trademark registered in Oz for sporting goods was by F2 for snowboarding gear back in the 90's. Wonder if Boards & More will bother registering their new (old) mark here?

I read in the article that they had the duotone name registered as a snowboard brand in the 90s so could have been under the same umbrella...

the kites look severaltone to me

All joking aside, I'd say your concerns are a waste of time,
the biggest kite brand imho will go forward, it'll be like a breath of fresh air, they'll have a new challenge ahead, I'd say they'd be heavily motivated in all departments ,
WTF has a name got to do with how a kite is designed, manufacturered or prrforms

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cauncy said..
All joking aside, I'd say your concerns are a waste of time,
the biggest kite brand imho will go forward, it'll be like a breath of fresh air, they'll have a new challenge ahead, I'd say they'd be heavily motivated in all departments ,
WTF has a name got to do with how a kite is designed, manufacturered or prrforms

Are you impinging on peoples right to have a bit of moan and lampoon the big corporate business. Dude! Not cool!