Has anyone tried riding one of these kites with a 4 line bar? They all have a thin leading edge but might fly fine if they are pumped up rock hard.

Obviously relaunch and flagging system will be different, but I'm wondering if it's physically possible to fly them without damaging the kite or major adverse flying characteristics such as jelly fishing.

Any one experimented with this?

Vegas won't fly properly at all

none of them will.
I've tried it on the torch and Razor granted the torch was an 08. but basically it makes the kite more U shaped and less C shaped they taco in the air when edging very hard and become more prone to backstall. I'd imagine the vegas would do this even more as it's even more dependent on 5th line tension than the other two.

If you want a good 4 line kite, try an Fuel.

+1 ^^

I just actually got a few fuels and wanted to know if I could fly my 7m torch with the fuel bar in the surf.

Since I ride the 7m about 90% of the time in the surf I'm considering getting a 6 or 7m dedicated wave kite. But then I can't freestyle when it's nuking at all. Decisions decisions..

Get something allrounder for your 7.
Best TS
Naish Park
SS RPM

on the small sizes you can still freestyle on those kites easily and they work well in the surf too.

I freestyle 95% of the time and I am even considering changing purely just to the TS because they work well for freestyle and a lot better in the waves than the GP's do at the moment. easier to control the smaller sizes in the stronger stuff too.

Yeah I was thinking about the Rpm but I'm not sure if it's any good in the waves. Obviously not as good as a Reo, religion, etc. Plus it doesn't have the drift anywhere close to the fuel or a torch.

My guess is that it is fairly unstable in the surf with the tendency to stall quite often. Anyone have experience with rpms on downwinders?

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LiveToFly said...
Yeah I was thinking about the Rpm but I'm not sure if it's any good in the waves. Obviously not as good as a Reo, religion, etc. Plus it doesn't have the drift anywhere close to the fuel or a torch.

My guess is that it is fairly unstable in the surf with the tendency to stall quite often. Anyone have experience with rpms on downwinders?

I would say that couldn't be further from the truth. I loved the 8m RPM for waveriding.

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sir ROWDY said...

LiveToFly said...
Yeah I was thinking about the Rpm but I'm not sure if it's any good in the waves. Obviously not as good as a Reo, religion, etc. Plus it doesn't have the drift anywhere close to the fuel or a torch.

My guess is that it is fairly unstable in the surf with the tendency to stall quite often. Anyone have experience with rpms on downwinders?

I would say that couldn't be further from the truth. I loved the 8m RPM for waveriding.

Serious?? You think an Rpm is better in the surf than a Reo? And drifts better than a fuel??

I think not my friend!

I have fuels and RPMs. the fuels are perfect for freestyle but a terrible wave kite IMO. tried the 7m the other day and it was hard work. kite kept trying to rip me off my board. maybe it is technique tho not sure. rpm is really nice in waves for me... kite shuts off when you wanna surf and then power if you need it. jellyfishing on the fuel may look bad for spectators on the beach but it doesn't affect you doing tricks at all... don't even feel it.

might not be better than a pure dedicated wave kite such as the Reo and no one said it was but it does work as a good all rounder stand in. definitely will drift better than a fuel if by drift you mean it's ability to follow you down wind without luffing.

Thanks Charl and everyone. Looks like I'll have to give them a shot. Apart from splitstrut do you know if there are any significant differences between 2010 and 2011 rpms?

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LiveToFly said...

sir ROWDY said...

LiveToFly said...
Yeah I was thinking about the Rpm but I'm not sure if it's any good in the waves. Obviously not as good as a Reo, religion, etc. Plus it doesn't have the drift anywhere close to the fuel or a torch.

My guess is that it is fairly unstable in the surf with the tendency to stall quite often. Anyone have experience with rpms on downwinders?

I would say that couldn't be further from the truth. I loved the 8m RPM for waveriding.

Serious?? You think an Rpm is better in the surf than a Reo? And drifts better than a fuel??

I think not my friend!

I was talking about the RPM 2010 model, haven't used the new models in waves. But the 2010 model 8m worked fine and drifted quite well, 10m and 12m I had were pretty rubbish though IMO. The RPM 8m was deffinetly a better wave kite than a 7m or 9m Fuel I also had at the time. I wouldn't say it was better than the new REO though, but I'm guessing you already knew that .

p.s. I ride 99% unhooked which makes a difference to what performance characteristics work best for me. I ride the C4 right now for everything (waves, freestyle etc.) after having both C4 and REO previously.