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Rider: Weight 67kg/intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Surf, , Freestyle
Weather: 10-31 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: pay retail for my gear

My Comments:
Riding style, big air & tricks, shredding waves, kite loops
Bought the Speed 4 dlx 10m two weeks ago to replace my Torch11m.
Out of the Bag very nice, bit confused first with the Bridle(having not flown Ram Air Kites before).
The Manuals that come with the Kite are very comprehensive, everything is explained from rolling out the Kite how to use ( even how to jump,to get the maximum out of the kite !!) and packing away, thumbs up !

Having used the Kite now in 10- 31kn for two weeks...

Launching is easy & very quick
Speed & Upwind Performance 10/10
Gets me going in 10kn easy, using 130x40 tt shinn forever
Decent jumps both in height and hang time from 15kn & soft landings
From 17kn jumping Height and Hang Time is insane, easily Outperforming most if not all other Kites on the Market.( Now i have started something lol )
On the upper end for me 27kn , i actually had to abandon the jump as i was running out of space.
The short Depower is working very effective, just push the bar away and u stop instantly.
Bar pressure in the standard setting is light to medium.( But there is plenty of power on tap)
Turns like an 11m Tube Kite.
To get the Kite turning fast the bar needs to be pulled in tight, this is something i have to get used to it.
Still working on my Kiteloops, i think the 8m will suit me better for that.
Water relaunch no probs.
Self landing the Speed 4 in light winds is no problem. Strong wind, i recommend assisted Landing.

In my opinion the Speed 4 dlx 10m, a masterpiece in a very small package ( no pump req.)

If u want to ride fast, do massive jumps with hang time & soft landings and shredding waves, get ur hands on a Speed 4 8 or 10m. I am converted. Selling my 9m Torch & ordered the Speed 4 dlx 8m for the higher winds.

Cheers.

Can you elaborate why it shreds in the waves??

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eppo said...
Can you elaborate why it shreds in the waves??

Sounds good. No specials yet $2200 for the 8m
There's one for you to demo eppo.

Nope flew foils for too many years. Not saying this isn't a good kite though. I'm just intrigued that it shreds in the waves as the profile of this kite doesn't illicit confidence in this claim. Height, hang time, upwind ability, smaller canopy size needed (efficient) fine, but waves, unhooking, even looping ...Can't see it myself, but hey who knows until you've tried it right.

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eppo said..

Nope flew foils for too many years. Not saying this isn't a good kite though. I'm just intrigued that it shreds in the waves as the profile of this kite doesn't illicit confidence in this claim. Height, hang time, upwind ability, smaller canopy size needed (efficient) fine, but waves, unhooking, even looping ...Can't see it myself, but hey who knows until you've tried it right.

Well. It depends what you mean by shred waves. If you mean boooost of lips like the king of air and to a token slash on the wave face then yes, it will shred.

But the Speed is pretty much the worst kite in the world to ride wave with if you want to "surf" waves. Sure the smaller sizes will be better than the bigger sizes. but still it wont be a stitch on a wave kite.

The " Wave" question,

Yes this is not a dedicated Wave Kite.


Simple change the Bridle setting, which is Quickly done ,as a result of that the profile of the Kite Changes ,this will give the Speed4 More Depower and tighter turning radius ( Bar pressure increases) and i am able to go in the wave ride up the lip, do a quick turn with a nice spray and ride along with aim for the next one.
The Speed 4 will not pull u over the lip ( other kites i tried did ).

Hope this helps.

Good fun and my style of shredding waves.

Cheers

Okay sweet, just checking. You use a SB in the waves or your Tt as well?

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eppo said..

Okay sweet, just checking. You use a SB in the waves or your Tt as well?

Hmmmmm, So many questions.

Okay okay you got me freeze, over and out.

This is interesting. I've had bad reviews about the Speed 4 kites and in particular the 10mt but standard cloth. The guy that had his ripped in mid air wanted to get the deluxe edition but is glad he didn't due to the more weaker materials (just to save a bit in weight). I've had another guy on a 10mt Speed 4 and he too had a rip in the canopy and his occurred just when a suddent gust came through and put the kite into the power zone. He dived the kite out of the zone, but suddenly there it was - a flapping piece of fabric. Surely kites are stronger than that. Well LEI are.

Hi there,


I have been riding the 10m Speed4 Deluxe most of last summer. Disclaimer: I have been raving about Flysurfer kites on this forum for about 10 years.

Here's my brief opinion:
It flies well, better than the 10 m speed2 (not deluxe) and the 12 m Speed 3 (not deluxe). You expect that when Flysurfer takes about 4 years to release the next generation of a kite model for a given size. Better means more reactive and lots of control of its power that result in an easy ride (this comment is related to more comments on power further below)
It jumps well, with a good hangtime, not as well as its predecessor in the low end of the wind range, but it is impressive in the higher half of the wind range.
The usual stuff with Flysurfer: easy to launch, no real maintenance on the kite, kite will last more years than you need. In summary, a concern-free kite.
It feels less powerful than its predecessors. It is no longer a formula one / speed locomotive (pick your style), with notably less power generated from its apparent wind than the Speed 2 or Speed 3. All this is logical because the aspect ratios for the Speed4 kites in sizes 10m and below are not as high as their predecessors. The Speed4 in sizes 12m and above (recently released) have a much higher aspect ratio though, so might behave very differently to the Speed4 in sizes 10m and below.
A consequence of the above: The sweet spot for the 10mSpeed4 is more in the higher part of the wind range (unlike its predecessors Speed2 and 3). I mean 25+ knots (excluding gusts), at 85kg, getting old, broken and with some responsibilities. My sweet spot is old school riding fast, lots of power, and jumping as high as i can. Because of its higher aspect ratio, I am expecting that the sweet spot for the 12mSpeed4 will be the low end of its wind range.
Kiteloops: a foil will probably never kiteloop as tight as a 4 lines LEI, because the power from the canopy is progressively transferred to the bar by many bridles. It is just logic (to me). It does not mean that it cannot be kitelooped, but the loops are wide and powerful, going well into the powerzone.
Wave: i am not a wave rider, but logic tells me that a LEI should be better for this task because of their rigide struts. However, playing in waves is still enjoyable at a level below wave-fanatic.

And yes it floats. I tested it from a broken harness.

Happy to detail more if required.

Good winds.

Fred