Well I flew a 12m crossbow today in about 15-20knts at Leighton.
These are my impressions:
1. I noticed imediately that the bar pressure is really light. Basically you can't really feel the kite's position through the bar. It also felt very slow to respond.
2. Suspicion confirmed, the kite turns really slow.
3. With the kite sheeted out, the kite pretty much doesn't turn at all.
4. The kite's depower is nice. Makes it easy to manage gusts and speed.
5. The kite is really heavy on the arms. Basically you have to hold the weight or the back lines while you're going upwind or else it will depower. This also means its really damn hard to fly one-handed.
6. The power strap arrangement is ****e. They are really hard to pull, there seems to be tons of resistance in the system. Also, the stupid ball on the end of the depower line on really hard to grip. Also the only thing distinguishing the power and depower lines is the colour of the ball. They both dissapear into the system so its hard to know which is the right one to pull.
7. The kite goes upwind quite nicely, but not as well as a C kite, even when sheeted out.
8. It doesn't seem to like the light stuff. The slow turning means its really hard to arc up.
9. Crashed it. Its super easy to relaunch from the 'wingtip in the water' position. Never got it nose down so not sure how good it is at that. Its really well behaved, just siting there at the corner of the window.
10. Seems really unsuitable for unhooked riding. It has insane amounts of pull once you've popped, I pretty much got nailed on all the s-bends I tried. Even raileys were a struggle to land. Wasn't game to try a pass.
11. Once you've got nailed while unhooked, the kite won't fly to neutral. It just keeps pulling you downwind until you realise you have to just dump the bar, hook in and go from there.
12. The thing has no lift! My jumps were terrible on this thing. You can't feel it loading up before the jump so its really hard to time. Also if you sheet out in the jump it just stops pulling, so that pretty much rules out one-handed or no-handed moves. Perhaps it's just a matter of getting used to it, but it felt no good at all.
13. Lucky thirteen. I'm kiting along and BAM! The kite just flips inside out. From there it starts goin crazy. Flips back, loops, inverts, loops back. The bar with all its ancilliary **** got in a huge tangle after I let it go, and all the looping twisted the lines up to a point where the safety couldn't possibly work. I was running a suicide from the chicken loop, so a leash off the would have helped. Even still, with the kite hanging off the chicken loop (fully depowered and power strap right in) it had enough power to wrench me big time while it was inside out, and looping back the other way the right way round.
So there you go. Pretty unfavourable like i said. The kite has its good points, like the depower and easy relaunch, but apart from that, I didn't like it at all. It felt like i was going 3 years back in my kiting ability. I honestly can't see a niche where this kite could sit, there are so many other's that do the job way better. The icing on the cake was the invert. I don't care what you say, but any kite that can do that is flat out dangerous and shouldn't be on the market. Enough said.
I dont ride them anymore.
But i know of about oooooooo 20 people who would disagree.
Horses for courses.
sound like a kook after what ive seen that kite do in the hands of talent although it is an old mans kite imo.
could it be you were using a 45cm bar instead of the 50 to 55cm one -isn’t the 55cm the standard for that size xbow kite?... although I use a 45cm bar on a 12 meter sb and ride one handed a fair amount of times per session - scary jumps and go upwind no probs..do have to yank the crap out of the bar to get a decent turn speed. Anyhow pity you don’t like the kite. This old man love his cabrinha bows! If coming off c kites its general consensus that you have to relearn your timing somewhat for jumping and probably the other little tweaks to get the most out of it...
Don't points 1 & 5 contradict each other a little?
Otherwise it sounds like you need to spend a little more time on the kite to get used to the bow technique. If you still don't like it then sure - fly something else 
Also be aware that the other bows/sles have quite different properties and don't necessarily fly like the x-bow.
I just can't get over the new and old crossbow bar pressure, and they are reasonably slow at turning. I guess it's what your used to but my Ripper has hardly any bar pressure when turning and stuff and has a much smoother ride compared. It's not a bow thing, it's a crossbow thing. More specifically I think its a bar pulley thing.
quote:
Originally posted by kitecrazzzy
sound like a kook after what ive seen that kite do in the hands of talent although it is an old mans kite imo.
quote:
Originally posted by stamp
have you flown many other bow style kites howley?
quote:
Originally posted by cwamit
could it be you were using a 45cm bar instead of the 50 to 55cm one -isn’t the 55cm the standard for that size xbow kite?... although I use a 45cm bar on a 12 meter sb and ride one handed a fair amount of times per session - scary jumps and go upwind no probs..do have to yank the crap out of the bar to get a decent turn speed. Anyhow pity you don’t like the kite. This old man love his cabrinha bows! If coming off c kites its general consensus that you have to relearn your timing somewhat for jumping and probably the other little tweaks to get the most out of it...
quote:
Originally posted by Munter
Don't points 1 & 5 contradict each other a little?
Otherwise it sounds like you need to spend a little more time on the kite to get used to the bow technique. If you still don't like it then sure - fly something else
Also be aware that the other bows/sles have quite different properties and don't necessarily fly like the x-bow.
quote:
sound like a kook after what ive seen that kite do in the hands of talent although it is an old mans kite imo.
some guys like big tits, others like a pert beauty.
good ol' howley has expressed his opinion.
is his opinion correct????
i don't use a bridle kite but i have "used them"
and guess what.... they all have different characteristics.
brand bashing isn't a good thing on this forum.
does the brand basher have motives or just an ego cause he can do a few tricks?
i would still be content with my original wipika 5m 2 line if that was all that was available.
quote:
Originally posted by poor relative
This complete disregard for pain and living shows in his kiting style.
When jumping on a bow, you tend NOT to sheet out all the way before you jump, as your sticking the bar in the 100% (or so) depower range so yes it will not "load up". try sheeting out half way. Most people new to bows have this problem.
Crossbows jump insanely if you know the technique. been riding CB1 and CB2 for 2 years and just bought a rebel 12m for something different. I could have said it jumps like **** as well, but after 3 sessions and a bit of advice on technique it has amazing boost. My point is C's Hybrids, and Bows are completely different beasts and all makes, models, and types have their own little technicalities.
