Hi guys.

have I done a stupid thing?

With sales Les of last years models I bought a cabrinha switchblade in a 12 metre. I'm about 90kg 6'2 and a 140 north xride

Ive been flying switch element 11 and nitro 14... love them but resale low. Had these for about 3-4 years as my first kites. Want to stick with this sport for years to come and thought I get into a gear turn over habit etc.

im finding the Switchblade to turn really slow. Not have the power it's known for. Build quality is really good etc but not finding this kite to be agile... the nitro 14 feels quicker! So not really enjoying the kite....??

For or this price I could have bought 2 switches!

waiting for some bloody wind so I can lend to a mate for a second opinion... anyone else had one or experience with these kites?

Hey, Switchblades are a great kite , so all is not lost , read up get a solid understanding of the bar and kite and make sure the settings are adjusted to suit you. Well worth a bit of experimenting and time on the water in different winds before you move it on, hope you can sort it , cheers jeff

SB and the Nitro are very different kites, very different designs. Do your homework better next time and you might understand why the SB is slower. Doesn't mean it's worse, it's a different kite with different pros and cons and takes a different technique.

Turing over your 1000 dollar kites after 3 or 4 years isn't going to pull in big dollars, because everybody knows they only cost a grand new.

How did they manage to last so many seasons? I thought they were supposed to be crap quality because they were so cheap? Go figure.

Hope you get used to your new kite. Watch out for trees.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'd read the nitro and switchblade where similar. What I feel is the pulley system is that's making it seems so slow. I go to pop a jump and yes the timing and technic is very different.

Ps the switch kites are still totally fine and love them. A tad heavy for light winds but either are not light wind kites. No holes in fabrics or repairs to bladers. Easy to relaunch and self land. So yeah I'm comparing a cheap kite to a high end one. And not seeing the benefit so far hence my resorting to asking the community. Thanks again guys. Hopefully wind soon or it's back to cuyo island for some fun.

The nitro is nothing like the SB. Where you get that crapola information? They have very different canopy designs.

It's the C in the nitro that makes it turn faster, has nothing to do with having no pulleys etc...it also makes it quite a technical kite when you move past the kookdom stage.

They fly very differently... you will adjust eventually.

I've found the 2017 Switchblade 12 is not a really quick turning kite, but it does give the usual Switchblade solid predictable ride and will allow for good hangtime once you get used to how best to time sending it up. Bar size makes a big difference too, as I've got an overdrive bar and after my session at the weekend wondered why it was so slow turning until I realised the bar was still set in at 48cm and not 56cm as usual. As for gear turnover, the reason the bar was set at 48cm was I also use it on my 2009 10m Switchblade which is still going strong.

Yeah I also have the overdrive and set it wide also.

Glad to hear you enjoying it. I'll give it some time for sure and get used to it.

I think after learning on the super fast turning element (it spins around on a dime) and going to a larger sized nitro 14 I thought the switchblade might be somewhere in between... yes I realise they are all doing deferent kites

but if you do a google on nitro vs switchblade there's a lot of people comparing them as similar. I'm still learning... and the interweb can't be trusted of course....

as in
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2392106

yeh right...a lot of switch riders are overly enthusiastic

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eppo said..
yeh right...a lot of switch riders are overly enthusiastic

Harsh

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orac said..
Hi guys.

have I done a stupid thing?

With sales Les of last years models I bought a cabrinha switchblade in a 12 metre. I'm about 90kg 6'2 and a 140 north xride

Ive been flying switch element 11 and nitro 14... love them but resale low. Had these for about 3-4 years as my first kites. Want to stick with this sport for years to come and thought I get into a gear turn over habit etc.

im finding the Switchblade to turn really slow. Not have the power it's known for. Build quality is really good etc but not finding this kite to be agile... the nitro 14 feels quicker! So not really enjoying the kite....??

For or this price I could have bought 2 switches!

waiting for some bloody wind so I can lend to a mate for a second opinion... anyone else had one or experience with these kites?

are you useing the 2016/17 cabrinha bar with it? you need to use the correct bar.

yes, you have done a stupid thing

Your choices
1. live with the stupid choice
2. sell it before it gets hacked and cut the losses

i'd go for the second option

I know everyone says like...no they are different kites for different individuals blah blah but those people don't ride them

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fanfare said..

orac said..
Hi guys.

have I done a stupid thing?

With sales Les of last years models I bought a cabrinha switchblade in a 12 metre. I'm about 90kg 6'2 and a 140 north xride

Ive been flying switch element 11 and nitro 14... love them but resale low. Had these for about 3-4 years as my first kites. Want to stick with this sport for years to come and thought I get into a gear turn over habit etc.

im finding the Switchblade to turn really slow. Not have the power it's known for. Build quality is really good etc but not finding this kite to be agile... the nitro 14 feels quicker! So not really enjoying the kite....??

For or this price I could have bought 2 switches!

waiting for some bloody wind so I can lend to a mate for a second opinion... anyone else had one or experience with these kites?

are you useing the 2016/17 cabrinha bar with it? you need to use the correct bar.

Yeah 2017 recoil. Probably should have gone trimlite but had an older recoil and loved it... so bought same in 2017 model.

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sonny2727 said..
yes, you have done a stupid thing

Your choices
1. live with the stupid choice
2. sell it before it gets hacked and cut the losses

i'd go for the second option

I know everyone says like...no they are different kites for different individuals blah blah but those people don't ride them

Check. But I'll give it another go anyway

Try shortening the steering lines a bit and have the kite on its fastest Turing setting, if the setting say more - less just try them all until you find the one that's fastest.

If that doesn't work contact Pete at Cabrinha kites Hawaii.

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Sandfoot said..
Try shortening the steering lines a bit and have the kite on its fastest Turing setting, if the setting say more - less just try them all until you find the one that's fastest.

If that doesn't work contact Pete at Cabrinha kites Hawaii.

Cheers Sandfoot will do.

Are you sure this is not just another unpaid advert for Switch...

I went the other way. I started on a Switchblade and after a couple of seasons bought Nitros. At first I hated it, thought I made a poor decision but as Eppo said they are very different kites. After some time and adjustments to my timing and technique my opinion of them changed. All kites / designs have strengths and limitations. These two kites are no different.
I wouldn't swap back but if you want a great all-round kite that is great to progress on and will handle a huge range of disciplines well then your Switchblade is a good choice.
PS Bar width will make a difference - sure, but don't believe for a second that you will get any performance improvements from upgrading your bar to the latest years release.

Short back lines and widen the bar

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cauncy said..
Short back lines and widen the bar

Thanks again for the responses.
cauncy recon tie an extra Knott further towards the kite on the steering lines instead of changing ng the tuning of the bar? Ps You don't mean messing with bridle lengths do you?

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2old2quit said..
I went the other way. I started on a Switchblade and after a couple of seasons bought Nitros. At first I hated it, thought I made a poor decision but as Eppo said they are very different kites. After some time and adjustments to my timing and technique my opinion of them changed. All kites / designs have strengths and limitations. These two kites are no different.
I wouldn't swap back but if you want a great all-round kite that is great to progress on and will handle a huge range of disciplines well then your Switchblade is a good choice.
PS Bar width will make a difference - sure, but don't believe for a second that you will get any performance improvements from upgrading your bar to the latest years release.

Hey mate what year switchblade was that you kicked off on?

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orac said..

cauncy said..
Short back lines and widen the bar

Thanks again for the responses.
cauncy recon tie an extra Knott further towards the kite on the steering lines instead of changing ng the tuning of the bar? Ps You don't mean messing with bridle lengths do you?

On my 9 edge which was my only kite for a season I bought some longer pigtails for my bridle, I tied a knot at exact same position as factory setting, then approx 50 mm above and below that, it let me get a tad more power for marginal and more controllable in higher winds, basically opening and closing the kite to the wind

Try using a bigger bar, like 55cm (the overdrive is 50-52cm at best)

Set your back line pigtails on the knots on the kite that are closer to center of kite this will give more bar response

its a 12m bow kite with heaps of grunt so you cannot expect it to turn fast, I love the switchys but usually use a 10m or 11m as my LW kite, if I am have to use a 12m I might as well go home.

At the end of the day you will need to make a compromise between turning speed and low end grunt, I suspect in Qld the latter is more important.

Resale value is good every beginner wants a 12m switchblade

Anyway I'm probably repeating pretty much what everyone else said...:-p

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Peahi said..
Try using a bigger bar, like 55cm (the overdrive is 50-52cm at best)

Set your back line pigtails on the knots on the kite that are closer to center of kite this will give more bar response

its a 12m bow kite with heaps of grunt so you cannot expect it to turn fast, I love the switchys but usually use a 10m or 11m as my LW kite, if I am have to use a 12m I might as well go home.

At the end of the day you will need to make a compromise between turning speed and low end grunt, I suspect in Qld the latter is more important.

Resale value is good every beginner wants a 12m switchblade

Anyway I'm probably repeating pretty much what everyone else said...:-p

Don't matter better have a few more responses me reading some other internet BS. So cheers. Understand what your saying and yes we need the grunt up here. Pretty slow start to the session.

i am really impressed with the build, always liked the cab bar.... so will persist And work on the technique.

I've a 2011 Switchblade and 2017 Nitro (both 12m). A wacky comparison but I'd say they turn much the same with the SB on the fastest turn setting and Nitro on default setting. The SB has more low end pull so does better at it's lower end. The Nitro feels smaller with much lighter bar pressure and much more top end speed but likes to be fully powered. It's an unfair comparison but both have their merits.