A friend has one of these (8m). I watched him wrestle with the thing several times the other day (approx 25-30kts) while it did all sorts of contortions: folding in on itself, looping wildly, rolling up its leading edge. he body dragged back to the beach twice to sort things out. The kite was plenty pumped up and looks to be in excellent condition for age. My friend is intermediate, and no probs controlling his other kites. It wasn't all carnage - he did rip it up quite a bit too. It was the 3rd time he'd been out on it so not exactly virgin to it.
The steering lines of this kite look to have a 2:1 pulley system at the kite end - same effect as the bar end systems I suppose, in that steering inputs are magnified. He says its very fickle but still likes it.
He's a stubborn bugger and tends to stick with what he's got (that one's for you P, if you're reading). I suggested he check this forum for opinions on the kite knowing full well that he wouldn't (because he's a stubborn bugger).
My question is, does anyone have any experience, opinion, suggestions for my friend about this kite besides the bleedin obvious which in my book is: turn it into a shade cloth and get something that works.
The carping friend of a stubborn bugger.
I think there is some bridle modifications available to make them more similar to recent switchblade models. Anyone got diagrams?
check the cabrinha website to see if you can download a manual with bridle diagrams and adjustments,i did for my 2008 cabrinha convert which also can be set up in either 2:1 or 1:1 mode
No there is nothing you can do for that kite except pump it up harder, sounds like it was underinflated.
There was a mod you could do to the larger SB2's to help them turn a bit better but there was no mod that I know of for the first switchies, which came out in 2006 and had pulley 2:1 bars. This kite could not be converted to 1:1 AFAIK.
nah the kites were fine.
Any kite not pumped up properly will do those things.
Also check the line lengths are correct. lines stretch over time.
Had the same issues once with a guy here kite flew erraticly lower in the window and from one side to the other side of the window,looked like an inflation issue but when i checked the kite it was rock hard ,checked his bridals and they were all out of whack due to stretch so did a few mods to get them even and flew like a dream after that ,told the guy to order a new bridal dont know if he did?
the 2005 crossbows & switchblades are very sensitive to bar sheeting.
if you move the bar in or out too quickly they turn inside out, shoot erratically around the window and scrunch up like an old newspaper.
solid air pressure helps but won't fix the issues. gradual smooth sheeting is the only way to fly them.
