At the price they should be fully optioned with air bags, remote controlled power sensor, snooze function and AM-FM radio. Not to mention heated hand grips and voice activated weather updates.
Rear vision mirrors would not go astray either to save looking back before a turn, leading on to the fact that reversing sensors should also be included in the price.
Have I forgotten anything? 
Price is high, but they will last well if you look after them and have you ever seen one totally worn out from use and not abuse. I know I have not.
I have had my current bar over four seasons, used the same bar for every kite and had three and now two kite quivers.
Have just got a new one and hope it will last well too.
Old one is still going strong and is now a spare.
So total cost of a bar per session over 4 seasons?
Not so Expensive.
Just my 2 cents worth
Simple answer - Yes.
But we are a small market to produce for - with way too many brands.
If they could churn them out in mega numbers then they would be way cheaper.
It's Australia we pay far too much compared to other countries for nearly everything especially kiting kit, its one of the main reasons we don't see as many youngsters getting into the sport over here compared to europe,I've been teaching some local kids on my gear as they can't afford a set up .
Rinse lines after every kite, I do have a bit of a rep being hard on gear though.
And ride everyday possible for at least 2 hours, so this year bars look like new
I thought it was when there was more manufacturers that actually brought the price down.?
When there is only a few so to speak the prices stay up because people cant go elsewhere. There is maybe $50-100 worth of material in a bar.
dont worry about bars, you can get about 3 bars for the price of one lithium battery or a spare blade for your razor in australia! we tend to get shafted on everything in Australia when it comes to prices.
Control Bars may be expensive but a lot of people make a good point that if you keep consistency between your kites you should only need 1 bar.
Example, I have a Naish 2011 4 line bar - It cost me about $350 when I bought it in the US - cheap but I was lucky. I use it with a 2009 Helix, 2008 Helix and can also use it on my ancient Boxer SLEs.
However, consider what it is made of and look at comparable items on the market.
Bar Itself is carbon composite with aluminium alloy hole. Have a look at how much a set of cheap carbon forks for a road bike can set you back on a website like Wiggle. You are looking at about $130 for the cheapest.
Lines - to replace with genuine Naish lines - looking at about $150 - $180. Lines seem to be where the cash is (and the cream)
The Chicken Loop itself is manufactured from ABS plastic and stainless components - have a look at how much Ronstan components cost for boats. Parts for boats have always been expensive - small market, high spec required no cross application of the parts (i.e they don't tend to be used for anything else but sailing) A decent orbit block will set you back about $70 on Whitworths.
Talking about getting shafted in Aus, I was looking to buy an ebook yesterday orf of Amazon. On the UK site, said ebook was 3.99GBP. It wouldn't let me buy from the UK site, and the same book on Amazon Aus was $23.99 (or about 15GBP equivalent)!!!
Get...
Fecked...
anyway back on topic, if they didnt charge so much for their bars, companies wouldnt be able to spend their profits making 55sec video clips worthy of an academy award, but still leaving you saying, WTF? theres 55sec of my life ill never get back again lol:
Mowing the lawn and kitesurfing ...
The analogy between the two activities always makes me chuckle.
lol.
Which leads me to think ...
I bet you can buy a new lawnmower (top brandname) for less than the cost of a control-bar.
WAIT A MINUTE
Do you all realise that we are all here contributing to an intelligent & even somewhat productive topic poster by good ol Slavey.
History in the making right before your eyes
Rabble on............
