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Lighter rear lines for Revs?


Bmwbob

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I just bought my first Rev (1.5 SLE package) last weekend at the Treasure Island festival. Haven't had a chance to fly it yet.

Went totally nuts, joined AKA and subscribed to Kitelife. (Hi, John!).

Thanks to Ben and the others who stayed with me until I worked through the difference in handling.

I come from a bit of power kiting using mainly larger foils.

On those, the load is on the front lines, so I used 200 lb and up on the front.

For the rear (steering) lines, I never used more than about 90 or so (IIRC) lines.

I see that the Rev uses the same lines,front and rear.

Is it that this design has a higher loading on the rear than a flexible foil does, or is there some other reason?

I ask for economy's sake. I tend to buy bulk lines, sleeve and pre-stretch them myself. Saves a bunch of bucks. I can save even more by using lighter rear lines unless there is a sound reason not to.

So, whatcha think?

Bob

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For economy"s sake and all, don't need to use lighter rear lines!! Not sure all the tech stuff, but most of the time 90# lines will see you through just about anything!! Most of us fly on 120' lines, some the factory 80', and most of us have some sort of "shorty" set too! Just make sure the bulk spool will make at least 2 sets of 120's ( 1000' )! The 900' spools won't work, not long enough! Only reason to get one is if you plan out what sets you're going to make ahead of time and base it on that length!! Takes a bit over 480' to make a set of 120's, so there is pretty much 1/2 the spool gone on 1000'! There isn't that big a savings using any other weight, IMHO!! I do have sets of 50# lines for light wind, but unless everybody else is using them, they don't mix well with the heavier sets!

I was just thinking about it some more and wondered about how different weight lines could react in twists!! Don't think I'd be mixing up different weights as they might not be as compatible!!

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The load is more equal on all four lines than it is with a power kite. With power kites, you do 90% of all control and power with the top (leading edge) lines. Because of this you can usually go much lighter on the rears. With the Rev, all steering and control is done with the bottom (trailing edge) lines. Totally different than the normal power kite.

I recommend going 90# on all four lines for nearly all conditions. For indoor flying, you can switch out to 50# lines and if you are going to be flying in 20+ winds, you may want to move up to 150# lines (depending on if you have a standard, mid vent, full vent etc...). Normally a good quality spectra 90# line is all you ever need.

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Hi, beamerbob, and welcome to the dark side. It's not so much a matter of strength as diameter. You will on occasion put 10 or more twists in them by doing spins, unequal diameter lines will begin binding up sooner.

This also means staying with the same manufacturer for uppers and lowers, as diameter will vary among them.

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Hi, beamerbob, and welcome to the dark side. It's not so much a matter of strength as diameter. You will on occasion put 10 or more twists in them by doing spins, unequal diameter lines will begin binding up sooner.

This also means staying with the same manufacturer for uppers and lowers, as diameter will vary among them.

OK.

Thanks to all for the input.

I am an incurable "fiddler" and will very likely mess around with things unless there is a clear reason not to.

That, and I also have a set of 80/200 lines still new.

I'm going to post my Prism Stylus and Sky Tiger foils on Craig's List as soon as I can get around to opening them up to confirm their size.

Bob

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