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Old Kite


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Hello everyone. New to the forum, old to kiting.

To make a short story long, I was cleaning out the kite closet and decided to set up several of my *old vintage kites. I thought, "Hey, Check 'em out on Youtube". Found videos to most all the two line kites I have, except for the Advantage Classic by Revolution. I may not have ninja Google skills, but the only reference I found was on this site, and only in one place here. I figured if any place had the answers to my queries, this would be it.

Questions:

What gives? Okay, okay, perhaps to broad...

Do I own the crazy uncle, of Revolution Kites, that no one talks about? Do I need to search for "the kite that shalt not be mentioned"?

How long where they made? I thought I bought mine late 1995 to early 1996. I could be wrong, but I thought I bought it before my daughter was born. The one mentioned here says 1997.

How many were made? There doesn't seem to be many claiming to own them...

Is there some shame that I should be feeling? It flies great. Only one other "vintage" kite of mine has more flying time than the Advantage.

How much was the origional sticker price? I have slept since then.

Does the Advantage Classic count toward "How many Revs do you own?" If so, I have two. My other is a 1.5 SLE that I bought two winters ago.

*Old/vintage- The difference seems to be whether or not you own one. If you don't, it's old. If you do, it's vintage. I never thought of the kites as being old. I guess some of them are, it just not how I see them. I have only flown a few times in the past 15 years. Moving from a condo on the Gulf in Galveston to Kansas dramatically reduces chances to fly, that and a family and a new job. Got bit by the kit bug again and plan on flying much more this year.

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Hey CC, Welcome to the forum, glad to hear you've picked up the handles again. Don't know the answer to your question, but track down RevFlyer (John Mitchell), he'll have your answers for sure. Again welcome smile.png

Michael

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If I recall correctly there were two different dual line kites marketed by Revolution. One of them as Simon mentioned was developed by Ron Reich. The other was developed by Dodd Gross.

I don't at the moment recall the names of the dual line kites. I will have to investigate that maybe tonight(PST).

Now the rods whether they say Revolution or Advantage are all made on the same machine. The labels and lengths may vary.

Back in the early 90s Revolution made Rod kits for kites such as the North Shore Radical. They were called Advantage.

In general rods labeled Advantage were for dual line kites, labeled advantage for their quad line Revolution kites. However I have had 6 wrap Rev I rods labeled Advantage STIFF and my very early Rev Indoor still has rods labeled Advantage 1.5, as Wayne previously mentioned.

I know there is more on this subject, however I can't recall it at the moment.

Maybe Lolly will have time to elaborate more.

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Very interesting post!

Imagine the same 15 years ago.

Youtube? ani_whistling.gif

Ninja Google Skills? ani_sleep.gif

The main point for me is the lack of online information about the history of Rev kites, Rev Tubes, Rev Mods.

This forum is great : if you do not find someting, you can ask and (I have tested a few days ago) you have answers ani_victory.gif

But we need a stronger "reference". Lolly, Ron, Dodd, RevWizard and the others... now we need a book!

(well... I know this is a lot of work)

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Very interesting post!

Imagine the same 15 years ago.

Youtube? ani_whistling.gif

Ninja Google Skills? ani_sleep.gif

The main point for me is the lack of online information about the history of Rev kites, Rev Tubes, Rev Mods.

This forum is great : if you do not find someting, you can ask and (I have tested a few days ago) you have answers ani_victory.gif

But we need a stronger "reference". Lolly, Ron, Dodd, RevWizard and the others... now we need a book!

(well... I know this is a lot of work)

A lot of what you have ordered may be found at:

http://johnnmitchell.com/IntSportKites/rev_history/index.html

Enjoy!

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A lot of what you have ordered may be found at:

http://johnnmitchell.com/IntSportKites/rev_history/index.html

Enjoy!

I have looked through that site, very interesting. I was hoping to find out some production numbers. I'm not sure I want to know how much I payed for it either...

I'll see if I can get a pic up in the next couple of days, I have to work this weekend so it might be Monday or Tuesday. It is the one with half a yen/yang in the center with "The Advantage Classic by Revolution" in a circle around it. There are also 2 small silhouettes of the four line Rev's in the center. It is green, pink, blue, and black. Hope that helps on narrowing down who designed it.

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Okay, here are the two, known to me, Revolution dual line kites:

In 1997 there was the "Advantage Classic Delta"

AdvantageClassicDelta.png

In 1998 there was the "Phase 2".

Phase2.png

I do know this about the "Advantage" label on the rods:

- a 2 indicates 2 wrap

- a 3 indicates 3 wrap

- STIFF indicates 6 wrap

- a 1.5 is for the Revolution INDOOR

There was also a Revolution UFO that is normally flown single line but can be flown dual or quad line. This was developed by Lee Sedgwick.

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I have looked through that site, very interesting. I was hoping to find out some production numbers. I'm not sure I want to know how much I payed for it either...

I'll see if I can get a pic up in the next couple of days, I have to work this weekend so it might be Monday or Tuesday. It is the one with half a yen/yang in the center with "The Advantage Classic by Revolution" in a circle around it. There are also 2 small silhouettes of the four line Rev's in the center. It is green, pink, blue, and black. Hope that helps on narrowing down who designed it.

For production numbers, that is almost like asking Amazon for production numbers of their Kindle. Amazon to this date has not released officially any production numbers for their Kindle.

For the Revolution numbers, You could TRY asking Revolution directly.

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Very interesting post!

Imagine the same 15 years ago.

Youtube? ani_whistling.gif

Ninja Google Skills? ani_sleep.gif

The main point for me is the lack of online information about the history of Rev kites, Rev Tubes, Rev Mods.

This forum is great : if you do not find someting, you can ask and (I have tested a few days ago) you have answers ani_victory.gif

But we need a stronger "reference". Lolly, Ron, Dodd, RevWizard and the others... now we need a book!

(well... I know this is a lot of work)

I always thought about writing a book on the Revolution, however the time and effort to do so would never come even close to paying for it. The audience is way too small. Thus I created my Revolution History on my web site as an inexpensive alternative.

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Nice find. Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I must have bought it before we moved, which would have been early 1997. I could have sworn it was earlier than '97 The Advantage Classic Delta is the kite I have, just with a different color scheme. Guaranteed for life- nice to know.

Hopefully it also helps you with your Revolution history. I will try to contact them directly, I just assumed a few of the people who work there might visit here. I will be happy to share any information I receive, if you wish.

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RevWizard et al,

I contacted Revolution, and received a quick, friendly reply. (as expected from reading other comments on this board about their customer service)

I got some answers to my inquiries, and I thought I would pass them along, if you are interested.

What year were the made? 1995 or so. (I was fairly sure I bought the kite before 1996)

How many were made? A few hundred. (I think I made a good choice taking into account that the Advantage Classic was the second two line kite I ever owned)

Price? About $250.00. Kite only, no lines. (It's been 17 years, but $235.00 is the number that pops in my head.)

And finally the most important question, does this kite count toward the answer to the question, "How many Rev's do you own?" Kinda, a little bit. But the question refers to our 4 Line Revolutions. (Can I say Half-Rev or perhaps a Step-Rev?)

Thanks for all the replies. I still haven't gotten to take the Rev 1.5 SLE out to play, but I did fly some SLK's with line laundry last weekend.

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RevWizard et al,

I contacted Revolution, and received a quick, friendly reply. (as expected from reading other comments on this board about their customer service)

I got some answers to my inquiries, and I thought I would pass them along, if you are interested.

What year were the made? 1995 or so. (I was fairly sure I bought the kite before 1996)

How many were made? A few hundred. (I think I made a good choice taking into account that the Advantage Classic was the second two line kite I ever owned)

Price? About $250.00. Kite only, no lines. (It's been 17 years, but $235.00 is the number that pops in my head.)

And finally the most important question, does this kite count toward the answer to the question, "How many Rev's do you own?" Kinda, a little bit. But the question refers to our 4 Line Revolutions. (Can I say Half-Rev or perhaps a Step-Rev?)

Thanks for all the replies. I still haven't gotten to take the Rev 1.5 SLE out to play, but I did fly some SLK's with line laundry last weekend.

go to the top spreader attachment points and larkshead (or prussik knot) a leader using 100# high test bridle line, try a foot length in the beginning for each side. Place an overhand knot into the double strand at the end or as close as possible.

Now take your quad handles and have a go at flying your half a REV the correct way. It won't side-slide but it will back up and hover, even inverted. You'll have to "tune" for the correct amount of reverse and a partner will make it easier. This kite design will need some big wind, but it will fly quad when you'd never use it as a dualie! Prism's micron is whole lot of hyper speed fun too.

So now you can count your 1/2Rev and we want to hear all about your dualie/flown quad-lined adventures!

-plm

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I have a NOS skin that I would like to finish.

Do any of you have this kite and would you be willing to take some measurements for me?

Upper spreader- 15 13/16" (not in kite)

Lower spreaders- 49 15/16" (assembled, but not in kite)

Leading Edges- 50 7/16" (without wingtip) From bottom of leading edge, without wingtip, about 17 5/8" to lower spreader connector and about 40 7/8" to upper spreader connector

Spine- 25 3/8" (without wingtip) From bottom of spine (no tip) to Center T- 2 3/4"

Nose- 3 1/4" wide

Stand-offs- 10" (not assembled to lower spreaders)

The kite assembled:

Ground to top of nose- 34 3/4"

Wingtip to wingtip- 77 1/2"

Belly down, height of sail at stand-offs- 6 7/8"

Hope this helps.

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go to the top spreader attachment points and larkshead (or prussik knot) a leader using 100# high test bridle line, try a foot length in the beginning for each side. Place an overhand knot into the double strand at the end or as close as possible.

I am not sure I am following you here. Where is this "double strand" and "end" of which ye speak? I would have to do something with the original bridle where it attaches at the upper spreader, right?

This kite design will need some big wind, but it will fly quad when you'd never use it as a dualie! Prism's micron is whole lot of hyper speed fun too.

I don't know if I would try this with the Rev, but have a couple of other kites that might be candidates for butchering modification.

Would this work better on a bigger or smaller kite?

It seems to me (from looking at my kite and thinking about it for the past 20 minutes), that disconnecting the bridle from the top spar, then connecting two single bridle lines for the top two lines, then connecting the bottom lines to the existing bridle line, might work as a quad line kite. I am sure it is not quite that simple, as I am often wrong when guessing about things I know nothing about.

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