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Vented or not?


imarche

Question

Hi folks,

I have a std B-series. Am contemplating a vented 1.5. The winds in my area are typically <13mph. Mostly in the 5-10mph range. I find the std B to be overpowering when winds are close to 10mpish and I've got both 2 and 3wraps LE together. It's too twitchy for my preference.

I'm thinking of a vented with 3wraps. I can add the 2 wraps from the B-series when needed. Do you guys fly with a vented in 10mpish winds? I've read the thread abt UL frames in venteds. Like the idea too.

Cheers

Clin

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There really is nothing like a Vented 1.5 or B-Series with 2 wraps or race rods in low wind once you have gotten some experience with your kite, it's a great teaching tool to learn the flight characteristics of these kites because you HAVE to learn it and once you do its amazing.

I actually have very little use for full sails now and of the 15-20 non vented that I have most will be vented in some way soon as I've discovered a great sew master is coming out of retirement in my area :kid_smartass:

Give it a chance and work at it you'll be amazed in the long run how it helps you all around.

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If you get a set of B-Series kites, you get a 2 wrap Professional Use Only 2 wrap and an Ultralight 3 wrap frame with the standard sail and another Ultralight 3 wrap and Rev Equipped 4 wrap frame with the Vented: giving you 2 sets of the 3 wrap ULs.

I'd rather get a Race Rods set instead of 2 identical frames for the pair of kites.

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The Vented B is supposed to come with 3 and 4 wrap, marked "Ultra Light" and "Revolution Equipped" respectively.

The new rods have silver labels, with a corresponding number of feathers printed on it... 3 feathers for 3 wrap, etc.

2 wraps are generally marked as "Professional Use Only", or have two feathers on the new labels. ;)

Please confirm what you actually received with the kite?

Checked the rods and they are 3 and 4 wrap. Not the 2 and 3 wrap that I was told. Explains why my expectations of the handleing with the 2 wraps the guy told me were already in it was so bad. No bigge, you learn something new everyday. Thanks for explaining this for me.

Hmmm.... Where can I get some 2 wraps with my online gift card.

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Not denigrating the Vented SLE in any way as it's a great kite, but I had the opportunity to fly my wife's vented SLE and my vented B-series last weekend. The B-series felt much lighter to control and jumps enthusiastically to take air, when requested. The vented SLE, by comparison, felt a little more sluggish and just needed a puff more wind to perform.

So, as others have said, having two sets of rods - rather than an extra set of flying lines - is a good exchange: if you already have a Rev with lines, I would unhesitatingly go for the B series. Extra cost maybe, but value for money is not only about cost.

I'm just wondering whether I need to save up for a *non*-vented B series now for those low wind days.... :kid_content:

Andy

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Not denigrating the Vented SLE in any way as it's a great kite, but I had the opportunity to fly my wife's vented SLE and my vented B-series last weekend. The B-series felt much lighter to control and jumps enthusiastically to take air, when requested. The vented SLE, by comparison, felt a little more sluggish and just needed a puff more wind to perform.

So, as others have said, having two sets of rods - rather than an extra set of flying lines - is a good exchange: if you already have a Rev with lines, I would unhesitatingly go for the B series. Extra cost maybe, but value for money is not only about cost.

I'm just wondering whether I need to save up for a *non*-vented B series now for those low wind days.... :kid_content:

Andy

Unless you have a couple of mylar panels on your vented SLE, it should fly very similar to the B vented when using the "same" rods. The SLE rods are stiffer and heavier thus do not allow the sail to bellow thus could seem a bit sluggish on take off. It will also need a bit more wind because of the flatter sail using SLE rods.

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This opinion comes from a new Rev flyer (about 10 hrs). I have the standard John Barresi B-Series and the full vent. The full vent is quite a bit slower - but more stable given it has enough wind. Both fly great and I recommend that a new flyer get both a vented and a non-vented kite with a compliment of different rods. I could see where the mid vent would fill a gap as well. Being new to Revs - I find that it does take quite a bit of wind for the vented to fly right with my present skills. Most of my time was at the beach with clean wind.

But when I tried flying inland at a park with swirling and gusty winds - the standard was a little twichy. And there just wasn't enough wind for the full vent sail. So for me with my present skill - I think a mid-vent would have been the perfect choice. I know most of you are old pro at Revs - so I thought you might like to hear a newbies point of view.

With these setups you should be able to fly the way you want in any condition. And lets face it - one kite just can't effectively meet every condition. Just as one car or boat cannot meet every need. (You certainly wouldn't run a dragster car in a offroad race)

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Hey all, green pea here thinking about evolving to a quad line kite and not sure what to get. From reading this it sounds like a vented B series is a kite that will handle well in most wind conditions?

On other forum topics I'm reading B Pro and/or B2...

I don't want to own multiple kites (at least that's what I want to tell myself going into this LOL) so I'm looking for a one kite solution that will handle most of my learning needs.

From reading this thread it looks like B series vented with the addition of race rods to cover from 4 - 15+ mph winds? So a full sails would not be better in any way? I was just talking with some locals and they said if the winds are too low a vented will not fly, I'm wondering if its because they haven't tried the race rods? Or is there really a big difference in low winds (I'm thinking 5-7mph) between a vented (with race rods) vs a full sail? I was a little concerned as the winds were unusually high (I'm guessing around 15-18mph) and these guys were running full sail revs and looked like they were wrestling with them. It was nice to talk to them, it looked like they were enjoying it!

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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Frankly, you wouldn't golf with only one club, but you could easily finish a round with 3-4. The concept is a little similar. Only one kite won't cover all of the wind conditions.

For the most part you need to figure out what the prevailing winds are in the bay area. There are plenty of other fliers near you who would be willing to let you fly their kites (OPK-other peoples kites) to get a feel for them.

Honestly, a full sail and a vented overlap enough to cover the widest wind conditions. I would stay away from a B2 to start. They are a smaller sail and more responsive to inputs which tends to make them twitchy. Any full sail 1.5 Rev would be the way to go. Probably with a 3 wrap frame would do you quite well to start. People who have been flying for a while and have a feel for all the different wind conditions and their kites are more able to switch frames to sail types to fly the best for their preferences. As with anything, the more you get into it the more you are able to tune your kite to fly the best for how you like it,

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I would not feel right flyin an "OPP" kite until I've at least got some hours on my belt and knew what I was doing. Most my flying will be done in parks around the Santa Clara area, and probably the designated kite area at Shoreline Amphitheater. Seems like there is a wind range from 5-18 mph depending on the day. Plus I'm sure I'd be doing some beach time either in the HMB or Santa Cruz areas. Not sure about wind speeds there, but I'm sure they are somewhat high.

I guess my next question: Is a vented b-series (with the right rods for the wind conditions) forgiving enough for a complete quad line newbie to learn on? Or should I start with something more basic?

Also not to throw another confusing variable in the mix, but what about mid-vent? Where does that fall into the equation? Seems like a compromise between the two, which in theory sounds better for a wider wind range. Or is it better to go full vent or full sail?

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You got a good piece of advice - 2 sails! Get a standard sail and a vented sail! You can get the second as a "kite only" package and not get another set of handles and similar lines that way!! Plus with the 2 sails, you should be able to get 3 different frames that are completely interchangeable for both sails!

Yes, there is a sweet spot for a midvent, (most of us have one), but those 2 sails have enough overlap wind wise, to cover just about every wind you'll come up against! Which model you decide on - "B", SLE, Pro, etc. - is entirely up to you (visuals) and your wallet (money)!

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Don't worry about flying OPK. Kiters are some of the most generous and gracious people out there and Rev's are very sturdy. We wouldn't offer them if we didn't think things would be ok. You'll have people pushing their handles into your hands.

There are fliers all around you and I specifically know of one that lives in HMB. Let them help you. It'll save you money and aggravation.

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On a side note, I feel like my father must have felt 20+ years ago when we first got into stunt kites (I was about 12yo at the time).

Started off taking my son to a kite flying area with a $2.99 plastic kite (which he loved by the way, he's almost 2) and now I'm researching $400 kites! I'm sure my pops was thinking the same thing at the time "Ok i'll only get one kite...." I could only hope as my son gets older that we get to bond with stunt kites like I did with my dad.

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Hi there,

Welcome. Hope you see this in time. Definitely come to the Learn to Fly Workshop in Berkeley tomorrow (Aug. 9) 10am to 4pm-ish. I fly with the Bay Area Sport Kite League (the organization running the workshop), and will be there. You will definitely find people there who will be glad to teach you how to fly and "pushing their handles into your hands" as Tmadz says. I know a few people who regularly fly at Shoreline. I think at least one of them will be there tomorrow as well, so you can ask him about winds and what kite he likes to fly or flies most often to get a better idea for what might suit you best.

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Made it to the workshop, wasn't able to stay for long but I did manage to get some kite time in thanks to Fred who is actually one of the first people I've ever talked to about Rev's. Completely different than dual lines for sure. I was a bit overwhelmed trying to take it all in and find the "neutral point?" of the kite but I feel good that I didn't crash his $350 kite at all. Yea I'm definitely getting one. Just need to confirm line length before I spend half a rack on a kite! Want to make sure that I have the correct length lines to fly with the locals at shoreline. I want to think they are running 85' but not sure. Fred was with a friend who I didn't get the pleasure of introducing myself to and I apologize for that if he reads this, I was just focusing very hard on flying an OPK for the very first time and was a bit nervous. I appreciate your encouraging words on my skill, I'll meet you soon and have a proper introduction.

I'll refrain from posting off topic at this point, thanks for all the guidance everyone.

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