redwine

Flysurfer Cool 9.0m Having flown the Rookie 2 6.0m for about a year, it was time to try the Cool. The bag is a bit dull but it does the job (flying the kite not the bag). As mentioned in other reviews all the lines come pre-attached and all the cells are open. Had a good look at the stiching and all appeared neat and tidy . There is no reinforcements on the openings but there isn’t any on my Rookie 2 and it’s not been a problem. The set up is real easy, no pulleys to worry about it uses rings for the bridle to run through. The line length is 21 metres but you also have the lines from the bar and the bridle which takes it to about 25metres.The cost is £449 I took it down to the local field and set it out (compared to the 6metre it looked a lot bigger). The wind was blowing from about 8mph upwards, pulled the trimmer line in a bit and hooked in. It went up beautifully and gave some nice pull, the bar is 55cm, 5cm bigger than the Rookie but it does feel much bigger. It does seem slow in the turns especially when at the lower end of the wind range, having said that though it really impressed me with the amount of pull and lift it generated. Once on my board it had me zipping along in winds less than 10 mph but I did need to work it abit, pulling the kite to the zenith and powered up and up you go, very nice and floaty. It’s a very nice all round kite you can cruise with ease or go for jumps or tricks (once jumps sorted hope to try a trick or two). The wind just started to pick up to about 20 mph and with the trimmer nearly all the way out I was getting involuntarily lifted of the ground which was very unnerving, pulling in the trimmer sorted it. I am a light weight but will be checking the forcasts very carefully for gusty conditions. With the summer winds this should hopefully be less of a problem. Have now tried in various conditions and this kite fly’s really well in all but really gusty conditions. I have just got back from some snowkiting in Iceland, the majority of other guys on the trip were on Ozone’s, just me and one other on Flysurfer’s. Both the Cool and the Rookie 2 performed brilliantly. Having the space on the glacier really enables you to get upwind and explore the kites fully, unfortunately I didn’t have a GPS with me to check the speed but I wasn’t hanging about. The kites were exposed to some extreme conditions and they came through with no problems at all. One point to note, it got really windy at one point which meant the kite wouldn’t sit still on the snow using the safety but neither would the Ozones’ – that’s life I guess when winds change suddenly. I’m glad I bought the kite, I looked at the HQ Montana in comparison but this was a lot more expensive and uses pulleys like the Frenzy, I did consider the Sabre but was told of the new one coming out later in the year and also how it doesn’t really like inland conditions, there was one on the trip to Iceland and it didn’t fly well in these conditions, don’t know why but I’m glad I didn’t have one. I like the simple set up of the Cool, no pulleys just unpack and go and you can adjust the trimmer strap on the go which really sold it for me. It may be cheap for a depowerable kite but you really are getting a lot of kite for your money, if you get the chance give one a try. Author : redwine

I’d learnt to kite board on a Kheo Air-S, but I was feeling I needed to do something to spur my riding further. After checking out the various other boards available Trampa kept on popping up as the choice for me. The great thing about these decks is the choice you have, depending on your trucks you can have either 15 or 35 degrees, a short or long , skate or kite deck all built for your chosen weight. The web site was ok (It’s been improved since) but the best bit is speaking to the guys at Trampa. Real helpful, not pushy and trying to sell me anything just providing the information with a few suggestions. I decided to take it one step at a time and only replace my board with a short 12 Ply (93cm) deck pre drilled and with rubber decking rather than grip tape (easier to clean and wears really well). The board was ordered at 3 in the afternoon and it arrived before lunch the next day nicely packaged – Excellent. A long afternoon endured before I could get home and swap everything off my Air-S. One slight pain was the fact that the predrilled holes for the trucks were slightly out and I needed to drill out the holes for the foot straps even though I was using the fixings provided by Trampa. The finish on the board was good though no sharp edges or dents. It has certainly done the trick for me as far as progressing, It has a lot of ‘pop’ which has made jumping far easier for me and with no hard landings. People who have checked it out can’t believe how flexible it is. On the jumping front the board has stood up better than the kheo trucks, one broke which was a good excuse for another upgrade. This time I went for a pair of Scrub skate trucks and a set of Ground Industries Crossair’s with ballistic tyres. This has taken the weight down to about 6 kg’s. If your looking for an upgrade on your ATB then give Trampa a go, they have some great boards with great 'pop' , with good customer service and reasonable prices. I think the best thing is the fact you can customise anything and everything to get the set up you really want. Author : redwine

The Oxigen Pro comes in a sack without lines, I added 25 metre ozone lines and handles.( The Pro version being lighter than the standard version but £80 more expensive) Being on the light side 60kg I took it out for its first flight in 7 Mph winds, Very nice kite out of the bag good attention to detail,the finish was excellent. Being the Pro version it is all the same colour top and bottom unlike the standard one which has white bottom. Attaching the lines the thing to notice is the rings on the brake lines, apparently it makes it more stable when flying. Launched with a little trepidation as this is the biggest kite to date I have got, it went up beautifully nice clean pull straight to the zenith and just sat there. This is a very nice kite to fly, I have used it for free flying and on a board. The kite makes it very easy to get good jumps either on the board or not, it was bought to get me airborn on my board and it fits the bill really well. Once the wind is over 10 mph it starts to produce large amounts of pull and good lift, I have flown this in winds upto 15 mph which for me is overpowered and it is excellent making jumping on my board really easy, It's also a very nice kite to cruise on your board with. One word of warning though, if the wind is full on this kite does not want to come down, using the brake lines proved inaffective, Uturn recommend you adding another knot in the brake line 5cm further up and this does the trick. It is a trade off really if the wind isn't blowing full on you need to change the knot again, but that is only a minor moan really - I love this kite. On the value for money side of things, I would rate it as ok to good, sure you get to choose what lines and handles you want but to only come in a stuff sack is disappointing. I would rate it 7 1/2 out of 10, the brake issue when full on and the value for money being the two things to reduce the score. You wont be disappointed with the Oxigen but do try and compare the standard version with the pro to see if the extra cost is worth it It will give good lift and is a very nice kite to fly but heavier riders would need more wind to get the same results By : redwine