btucker

One of the steering lines caught around the back of my 8.5m Ion II on relaunch and ripped the fabric along the reinforcement for the pigtail. Any advice on where to get leading edge material and thread to patch this up? Also where the best place to put the stitching is? I know I could send this away to be fixed pretty cheap, but I'm interested in learning how to do this stuff! Thanks for any help. Ben

I fly an 8.5 and 12.5 Ion II/III and weigh 12 stone. This covers me for pretty much all wind conditions on land. Though in lower winds I think the 14.5 is a much more fun kite because it is so floaty. If I were to have a 3 kite quiver it would be the 8.5, 10.5 and 14.5, these I think are best kites in the range, the 12.5 is missing something special between 14.5 and 10.5 and is a bit of a compromise.

I've always played around with the pigtail lengths. If the steering lines are too slack just shorten the steering leader lines on the bar. You'll know if you make the steering lines too tight because the kite with stall all the time! Make sure everything is equal left/right or else you'll get some funky ass stuff going on. I think these kites fly best with a fair amount of bar pressure.

If you have a big board you can sit down or kneel on them and ride that way. It feels alot buggying except you lean to steer instead of using your feet. I've got a massive 180 x 60cm strapless board for low wind that I do this with. Good novelty fun!

fridazadilak - How much flex does your trampa deck have after you cut it all done compared to standard ones? I'm interested to see just how much you can remove!

I tried out the Naish Cult, it's a ridiculously easy kite to use. Not at all scary, doesn't really stay on the ground, which is great for relaunch, but not so good when you want to land it and go for a sandwich...

I've been on the beach holding a wind meter hitting 50mph watching someone on a Venom 13. He wasn't really throwing it around for power though...

Looking around for a new Ion 2 8.5 leading edge bladder incase the repaired bladder fails. Any ideas, as apparently flexi don't stock these any more!

I was thinking about repairing myself, and if the kite was a bit nearer the end of it's life I definitely would. But as it is I'd rather get someone more practiced fix it right the first time and have a repair I trust, than have a repair by me which is likely to take a few attempts to get right... For general info, I got quoted 40 pounds by Kinetic for the repair.

Cool. Thanks for the replies. isk57 I was thinking a new bladder too, but I still need to fix the leading edge outer!

Hey, I used to own a 6.6 III Blade, that I thought didn't perfom as well as the other blade IIIs I had. I seem to remember that there was a bridle issue and that a replacement was issued. Maybe this is a similar issue? I'm a little fuzzy on the details because it was ages ago!

Hey there, I've got a broken Ion II 8.5. The leading edge has burst on a seam about a 1.5m from the tip. The rip goes around 2/3 of the circumference but doesn't touch the canopy or struts. Obviously the inner tube has a pretty big hole in it too! It's already had a repair on the other wing tip in exactly the same position, fixed on warranty by flexifoil. However I bought the kite second hand, and apparently the first time round it took several months to be fixed. I'd prefer a bit of a quicker fix... Is this something that I would be able to fix myself with instruction and sewing machine? If not are there any recommendations for kite repairers in the south east area and roughly how much would it cost to repair? Or should I just send it to flexi in Belgium and wait? Cheers for the info!

I'm already here Mwah hahaaha!

Your selling my old kite! Sorry to hear you're not getting on with it. Free Bump!

Hello, sorry I've been away from this thread fro a while! It'd be £50 kite only. Cheap because it's old design, still in fair nick apart from the one hole that has been repaired. You need a fairly big bar to get this kite to turn. I've got an 80cm bar to go with it with some lines (used but okayish) and depower strap, but no chicken loop or depower line.