Help with picking a bar

[mcfly777]

I have a Naish 2012 bar that I like, but the lines are now getting old, the bungees are ripped, etc. I was looking at the price to replace the lines, but it will be around $200 which is almost the same as a new bar/lines from some brands.

I'm also looking at the new Naish Fusion bar, but for $500 that's a lot for a bar. I'm not interested in flash, just a simple working bar.

I will continue using the Naish kites which take bars with equal line length. So do you have any recommendation for a bar that works well and does not break the bank?
thanks
Leo

[dwaynej]

I don't know the Nash kite well enough to know if it is suited to a Low-V/Single Line Flag. A 20" Compstick with 23M lines of any vintage 2012 or later is a pretty decent bar. Low V and single line flag out. Under the bar depower is straight forward and they can be found for less than $200. I know Slingshot dealers are motivated to sell their bars given 2016 has introduced two new bars.

[androka]

any links for this mythical beast? the under $200 compstick?

[dwaynej]

Here you go...

http://www.nwkite.com/forums/t-36526.ht ... =compstick

The 20" x 23M Bar is solid.

NW seems to be awesome for gear and this is where I have scored CompSticks in the past... Post a wanted ad for a bar and see what pops.

http://www.nwkite.com/forums/f-2.html

A number of kites and bars are so cheap that its worth purchasing both and selling the kite separate.

[Yoda]

I will continue using the Naish kites which take bars with equal line length.

Do you adjust the bar line width depending on the kite size? The 2012-2015 Naish bars adjust for either 45cm or 51cm widths.

Airush, Best, Core (2015), Crazyfly, Epic, Liquid Force (CPR), Ozone, Switch, and Wainman (2015) offer bars in 45cm.
BWS and Slingshot offer bars in 51cm.

Liquid Force (Response), Gaastra, Nobile , and Wainman (2014/older) offer bars in 46cm.
Airush, Best, Blade, Core (2015), Gaastra, and Nobile offer bars in 52cm.

Many of these bars above can be adjusted to 2 width settings. The rest are sized individually.
Just about all of them have the "low-V" center lines. All have a single-line flag system and equal line lengths. Some also have adjustable depower throw.
The only thing you may encounter is the connecting knots being reversed from your kites. Simple fix with either reversing what's on the kite (if permitted) or adding some pigtails with the correct knots. The other thing is some brands like Slingshot offer different line lengths depending on the size of the bar, so be aware for this (i.e 20" bar with 23m lines vs 17" bar with 20m).

Avoid F-One, RRD, and older Core and Airush (2013) bars as they're designed to flag onto 2 lines, so they're not compatible with Naish kites.

For a killer price look for 2013 and 2014 models on clearance or buy used.

[mcfly777]

Thanks everyone very helpful. I looked at Compsticks as it seems like a great simple bar. I ended up finding a Naish 2014 bar, new, for $250, so I ordered that. I like it that it's essentially the same bar I already have, below the bar trim and variable length, and the knots/loops are already matching.

See you on the water
Leo

[dwaynej]

Awesome!