BestKiteboarding.com lowered prices even more!

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OliverG
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Post by OliverG » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:07 am

Anonymous wrote:Quite a bit of marketing hype.

Which kite companies are spending money on R&D to make the sport safer, convenient, and accessable to newcomers????
I know of one in Hood River that does. :wink:

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Post by pipedragon » Tue Mar 29, 2005 3:47 pm

BayAreaKite wrote:I'm not quite sure what to make of this. From what I understand, it's unclear if they've really made any money at all thus far. I've heard some in the industry say not, that they've spent their first year losing money.
I would hope that many of the other "big" companies get with it and quit trying to maintain their current pricing structure. It seems that many are selling the "feeling" and "perception" that their kites are markedly superior to all others in almost every way, and it's just not so. Sure, some are a *bit* better than others in terms of performance and features. Regaining dropping market share should be Job No. 1 for them.
Best has adopted a pretty ruthless approach before, but as far as the others companies go, there's really nothing they can do about it, so they're in a tight spot. I bet a few kite companies will be having mettings in the morning to discuss this recent turn of events!
Hopefully Naish has their meeting soon and lowers the price on the Raven!! I am buying one soon but any price break works for me. Personnally I don't mind paying a little more for Naish kites because I tend to hang on to them longer then one season. I have had my X3 12 for 3 seasons now and it is still a great kite. I just want to try a different style kite and the single point inflation is a nice feature.

gecko

Post by gecko » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:44 pm

Yup
Compare their prices to Wind wing. If you do the buy 2 deal it's again about the same.

I think when we see junk offered at a low price, then it's bad for the sport. But I own WW and Best, and I love them. I have owned at least 12 Naish kites since 2001. They're good too, but for the money I am sold on the others.

Not to mention my x2 16 hit a gust at Larkspur years ago and Paul & Bob watched me end up almost on the rocks at san quentin, only to be saved by the kiter with his boat (saved my ass, still owe him a beer). the de-power on old naish kites left me with a bad taste (sea water).
Gecko

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Post by OliverG » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:24 pm

Anonymous wrote:Quite a bit of marketing hype.

Best and other similar companies likes to compare the top of the line kites to other top brands. This is not realistic. Anyone that wants to compare a Nemisis to say a Rhino or Nitro can schedule a demo a Kite Wind Surf. The safety systems and kite performance are much better on these kites. As for price you will find the new Cabrinha Element to have a very competitive price and great safety system and performance that would be more in line with these "B" brand companies.

Which kite companies are spending money on R&D to make the sport safer, convenient, and accessable to newcomers????

Spend your money wisely. A cheap kite is exactly that.
I know the Best news is not good news for shops, but why turn the singular into the plural implying that other companies are ""B" brand companies"? The time is ripe for other companies to react in a positive way that will attract customers.

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Post by Guest » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:02 pm

Flysurfer for one puts a lot in R&D, every year their kites are a leap from the previous. The safety and relauch that flysurfer users take for granted for a few years is relatively new in tubes.
I think that some of the big names, like Naish and Cabrinha are selling image. The production quality of their stuff is not great, and their amazing "technical innovations" can make every first year engineering student laugh. Looking at the WW (never flown one) it is definitely much more advanced design than the big name kites, and they sell a fraction. That's how it is in business, the big guys can get away with spending money on promotion and marketing and build a brand name. That sells more than having a good product. The advantage of being big is not necessarily going for the consumer. Look at the price of the brand kites comparing to the small innovative ones and the cheap brands. You pay more, and get?

consumerr

Post by consumerr » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:14 am

i dont know if i totally agree, cabrinha's recon is pretty innovative, and you dont really see companies copying that, Windwing ingeniously created jumpstart, but others came out with complicated 5ths.

Takoon was gonna make a 3 line kite, where the center line is a 5th line as well, that would be -awesome, but i dont know if a single line can withstand the loads required.

one pump was also pretty groundbreaking i thought, obvious but what other common inventions arent?

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Post by knyfe » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:04 am

consumerr,

The FS foils only use 3 lines since 5 years. With safety, restart and depower. No load problem at all.

CU, K

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Post by Guest » Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:29 pm

knyfe isnt there some load on the rear steering lines for fs kites?

I mean what happens when your back lines go totally slack, can FS kites fly like that? i just always assumed that the back lines keep some of the curvature in the foil in conjunction with the bridle that is attached.

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Post by elli » Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:16 pm

There is very little load on the back lines on a fly surfer, especially the older ones. You can actually depower so much that the lines are slack, and the kite will fly.

In foils, this is called "auto stable profile". This basically means that the kite can fly on the front part of the bridle, normally the A, B rows of the bridle. This not only means that there is no load on the back lines, but there is also little load on the bridle in the middle of the kite. This is achieved mostly by the arc shape of the kite, the camber in the leading edge, internal bracing inside the wing and lift distribution on the cord of the wing.

As for the single center line braking, there is always a size up. The XTC comes with a massive front line, over #1000 strength. Sounds like a lot, but if you add up the two front lines of a four line kite + some load on the back lines its in range.

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