Small Craft Warning...

panzerfaust · Post by **panzerfaust** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:18 am

yeah, same here. The little black plastic safety seating ring has a metal bar that comes accross it and holds the chicken loop came off on me twice now. I'm scurred, it's not fun to be unhooked when you don't expect it. Thankfully I didn't loose the kite.

Windseeker · Post by **Windseeker** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:22 am

Wow.... sounds like WW has some construction issues they need to look at. How's their service? Did they offer to replace the defective gear and repair your kite?

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:29 am

ollie
you were so high in that jump! UNHOOKED!! and ya it was very gusy right then id say over 30 mph and holding. when you jumped you got a big boost then PoW you went up anther 10 or 15 feet, when it poped, sup you were danging funny (UNHOOKED) wow what i sight, very nice save.
as far as the hook ,change your gear every year(lines and harness,pig tails)
i think about last year and how much you therw on that hook!

Pablito(guest) · Post by **Pablito(guest)** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:01 am

It all really makes me wonder if they know exactly how much force gets put on this stuff, like during a kiteloop. Ollie's done more than a few of those....

Putting a kite in a windtunnel and attaching the bar to something immobile -- tests like that are not going to provide the same dynamics as repeated jumps, tricks, etc. are going to create.

Sander · Post by **Sander** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:40 am

In response to the amount of force that your bar/harness is seeing you just have to dust off Newtons' 1st law: F = m * a
where F = force
m = mass
a = acceleration
When your kite is holding up your entire body weight then the acceleration term is g (the earth's gravity) and the force is equal to your body weight.
So the question works out to how many g's you get during your jump/loop/carve/crash/whatever. If you are pulling 2 g's then the force is twice your body weight, 3 g's thrice your body weight, etc.
For comparison here are some typical g forces:
Space shuttle takeoff: 3 g's
radical roller coaster: 3+ g's
fighter jet tight turns: 9 g's
Black-out threshold: 10+ g's

So your kite gear should be designed to hold something like the force of 3 times your body weight, plus some factor of safety (FOS). Typical body weight 200 lbs, FOS of 2 and that works out to 1200 lbs is what your gear should be able to handle.

On a 4 line kite with 500-lb test your lines can handle 2000 lbs (1 ton), which seems like a reasonable design.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, what usually makes stuff break is fatigue and corrosion, so with your old gear if in doubt throw it out.

Sander

[left]http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/ri ... _force.jpg[/left]

pipedragon · Post by **pipedragon** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:12 pm

Hey Ollie, I just got rid of my SS spreader bar because my locking pin broke. I took it back to the shop in Alameda and they ordered me a new one but since I am starting to ride unhooked now I just took store credit and got the old fashion spreader. Worth a try to take back. Slingshot said they would replace all the old model ones.

OliverG · Post by **OliverG** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:50 pm

Windseeker wrote:Wow.... sounds like WW has some construction issues they need to look at. How's their service? Did they offer to replace the defective gear and repair your kite?

They have been working to iron everything out over the last few production runs, and their customer service from what I've seen and heard from others is good.

The CC bar really is something pretty cool, and I found when mine was out of service for a few days to replace the sheeting line, I missed it a lot. It requires a bit of getting used if you like a bar that sheets in and out very freely, but it reduces fatigue and makes your kite more stable by nature of it's design. Your kite isn't always being subjected to constant sheeting changes a result of chop, gusts, your actions, etc.

kies · Post by **kies** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:09 pm

Have not had time to call WW. But those guys are great.
The bar that snapped (pulled out...more like). was this years model. New Eject and used twice. It really was due to the load that didn't depower since the pulley was busted. Anyway
I rode the older one (bought this year also) and it has the old eject (waiting for the replacement recalled piece)
Today I was on the 9 Rapture (charlie...decided to keep for a while).
The older bar works fine.

I love this bar and set up, but it was a situation where the pulley bearings popped out, thus making the depower almost not doable (like riding locked in) boosted air, fell back and the kite powered up in the window. My instinct from the old Naish trucks I flew was board forward and grin and bear it and let it pick me up like I was barefoot'n behind a ski natigue. SNAP!. It simply bent that metal bar and pulled out and took the leash and spinning part with it.

WW is great and sutomer service is good.

Live2KITE · Post by **Live2KITE** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:45 am

dewey wrote:Ollie I was going to buy one yesterday. jeff couldn't do partial payment with gift visa cards. I guess it hard to ring up on more than one card. Good thing, I'm going to rethink the SS bar.

Glad you made it in okay
Dewey

Dewey,
We do have these in stock as well, and we offer flexible payments for similar cases as you describe.

SureFire Spreader Bar more info

Evan
(415) 722-7884
8)

pipedragon · Post by **pipedragon** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:52 pm

Ollie, did you have the Old SS spreader or the new one. I had the old one and it broke but the new one is supposed to be really beafy construction.

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Small Craft Warning...

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