BayAreaKiteboarding.com

Anyone tried the new shock absorbing bungee bridle from SlingShot?

It looks cool...is it really like putting shocks on a mtn bike? Or just something more to break?

Cheers and see everyone on the water soon for season opener

Admittedly it does seem a little bit sprinkled with magic promo dust... Pulley-free bridles are not new, and I'm pretty sure I've seen some bungee-like materials in such bridles before.

It also looks like the 2015 RPM features a "One Pump Speed System" for inflation, so there might be a few new spins on existing tech going on in addition to the IRS (Intuitive Response System, read as: bungee in bridle).

I think Slingshot is a cool company with some great products but in the focus of a contemporary branding eye I gotta say 3-letter tech acronym features these days feel very 2000 and late!

That being said - I can critique the product marketing decisions, but know nothing about the evolution of the actual product dev feature outside of my own anecdotal experience with a few models of kites over the last 5-6 years... is this really revolutionary? If it's not, are we heading into a period of kite innovation plateau to the extent that we're going to just have to deal with sorting through the re-marketing of old tech year after year until the next major product disruption occurs?

Every consumer product industry runs into this: when actual product innovation is stale, double-down on "re-inventively" marketing what already exists - But I just didn't think we were quite there yet. Or maybe we have been ever since the SLE and now I'm just enough years into the sport that I'm only now finally realizing it. Any vets care to weigh in?

Yes we all want something that works and feels good.....but who doesn't like a little sprinkling of marketing stuff here and there.

I think at this point, we will see more improvements in small details vs huge innovation....