Below bar depower conversion

a conversion could cost as much as a new bar by the time you finished fooling around looking for parts just go buy a new above bar system or get a second hand complete above bar system and just do the change over. I have a slingshot below bars set up and yeah I recon it sux lol but I like the bar and oh **** handles haha

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junglejim1971 said...
a conversion could cost as much as a new bar by the time you finished fooling around looking for parts just go buy a new above bar system or get a second hand complete above bar system and just do the change over. I have a slingshot below bars set up and yeah I recon it sux lol but I like the bar and oh **** handles haha

Slingshot do both above and below now. I always wanted above the bar so when ss braught it out i was stoked. Its funny because now i actually much prefer the below bar. I have both (9m bar is below 12 is above)

I just find I have to stop what I'm doing and yank the crap out of the line to loosen up the cleat to adjust . ahh well who cares I'm on the water having fun I usually forget about stopping within seconds after I am moving again lol

If your de power is hitting you in the balls your on the wrong size kite. The kite would fly so sh!t with that much depower.

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glendog said..
If your de power is hitting you in the balls your on the wrong size kite. The kite would fly so sh!t with that much depower.

or your front lines are stretched and you need to pull in 10cm to even them out. then another 10cm if depower is needed and all of sudden your balls are in the danger zone again.
thought about pig tails but my real problem is the bloody below bar depower that is impossible to (easily) adjust. powering back up is even harder than depowering.

i have the cpr bar and love the system set it once and forget. if you have pulled on that much depower you kite is over sized for the wind. There is two holes on the chicken loop to put the end of the depower line in. also if you connect tor safety leash to the end of the depower line 90%depower suicide mode it seems to make it hang on the side of the chicken loop. i also hook in with the depower line facing up to me not down to the water.

For a above bar cleat you could also use the cleat that is designed for adjusting trapeze harness lengths. You will find this in your local marine chandler.

I have 2 CPR bars (below the bar sux), both converted easy and cheap - posted details awhile ago when someone asked the same Q will try and find it.

edit - copy from previous:

This makes a fixed length throw, above the bar trim. So the first thing you want to do is work out how long you want the throw, I played with the stopper on the factory setup for a couple of sessions to work out my preferred length throw, measured it (wrote it down). When I did mates, his is setup with a "short arms" throw length - it's a personal length. The trim strap handle can be secured with velcro. The factory CPR has a hard tube and stopper ball on the end of the trim (de-power) rope, the ball is reused with the tube cut down to about 30mm in length.
Parts I used:
1. Cleat: CL826-11 - http://www.clamcleat.com/cleats/cleat_details.asp?theid2=167 - this is available on-line, from a sailing shop like whitworths or even some kite shops might sell it. Pretty sure I paid about $18 each. Make sure you use the alloy cleat (there is a plastic version). This is the same cleat as used by Ozone and a few other manufacturers...
2. Velcro: $10 from spotlight gets enough to do more than 20 conversions.
3. small stainless screws - 2/conversion needed - 6 gauge x 1/4inch
4. home made handle for the end - 25mm webbing + loop part of velcro from above. I sat down and made 6 of these (in blue and some in orange) in about 20 minutes on the mrs' sewing machine. If you don't have access to a machine or someone who can do it, there are similar available online, try Switch Kites spare parts. Some manufacturers like ozone use a magnetic handle with a magnetic cover over the cleat instead of velcro.

Undo the current bar at the handle, remove the hard tube, stopper and handle off the trim rope. ** From the pics below you can see I also removed the throw length stopper to enable full movement of the bar (the cleat now acts as the stopper), if you are removing it, you need to feed the front line attached to the safety all the way through to be able to get rid of the stopper. with nothing on the end of the trim rope feed it back out of the bar and pulley (at swivel) - now feed it through the new cleat base and back around the pulley, and into the new cleat. Good time to replace the trim rope if it is a bit old - we are using 6mm double braid from the offcuts bin at whitworths (about $3).
** very important - the cleat position will determine the throw length, position it so the bar can move the length you decided at the very first step. Put the round stopper back on and slide it right up the rope, now (only hard part) slide the 30mm bit of hard tube over the rope and all the way up. Time to tune your lines to determine how long the trim rope needs to be and set position of stopper ball/tube/webbing handle - couple of good youtube clips on line tuning. The stopper ball should be over the tube as it is in factory fit and will be against the cleat when fully powered with tuned lines. Cut the trim rope at the end of the tube with a hot knife - soldering iron also works to seal the end. The webbing handle is now screwed into the hard tube (and rope) with 2 small stainless screws. Final step - glue the hook part of the velcro to the cleat, I wrapped it around 3 sides.

costs roughly $22-25 per bar. Hope this helps, between my friends, we have done this on 6 bars now. You can use parts from ozone or switch to save making anything, I made the handles because it was free (had the webbing) and a lot quicker than waiting for parts to arrive.

Harlie, legend mate, that is exactly what I've wanted to do to my old CPR bars. I feel a modification session is due!

I love how the LF HiFis fly, but the below bar depower is so damn bad, I actually began hating flying them. It's a flawed design - to not be able to adjust the trim of a kite on the fly, simply, without any stuffing around, is backwards design in my book. Above bar is just so much cleaner, and leverage-wise, a no brainer.

I swore I'd never go LF again, and warn people against them, but love the kites so may pull them out the cupboard and dust em off if I mod the bars to above bar/cleat setup!

I'm currently in the process of doing this conversion.
All is going well but:
I'm not too happy with the reduced throw length.
I was thinking about getting a longer flag line to move the V up higher and then adding some pig tails to even out the difference in line length.

Where can I get a custom flag line made? It's basically a standard Liquid Force one plus the added length of a pigtail.

Cheers

There is a story in there somewhere im guessing...