I just read a post by Gorgo where he mentioned a Concept Air kite and it made me start thinking of the worst kites ever.
Here's a list of some of the worst kites I can remember, some which never made it to full scale production, and worse, some that did :
Concept Air Wave-X - Just plain bad at everything
Airush Cross Fire - So bad it never made it out of retail (Auswind cut many up a few years ago at a loss but did the right thing )
Flexifoil Nexus - The worlds first inflateable foil - total disaster!
Gaastra GXR/G-Spot/Phoenix - Gaastra have just had some shockers over time.
Naish X10 - The concept hangtime kite - only a few ever sold.
Peter Lynn Water Foil - The worlds most dangerous foil ???? Maybe
Slingshot Link - A true shocker. Some salvage through new bridle
Wipika NSK - A flying shopping bag - Poly hessian WTF were they thinking?
Best Hellfish - The claimingest kite ever became a flaming ruin
Please discuss your misery?
Good winds,
you are so onto it,
I have the video of the launch of the nexus uploading now.
the 5.7 waterfoil has full power all the time but the 2.4? was so good fast and so so powerfull. I liked it.
what about the cabrina's bows ? they don't turn very well so heavy and don't respond. but so many people love them ??? who am I to judge??
Now the Wipika Classic 6.5, I learnt on was a gem!! and who couldn't love the simplicity of 2 lines, fixed loop, wrist leash Yep what a Classic!!
The ConceptAir WaveEx is a great kite, it's just the world's worst water kite. The valves made it almost impossible to launch but didn't keep the water out. If you remove the valve flaps it inflates quite well and flies great.
The Water Foil was truly the kite of death but sooo powerful for it's size. I keep wondering how one would go now as a light wind kite.
I'll give a vote to:
- Slingshot Turbo Diesel. The only modern kite to actively try to kill it's owners and to succeed in breaking bits off.
- Slingshot Link. Possibly a good kite but they built it wrong and handled everything badly.
- Peter Lynn Bomba. All the bad points of a foil kite with none of the good points.
Thanks for the warnings!! Maybe people could also include kites which don't live up to the hype! Every kite today seems to be 'just perfect' for everything.
The Flysurfer Warrior was quite a good kite but had the incredibly stupid pulley depower system. Once the chicken loop fell out you were tea-bagged all the way to the beach.
The 2006 GK Sonic is the best kite I ever flew but a design flaw caused wrinkling in the LE which would split with monotonous regularity.
what do you think of this kite? nobody has actually flown a nexus in good conditions , we should give it a go ?? I still have it . The Launch of the Nexus.
[Video removed]
we had so much fun..
Slingshot Link - A true shocker. Some salvage through new bridle
sounds to me like you didn't ride one of the smaller links,
7 and 9 metre are awesome kites, big ones i heard were a problem
ok ok .... the Walland air-aqua foil - 8 meter....
3 line
impossible to go up wind on ! , good relaunch though
Slingshot main line from chicken loop - they always break.....They don't even last a season now! Very disappointed multiple slingy owner Fuel / Fuel / Fuel / Rev / Rev 2 / Fuel
Has anyone else also noticed a fast degrading of the bearing inside the main chicken loop housing??
Has anyone else had similar issues? or is it just bad luck?
Cheers
Southy
yea i have an 09 fuel best kite i have ever had, my saftey line has broken and my rope from the chicken loop(depower strap) broke too. i have noticed there is a weak spot in the saftey line, but the slingshot strings and the best strings u could have compared to the cabrinha strings.
My 12m Link works well with the new bridle.
Good post though, the 07 equivalent cabrinha and North kites are better.
Well I've still got a crisp new Hellfish, 13M we will have to get it out one day.
Its not a bad kite, but it sure was overhyped and underconstructed!
WallendAir foils, true death machines.
F-One foils, similar to the above.
Mosquito condom foils, hmmmm my life is flashing before my eyes again.
Naish AR5's
Flexi Storms
Flexi Nexus, once described as a ground percussion device.
PL Watefoils, much better with the water relaunching valve cut off.
C-Quads, - once marketed as water relaunchable!!!
2 pump North kites, 04 leading edges.
Slingshot Torque
Early 2000-2003 Liquid force kites.
Wipika tarp kite.
Wipika Classic
Naish V4
There are a lot more I could add, but need to do other things.
Cya and
Goodwinds
Steve