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Converting 2014 North quad bar to 2015 single line

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Created by rober > 9 months ago, 14 Aug 2014
rober
VIC, 11 posts
14 Aug 2014 12:16PM
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I know that there are people already ordering new 2015 North gear and I was wondering if there was anybody that already had a 2015 North Trust Bar quad so we could some photos posted to see the changes from last year.

I would be interested in converting my bar to a single line safety, as the 2 front lines safety is pretty bad. Maybe there are kits or any of the shops can get the missing parts to convert them.

I've seen already what other kiters are doing to convert them using other brands parts but I'm interested to see what was the solution from North to that issue.

Cheers.

KiteBud
WA, 1542 posts
19 Aug 2014 6:04PM
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Hi Rober,

As far as I'm aware of there are no ready made ''kits'' for doing this kind of conversion. Remember that North offers the 5th line conversion option on all of their 4 line kites/bars. It will cost you around $50 for a 5th line and your kite should already have the fifth line attachment point ready for it.

You may be reluctant to go with the 5th line option with popular belief emphasizing the risk of ''5th line tangle issues''. Despite what everyone says, 5th line tangle is a rare occurrence and it shouldn't stop you from modifying it to what is the safest and most efficient safety system around. Also contrary to popular belief, 5th line tangles can be fixed quickly on the spot with the right set of skill and experience, just ask any experienced freestyle unhooking kiter on a 5 Line kite.

You can still do a home made conversion from dual front line flagging to single front line flagging, but it requires some expertise and some basic spare parts, such as a stopper ball and perhaps a metal ''0'' ring. If you can find someone with experience in this kind of mod I'd say go for it, otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.

hope this helps

Christian

rober
VIC, 11 posts
19 Aug 2014 11:13PM
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Select to expand quote
cbulota said..
Hi Rober,

As far as I'm aware of there are no ready made ''kits'' for doing this kind of conversion. Remember that North offers the 5th line conversion option on all of their 4 line kites/bars. It will cost you around $50 for a 5th line and your kite should already have the fifth line attachment point ready for it.

You may be reluctant to go with the 5th line option with popular belief emphasizing the risk of ''5th line tangle issues''. Despite what everyone says, 5th line tangle is a rare occurrence and it shouldn't stop you from modifying it to what is the safest and most efficient safety system around. Also contrary to popular belief, 5th line tangles can be fixed quickly on the spot with the right set of skill and experience, just ask any experienced freestyle unhooking kiter on a 5 Line kite.

You can still do a home made conversion from dual front line flagging to single front line flagging, but it requires some expertise and some basic spare parts, such as a stopper ball and perhaps a metal ''0'' ring. If you can find someone with experience in this kind of mod I'd say go for it, otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.

hope this helps

Christian


I've always had Rebels (4 years) with 5 lines and never had an issue, actually I liked it. So much safer and easier to land the kite if there isn't anybody at the beach to help landing the kite.

I bought the quad bar (22m) because I bought 2 Dice last year and every review I read, everybody said that they didn't fly as well with the 5 lines bar due to the higher Y. But the safety is very poor with the quad bar.

I've still got a 2012 North bar with 5 lines (24m), the one that I was using with my Rebels. I also have some spare parts from another 5 lines bar I had (2012), that includes the metal ring and stopper ball that you mentioned and the white thick lines an an extra safety red line.

I wouldn't actually mind converting the Quad bar into a 5 lines. Also converting the bar to a single line flag out seems quite simple using the tips from this post (www.kiteforum.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=58513). I might need to do some research.

The reason why I asked is because there might be an easy way to convert the Quad to a single flag out using the parts from this year. It may not be a kit as such, but maybe someone has put together the parts required and the steps to follow.

Is there any recommended web that you know of and I could use as a reference?

rober
VIC, 11 posts
25 Aug 2014 9:46AM
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After a little bit of thinking, I decided to convert my North quad bar to a single line flag out using the same idea as the Trust bat 5th line.
I used 2 parts that I had already and it is simple to change.

If yo have a look at the 5 lines setup, you can see how the line goes through the metal ring.



I removed the red line (to keep colors with the safety line) but you could pick the grey line.
I attached the ring to the grey to white lines.
I put the ball stopper through the red line and attached the safety line to the red line.
With this setup, the lines are still the same length.
I haven't tested it yet because the lack of wind, but it should work just as fine as the 5 lines setup.








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