There is enough said on the Peak4, but I am not sure how many people are rocking the Flysurfer Connect Bar. I got one for future snowkiting with the Peak4 as previous experiences landing foil kites in heavy winds on snow can be sketchy and i like the concept of the b-safe system. It is also now my dedicated bar for this kite (which will become obvious below), and today was the first session, foiling with a 5m peak4 today in conditions ranging from gusts of 36kts down to 0kts (including an in-water packdown and swim, so a thorough test).
You can get a full run-down of the Flysurfer spiel here flysurfer.com/project/connect-bar-system/ but here is the quick summary and first impressions.
Pros ...
its light. 840g all up bar and lines. not a huge deal I guess, but for backcountry snowkiting i have a lot of stuff and a few hundred grams here and there is nice. the weight of the bar on the kite is also noticeably less compared with the click bar i usually run.
its cheap. at under $600 rrp and I'm sure your friendly kite store will knock 10% off because you buy local, this might be the cheapest bar on the market.
the bar feels delightful. the material is just really nice to hold on to. can't really explain it but it is...pleasant.
the throw is great. the length is good and requires very little use of the depower (as mentioned 0-36kt for this session), and is just the right length out of the box for me at max throw is just the top of my reach (which is a con for most people as i'm 6 ft+ with long arms, obviously this is adjustable fairly easily but it was neat that it worked out straight away)
b-safe system works a treat once you set it up (see con below)
Cons....
the chickenloop mechanism is a little pin and tiny eyelet, which is a bit of a stuff around to line up and put in (which i have to do each time as i have a sliding rope harness). this would not bother you if you are just hooking in, but its a little irksome at the start of each session if you need to do it every time.
b-safe setup is a bit of a mindf--k when you first do it. i set it up at home and it was a nightmare.... best done while watching the flysurfer video and somewhere where you can run your gear out fully and its not windy. you only have to do it once, but if you disconnect the bar it may confuse you a bit the first few times (which unless you are rocking multiple peaks, you aren't going to do- see next con). (by way of explanation, b-safe is essentially a 5th line depower, but it runs to the two eyelets on each side of the centreline using another V-bridle (which if you have a peak and are wondering what the random grey lines it came with are - that's that. although there is still another line after you put it together, which i have no idea what it is for.
the biggest con - THIS BAR ONLY WORKS WITH A PEAK. the way the 5th line runs to the bridle means that it will only work as a 5th line depower on the peak, and you can't use it on other kites because you won't have a safety. Flysurfer lists on the website all the ways you can't use it with anything else - however its not extraordinarily complex and you could definitely hack it to work with other foil kites, or use another 5 line system with the b-safe bridle (although you would likely need to shorten the line down).
TLDR;
If you've got a Peak4, and you want/need a dedicated bar for it - highly recommend it as a great option.
If you have any other kite, obviously don't buy it. Again, IT ONLY WORKS WITH THE PEAK.
If you already have a bar for your Peak4 - I noticed no real difference in flying performance from my North Click bar and the dedicated Flysurfer bar, so unless the safety system calls out to you, then you can probably rest fine knowing that you are not missing out (caveat, the 5m is quite small obviously, and the difference in high vs low-v might be more obvious in the larger size peaks in lighter winds).
