has anyone tried making one of the kites on
www.zeroprestige.org ?

I started to make one but stopped after finding problems
with making bladders. however have found in levin a company whom make pvc bladders, and can hopefully get part rolls.

would people be interested in a workshop like the type that saul grithth
runs? his sister ran one recently in sydeny and you can see pictures of it
on the website.

check out the board building page, very low tech stuff!

marnis

I would be VERY INTERESTED.. I know of a few other guys who would be just as keen.

I'm going to try again making the 7.5 just using blue tarp material from the warehouse so its dirt cheap as a prototype. then make one with chakura (sp?)

bladders are always the issue but am looking at a few options including
the polyethelene? bags that carpet comes in.

I've also made my cedar core board so we could have board making as part of a workshop too.

marnis

there's a good comprehensive safety spiel on that zero prestige website that i wanted to copy and paste into here somewhere, but couldn't. make's good reading for people with no kite experience and / or no common sense.

i'll leave the rest of the kite-making stuff to you hippies.

can someone make a bitchin' inflatable out of hemp? i'd like to see one of those babies fly!

without innovation and people trying new to develop their own gear
we'd all be still windsurfing.

sharn don't you sell kites too?

only second hand ones - do y'wanna buy one?

u could use existing bladders in them,wateva size u wanna build theres a bladder available for it

Any of you guys thinkin of making a Ram Air?

it's a bit harder to get a ram air right

i like the hemp kite idea, u could break off a strut and spark it up on the no wind days !

I tried the 250g/m2 pvc this weekend, welding the seam with the edge
of an iron. worked really well and alot easier than polyethelene to work with.

how much do commercial bladders cost in NZ? who stocks them?

marnis

go c perrin @ kiteworks,

Dude if you are looking for cheap LEI kites try au.geocities.com/chinakite2003/

They have dacron leading edge inflatables, medium aspect and high aspect kites, I believe all the kites are priced under $AUS 700 inc bar and lines.
You can order them from Australia.

Ps. not pimping for them, just heard it on the grapevine

I've looked at all the kiteforum chats and have to be skeptical.

Automatically the thought of ripstop cannopy indicates it could be dodgy.

One post on kiteforum.com said the lines are stretchy and elongated over one meter.

There is a market for cheaper kites though. ($400usd for a 12m kite with
a carbon bar etc )

I wonder how many accidents occur because people getting into the sport can only afford 1 kite and take it out overpowered.

As someone who is just getting into the sport I think that kiteforum could be constructively used to give advice on second hand kites for learners wanting to afford getting into the sport.
(If it wasn't for advice on line I may of listened to one shop who were trying to sell me a c-quad for $500."they're really good for learning on")

If you guys want the sport to grow, so you have people to sell your gear when you want to upgrade, offer unbiased advice. look at hanggliding,
the gear got more and more advanced, learners were encouraged to buy outdated advanced gear had crashes and now the sport is dieing.

cheers

marnis

sounds abit like buying a second hand parashute to learn how to base jump

"Automatically the thought of ripstop cannopy indicates it could be dodgy. "

Yes Marnis, cause a ripstop canopy is the wrong thing to make a kite from...duh

Exactly what hightech material are this years kites made from then??

Unlike Paragliding, crashing is a major part of kitesurfing!!! Thats why we do it on the water.... duh...

Nothing wrong with some of the old kit around, it just doesn't have the same performance and the new kit, sounds to me like you have a bone to pick with a shop, and you need to do some more research and learn to kite some more before you post comments like you have done!!

:twisted: grrr :shock:

fair call, but I wouldn't hesitate posting stuff because thats is how
you can learn up to date info.
(do you wonder if the black background gives people an agressive attitude on this forum?)

this is a review posted yesterday by eddy on kiteforum.com, to give other side......

Since the inseption of the china kites I've had em watched am crash
and laughed until now.

The first ones were poo IMHO, finishing was tosh and there were some details that needed finishing up. I could list em, But I'll save you the trouble of reading it. Take it as red that they had some small issues.

However.

Till yesterday I wouldnt have em. But I received ,as promised ,another reviewed edition.

Construction - LE and struts - heavy grade dacron really stiff. Canopy was now made of ripstop polyester, unlike the prototypes. The stitching is really impressive too, well on my one it is.

Came with a bag this time. 4 attachment points, and a LE that curves around the wing tips. The struts - 6 struter, with the middle one missing.

Strut battons - well reinforced and crowned / shrouded. unlike to old ones.

We only tested her out for 30 minutes yesterday and we all got quite excited. Its stable, goes up wind, feels like a front liner, not heavy on the bar at all. and best of all, it turns on a penny - really quite unbeleivable how fast she turns, and maintains power through the turn.

This one is good. Needs more testing, we didnt have time to jump it too much as wind was crappy, and we didnt test the water launch as it was offshore. but so far, so good.
_________________
follow the thread on china kite review

marnis

Hi Marnis.
I have made heaps of these kites now. It is quite good fun and they get better the more you do.

The CHINA Kites are available in NZ through me, I can be contacted on 021 166 4359, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

No need to get them from Aus

And then....
I imagine all 49 readers are right now ordering 1000's of China kites off some dodgy van sales crack addict in China (or te-Aroha).
Wah hoo.

And then....
"We china kitemen...take shitty kites like Wind-tech or Cabrinha, North, Kites that don't sell, put in Napisan for 24hrs and Ka-pow... we call it bleached China kite with no decal from secre location" No you worry the bladders are make from reconditioned condoms, very good, vrey good"
And nice boingy lines so more springy jumps.

And then....
China kites and those spankers like Graeme can only hurt us all, and choke the sport before it really even gets established by bringing this shit in. The reputation of good shops and good brands will be tarnished. the used kite market will be hurt the most. (as if the exchange rate hasn't hurt us all enough this year.) Kiteboarding instructors will all have to go on the DOLE. Mr Hellen Clark will get re-elected.....

And then....
So cancel your orders!! Thats 49,000 less kites in NZ this year!! a saving of $4900 at $4.90 ea. (wholesale price only NZ$4.90 if you buy two or more)


And then....
... at least we can now forward Graemes name and address to the Authorities for his busines involvement in distributing and promoting illegal kites. breach of patent law is theft and the legeniox (spelln) bros are actively chasing down offenders.
...you would too if you invented something cool and a bunch of scamers stole your designs.

And then....And then....And then....And then....


Cheap! means nasty!

Spanker,
Thanks for your thoughts, you obviously have alot riding on the brand you support.
I am sorry if I have upset you so, your articulate and very constructive reply is the sort of reaction I expected. Spanker rest assured I am not going to be activly promoting or selling these kites in NZ, I simply meant there is no need to buy kites, any brand, from Australia. If it is available there it is available here.

I am not activly promoting or selling China Kites. I use them for 2 reasons.
Firstly I can allow first timers to crash them and destroy them, as sometimes happens, and I can afford to replace them.
Secondly, I have been involved in designing them. I had an ambition to evolve my designs. China Kites allowed me to do this much faster than I could make them myself. Allowing me to experiment with design. I have made plenty myself but the time it took me was restrictive.

Spanker you need to check your facts before making threats. Dont buy into the false assumption the making LEI kites is breaching some world wide patent. There is only a patent in 6 countries in the world. I can forward you the e-mail I have from Inflatable Kite confirming this if you wish.

Just because you have been boxed up by some big dollar promise does not mean some of us can not look outside the square. I say again I am not activly promoting these kites I am simply having some fun, trying some new idears and saving myself some money on damage to kites.

Lastly do not ever accuse me of damaging the sport in NZ. I have done as much as almost anyone for the sport , and I have done it for the love of the passtime, not for some quest for the promised cash.

To anyone else my comment upset I apologise, I simply meant do not buy any kite from Australia.

Doubt they'll have much of an effect, and whats with the exchange rate comment, the NZ dollar is the strongest its been for a long time!
Sounds to me like they are as good as last years kites but maybe not as good as the top brands...
I think cheaper gear will make the sport more accessible to more people, it won't hurt the sport! Kiting is still a very trendy thing, and people are very conscious of the trends, and a kite is very obvious (not like a windsurf sail make or board make), lots of people are going to want the top performance of the leading brands, for skill reasons and for image reasons..
Separate markets for cheap kites and top brand kites with cutting edge tech...

importantly new Kiters get burned and put off the sport when they get a crap kite for their first kite. So shops need to stop selling shit and hype or cruddy cheap kit.

Guess you must be getting peeved with kites exploding when you land them, we all would if this happened to us. But it does not.
Notice how all the bigger brands just keep getting bigger and better each year. Seriously spend a bit more and you do get much better equipment.
So sell your customers better kites.

Ask Kiteworks about Kite strength, they fix em all and can say what is the toughest. Don't believe the big adverts, do some re-search into what makes a kite tough.

Support real kiteboarder companies and avoid the shitty no name brands...

How many kites do you sell each year?
How many kites do you destroy during teaching?
You were/are the NZ Cabrinha test centre for past 12 months, were all these kites Cabrinha?
Or did all your kites suffer the curel and horrible death?

I do not disagree with you.
Which is why I am not trying to sell any of these kites activly.

I am still a Cabrinha test centre, I have had very few kites fail. Most have been through serious abuse, collisions with trees , shell cuts etc. I have seen as many Slingshot kites as any brand suffer from the same abuse!
But each time I have a problem it eats into any small profit I might make. Then there is the pressure imposed to always have the newest kite in the range. Untill an importer is prepared to support me more fully I have to look at my options. Building my own kites was one. Getting my own designs made cheaply in China was another.

Secondly, I fail to understand why you are so unsupportive of me trying to be innovative. Some of the concepts I have tried in the past 14 months have been complete failures . However at the same time I have had reasonably results with my attempts to design a kite with a membrane wing as opposed to a foil section. If this is succesfull it gives us the holy grail, a 1 kite quiver. All this is possible because of China Kites. And it would be a Kiwi venture, not the big brands.

Please remember China Kites is a manufacturing factory, like Sails International in Hong Kong or Aqua Dynamics in Sri Lanka. They are not a brand, they are not trying to challenge anyone and nither am I.
I am only trying to have some fun, life is too short.

Peace to all

"importantly new Kiters get burned and put off the sport when they get a crap kite for their first kite. So shops need to stop selling shit and hype or cruddy cheap kit. "


well said china kite / north / wipika / peter lynn or any kite.

membrane kite? will this limit air through it for varying wind strengths?
go hard graeme don't follow... innovate. too many sheep in nz already.

marnis.

Manis,

I can't say too much about the membrane kite on this forum for fear of being ripped up by Spanker for being innovative. No seriously it is quite confidential at this time. If you are interested or have some thoughts on the subject ,or making kite/kite workshop give me a call or drop me an e mail. See my contact details on an earlier post

There, I don't think I upset anyone with this post! And we are back to your origional topic.

Graeme