This is my first season been riding a slingshot octane for about 9 months or somethin and its fallin apart me iv replaced the chicken loop rope twice on it. That and other things are putting me off slingshot but I like the kite it's grunty as. I wanted a slingahot rpm but the chickenrope amd the below the bar depower puts me off. I'm looking into getting a brand new kite different brand somethif similar? The north kites seem Alrite? Either a evo, rebel? But the 5th line puts me off?? What are my other options? What's good and similar? What are switchblades like? Or naish parks? Thanks

I have heard that the newer Ozone Catalysts are more powerful now than previous years. Might be worth a look.

Frontliner said..

This is my first season been riding a slingshot octane for about 9 months or somethin and its fallin apart me iv replaced the chicken loop rope twice on it. That and other things are putting me off slingshot but I like the kite it's grunty as. I wanted a slingahot rpm but the chickenrope amd the below the bar depower puts me off. I'm looking into getting a brand new kite different brand somethif similar? The north kites seem Alrite? Either a evo, rebel? But the 5th line puts me off?? What are my other options? What's good and similar? What are switchblades like? Or naish parks? Thanks

Definitely give the Ozone Catalyst a demo, SHQ and The Zoo have demos and down on the West Coast Stonker is the Ozone dealer. Cabrinha and Ozone have covered centre lines that basically never wear out, the other 2 brands still have uncovered centre lines, which is something to consider.

water and wind conditions? how you like to ride? what are your aims? all important in the correct decision being made, wouldnt take advice from anyone that didnt know , just my personal oppinion, plenty of good brands and models out there with some lesser known brands far superior in construction and performance than others

cauncy said..

water and wind conditions? how you like to ride? what are your aims? all important in the correct decision being made, wouldnt take advice from anyone that didnt know , just my personal oppinion, plenty of good brands and models out there with some lesser known brands far superior in construction and performance than others

cauncy, could you please give some examples of these lesser known brands with superior construction/performance? Thanks!

I totally disagree with Garry A.
I was a SS fan simply because that was the kite the guy at the shop picked out for me when I wanted to learn. I hadn't even heard of seabreeze back then.
That kite was a Rev and it was not a great kite to learn on. I love revs now but they are friggin fast and twitchy and the super duper lines they go on about are only as good as the stitching that holds them together. Which with SS is not very good. Also their Donky sticks are the flimsiest going and I constantly would find myself riding unhooked and fully powered up because of this





H

aving said I love Revs, the one I have left I call my "princess". She goes unreal but I will never hurt her! (I've killed so many of her sisters)

Also an SS kite i had blew up when i pumped it too hard, it tore in the pissiest weak waves ever. Slingshot "bomber" construction is a total hoax and all marketing & no substance. I have had 5 SS kites and gave up on them after too much time out of the water. Octanes. Revs, Turbo's, Rally's all weak as piss. I'm sorry to be blunt but I can only be honest. Cabrinha are WAY tougher than SS. I don't like the way Cabs fly but the ones I've had, at least they never cracked up at the site of a wave or a full bore sand smash. I had a rev explode and tear from the LE to the TE just from a power stroke gone wrong when it hit the water. I won't bore you with other SS piss weak construction disaster stories but I have tons of them. My cabs have had way worse treatment (cause in my opinion they're not the easiest kites to control) Except the switchie 2012+ and any drifters, and I can't kill them untill I sell them off.

The best kites I've had for both flying and construction are Gaastra and Epic. They are lesser known brands but IMO they are the easiest kites to learn on especially the Jekylls or the Renegades. Kiting has never been easier to learn. Good onya for getting on the forums this early in your addiction.

Yeah Lithiums are good easy kites to fly but I think in Europe you'll find they're frontline. They have been making kites for a while but I don't know about durability.
While shops are closed send Nigel a msg and demo one of the epic renegades.
The 11 is my fav kite but if you need one for 20kt+ you're better trying the 9

Have fun - http://www.eastcoastkitesurfing.com.au/6-kites

For Gaastra msg kiteaddiction.com and they may send you a demo but probably not. lol
In any case they have lots of 2nd and demo Gaastras, which was the big name in windsurfing up there with Neil Pryde for years. (Cabrinha is now owned by Neil Pryde)

Lol, SOO MUCH BS.

FACTS:- slingshot kites have awesome construction, heaps of refinement and protection.

Kites don't last forever, after a couple of years the uv, wind and salt take their toll, REV's are like 5 years old, prob time to replace/upgrade.


GO TRY AN RPM.

Try as many kites as you can.

pattiecannon said..

I totally disagree with Garry A.
I was a SS fan simply because that was the kite the guy at the shop picked out for me when I wanted to learn. I hadn't even heard of seabreeze back then.
That kite was a Rev and it was not a great kite to learn on. I love revs now but they are friggin fast and twitchy and the super duper lines they go on about are only as good as the stitching that holds them together. Which with SS is not very good. Also their Donky sticks are the flimsiest going and I constantly would find myself riding unhooked and fully powered up because of this





H

aving said I love Revs, the one I have left I call my "princess". She goes unreal but I will never hurt her! (I've killed so many of her sisters)

Also an SS kite i had blew up when i pumped it too hard, it tore in the pissiest weak waves ever. Slingshot "bomber" construction is a total hoax and all marketing & no substance. I have had 5 SS kites and gave up on them after too much time out of the water. Octanes. Revs, Turbo's, Rally's all weak as piss. I'm sorry to be blunt but I can only be honest. Cabrinha are WAY tougher than SS. I don't like the way Cabs fly but the ones I've had, at least they never cracked up at the site of a wave or a full bore sand smash. I had a rev explode and tear from the LE to the TE just from a power stroke gone wrong when it hit the water. I won't bore you with other SS piss weak construction disaster stories but I have tons of them. My cabs have had way worse treatment (cause in my opinion they're not the easiest kites to control) Except the switchie 2012+ and any drifters, and I can't kill them untill I sell them off.

The best kites I've had for both flying and construction are Gaastra and Epic. They are lesser known brands but IMO they are the easiest kites to learn on especially the Jekylls or the Renegades. Kiting has never been easier to learn. Good onya for getting on the forums this early in your addiction.

if you maintained your gear you wouldn't be dissapointed..

Also pattiecannon I see you have a slighgshot Octane for sale: Quote 'No leaks, holds air all day.
Great low & high range wave and allround kite'

Great you say.. I'd be thinking your telling porky pies to get the sale.

how hard is it to buy a replacement part in order to keep your 5 year old kite working!! Or you could fork out full retail every year on a new model and not complain

Wasn't there also a problem with Slingshot sizes actually not being what they said they were? Or am I thinking a different brand? I remember seeing somewhere that the difference between their 10m and 12m sizes were minuscule, and that people buying the two sizes together didn't notice any difference in range between the two sizes. So much so that everyone says you should go 8/12 instead of 10/12 because it makes no difference.

Anyway Frontliner, you make up your own mind, yes you can buy my Octane, and Yes it has an amazing range, and Yes it stays hard all day lol, it flys good (not as good as the revs but still more like a switchie) and it is a princess like my revs. Just like polycarb and NoBs are. It flys good, it's cheap, I have a different bar for you because obviously the one it came with was a "girlieman" bar as you can see in the photos and is now in kiting heaven(the dump). If you can argue with a deformed bar end and 2 snapped leader to rearlines photos you are thicker than the woods you strayed from.
The replacement B&Ls are from the Turbo, definitely the best thing that came with that kite.
An' more for your benefit, the Revs and RevII's that i had/have (3kites total) all shat themselves by 2010.



Even those bar photos (not a Rev bar mr research TotesBS ;) ) are from when the Octane was new, same year I got it. See the Donkey Stick reinforcement? What a bendy piece of crap the original one is! A hollow tube of 2mm plastic. What kind of bombs were SS testing with? Flower bombs for sure
As Lebowski and Zarb have mentioned, SS = bomber aint all that SS = enjoy flying but don't crash 'cause SS also = Weak As Piss