Mainly out of interest.. There seems to still be quite a lot of these circling around, there's certainly been quite a few on eBay recently, and they still go for £200+ for a good one.

I'm wondering if they're still good kites in their own right?
What are their flying characteristics ?
Am I right in thinking they're not really buggy engines, more for boarders ?
And how old are they now ?

Thanks
Tim

2003, for the G1, 2004 for the G2. £200 is too much for the G1, in my opinion. Maybe if it were in pristine condition and included the bar and lines, also in pristine condition. That might be about right for the G2, if includes bar/ lines. I traded 2 pansh kites that MAY have sold for $85 each + $100 for my G1 and I think that was a pretty fair deal. That's about £175 or so.

As for flying, they are very wide so they turn really slowly compared to the other arcs, LEI's and foils I've flown. Use the biggest bar you can find, and use the inside pigtails and that helps the turn speed (although increases the bar pressure.). Even though they don't turn super fast, it's still a great wind catcher. I have buggied and skied with my G1 an in both cases it worked great. In lower wind I had to sine quite a bit. Also, kite loops are an exercise in patience. It's virtually impossible to do one without reaching up and grabbing a rear line.

They're basically a gentle giant. Can generate lift, but not a ton. Great engine and very predictable due to the slowness, but really easy to build apparent wind. I had absolutely no trouble staying upwind with ~5mph winds and its even easier with more. Also, I'm sure you could mod to turn faster, but I haven't looked into that yet.

Great old kite. As Proletariat say's slow turners. That's pretty pricey for a G1 or G2.

Rock solid and mellow but smaller sizes can be a ton of fun in high winds.

Awesome kites. The turn rate is is ok on my 55cm bar if I crank it. It's a good park n' ride kite, and a good no handed rideing kite :bouncy:. The jumps are really floaty. Pretty slow but builds apperent wind amazingly well.

What they said. Both stable as heck and super autozenith.

GII are tuned for higher wind speed than the GI from factory, and there is no built in adjustability in either. GI has no rear internal strap. GII has a fixed rear internal strap and less bottom end than comparable GI's.

I modded the rear strap on my GII 9m to make it adjustable, like a VI. Lowered the bottom end and kept the high end. Love it now.

krumly