So. Here is my other spreader assembly. Its primarily for my stroped fixed bridle kites. I really wanted to try it out with my Stars at JIBE this
year, but didn't get a chance.
Cross Kites Sonic 3, 5m
Ozone Flow 2, 3, 4, 5m
Ace II 4, 5m
NAPKA-US24
4, 5, 6m ATB landsurfer. Custom longboard deck
Buggy: VTT Black Widow v2.0
Hah! I've never seen the extra doohicky for the spreader bar. I just clip the little 'biner to the hook and then hook the trapeze in.
Quote:
has anybody tried flying a NS3 (or any Star for that matter) without the center line at all?
Works fine on handles with and without the Z bridle but no center line. And the other way I've tried it that was really good - use Z bridles and run
power lines and brake lines to the ends of the bar (yep, both of 'em with trapeze in usual spot) Hook a safety leash to the brake strap between the
two brake lines.
So if you pull the release on the trapeze loop, the safety leash pulls the brakes and all is good. Or if you want to back it down or reverse launch,
just pull the brake strap.
In the end I thought the 3 line bar was simpler and just as effective so I stuck with it. But you may have seen this vid with the above bar
description. (also tried Turbo Bar a couple of times but the NS2 didn't like being steered by brakes alone)
Alright my fellow NASA fans, I just attached my little clip-in strap that came with my Born bar as so beautifully shown in Jason's photo and replaced
the release hardware to the back end of my center line that I had removed earlier today. For good measure I added knots to the outside thick lines
coming off the bar ends about three inches below the terminal knots and attached my outside lines to those shorter positions effectively building some
slack back in my center line. Sean, I totally see what you mean about clipping in the center line carabiner ABOVE the spreader hook so nothing gets
in the way of hooking in the chickenloop - totally makes sense.
I've always loved that video John!!
One things for sure, they are such a versatile kite. Not complicating things Steve, but that other spreader is my Auto Quick Release. You'd attach
your third line as normal. Then put your chicken loop in the snatch block and snap it shut. The two lower rings then gets hooked to my buggy's teather
strap under my seat. So, in the event I have an obe, I'm lifted up out of the seat about 4" and the teather draws tight, pulling the snap shackle open
releasing the snatch block. Once you are hooked in though, you are in. No unhooking on the fly. Unless you manually reach down and pop the shackle.
The swivel should also give a little bit more range of motion with my bar too. Wish I would have got to use it at JIBE for those big power slides...
Glad you got your third line back together Steve!
Cross Kites Sonic 3, 5m
Ozone Flow 2, 3, 4, 5m
Ace II 4, 5m
NAPKA-US24
4, 5, 6m ATB landsurfer. Custom longboard deck
Buggy: VTT Black Widow v2.0
Here's how I did mine... I initially had it inside the hook like you Jason, but with the little cross member in my hook (bought second hand and NOT of
PL manufacture) it had a tendency to get in the way, so I got frustrated with it and moved it to the side. This has worked fairly well, however a
little in the way at times.
However seeing and hearing you talking about clipping it ABOVE the hook, I may try it again in this way. ...BUT... I'm afraid the little cross bar
might still get in the way. I'm going to try your way and see if that makes a difference for me.
That little cross bar had really been a pain at times as there have been instances that really weird stuff has happened. Once the carabinieri got
clipped onto that bar and then somehow, the chicken look clipped itself onto the carabiner and was stuck there... it was weird... I used to clip the
carabiner TO that little bar and then it REALLY got in the way!... Do you guys think it would effect the integrity of the hook if if cut that little
cross bar out?
I bet it would work fine being cut off. You might even be able to tape the opening closed from bar to cross piece to close the void if that's what
causes the problem. My set up is identical Jason's first picture which is in accordance to instructions.
Spencer. IMHO I'd think you'd be fine removing that little cross bar. You won't be putting huge demands on the bar like kite boarding or anything
(unless you are feelin' gangsta again). I'd remove it nice a smooth, and polish it up very well with a Dremmel. Again, IMHO.
Cross Kites Sonic 3, 5m
Ozone Flow 2, 3, 4, 5m
Ace II 4, 5m
NAPKA-US24
4, 5, 6m ATB landsurfer. Custom longboard deck
Buggy: VTT Black Widow v2.0
For the record, when i first got my Stars, I had to call our resident Holgate (Sean), to figure out how that little dang piece attached! Lol the
instructions were not that clear, and I can't read German. Lol
Cross Kites Sonic 3, 5m
Ozone Flow 2, 3, 4, 5m
Ace II 4, 5m
NAPKA-US24
4, 5, 6m ATB landsurfer. Custom longboard deck
Buggy: VTT Black Widow v2.0
Well gentleman, I just fished the Star instruction pages that came with the kites out of the garbage (literately) and what did I find? Pictorial
directions for attaching the "O-Ring fur Trapez". Who'd ah thunk it?
I had two of these little o-rings (the second coming with the 3.2m - yipee!) and late last night I put one in the center of my PL standard spreaderbar
just as in Jason's original photo and the second just to the left of the center mechanism of my PL prodigy spreader. I was delighted to see this
morning that I had independently set up my prodigy spreaderbar exactly as Spencer showed in his photo. You guys are rubbing off on me, and that's a
good thing!
About that prodigy spreaderbar - I love it's design, but it was expensive, and the way my quiver is evolving I'm just not getting any use of it. I
like flying kites off of handles with a strop, but at least for me, the kites I want to expand into seem to be more DP, Single Skin, Stars, etc, all
of which get flown off of bars. I still have my 4m Hornet and 4.5m Uniq. I'm hopeful for enough wind one of these months to put the Hornet up in the
air for buggying, but I'm in the same boat as everybody else with our Summer being more breezy than windy. IMHO the Uniq is an inferior buggy engine
to other kites in my quiver and I don't anticipate using it again for that purpose.
err, uh... Steve.. get rid of that Prodigy bar dude... If you aren't going to be using FB stuff that often, it's better not to strop in, especially in
inland wind with a pulley style bar (eps. as opposed to a auto QR set up)... If you REALLY want to use the strop, you can do so with your hook
spreader too and save yourself having to change out the spreader bar... I'm not a fan of that spreader anyway.
I may have the chance to try out the change in location of the little linky doo dad today... with the cr@p summer wind I'm out of the habit of
checking the forecast... just looked out the window, checked WindAlert and BANG... I know what I'm doing on lunch!!!!
@ John Holgate - In some email back and forth with Steffen these past days he mentioned that you are shortly getting a complete line of Long Stars to
compare with the NS3s. Awesome!
I'm sure you are going to be doing all sorts of great comparisons. We look forward to your impressions! I'm thinking of filling in the middle gap of
my Star quiver with the 7m Long Star. Since the NS3 line also has a 7m in its line I suspect you could do a nice direct head to head. I'd be most
interested to learn about which has a harder pull, how do they sit in the wind window for buggying, upwind performance, wind range, etc. Enquirering
minds want to know!
Stoked! I just got over (dare I say it in this esteemed crowd?) eBay a bar-only adjustable width control bar for covering the different NS3s in my
quiver.
As you can see from the picture the adjustment is pretty simple, just move the outer lines in or out knotting them beyond 4 different holes on each
side. The bar I got adjusts outer line width from 45-60 cm by 5 cm increments. I believe the standard Born three line bar is 50 cm. Though not shown
there was a second photo showing a nice smooth tapered metal hole in the bar center. It looks to be of good quality.
Here is what I'm thinking: 45cm width for my 2.5m, 50cm for my 3.2 and 4.0m, 55cm for a 5.5 and 7.0m (I don't have those), and 60cm for my 8.5m or
larger Stars.
I don't have it yet of course. I'll post pictures and flight impressions in a couple of weeks.
he mentioned that you are shortly getting a complete line of Long Stars to compare with the NS3s.
I've only got the 3.2m in the NS3, (the twin brother of yours ) the rest of
mine are NS2's - having said that, the two models are extremely similar in performance with the NS3 just feeling a little more refined...
![[*]](images/perspective/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
