Le Forum Francophone

MATHIEU PENDLE a écrit:

Dear All,

Year 08 started a little rough with all the comments on kiteforum about the chicken loop, even though there was some pure negative comments just to put GK down, I did look at all the constructive feedback, and

I have done some modifications on the mold to make the GK chicken loop the safest and most simple one to use on the market.


* Transparent housing, see the simple pin system inside, and check whats going on.
* No holes, no pins coming out, the pin system is protected from sand, stones.
* Trigger the safety system by pulling all directions, not only one (other brands)
* Takes about 1 second to trigger the loop back in, (mush less then any other brand)
* Additional rubber spring to keep the Loop closed and not release by accident.
* New material for the black parts, (fiber glass/ nylon)
* 100% of parts are tested for injection defects, each part goes through a test, lifting up 320 kg
* In addition, a safe line will connect the transparent housing directly to the 5mm spectra depower line.
* The GK CL stays really strait when you unhooked.
* The stopper is also transparent, this stopper is very safe, by pushing trough you will get 80% of depower.
* Some say the depower strap is to long, just have to shorten the line above the strap.


The black chicken loop we have been shipping up to now is working good, the upgrades we have made will make it even better, easier to use and to understand how simple it is.

Check out the high resolution video:
http://gkforum.free.frarchives/qualite/ ... pgrade.wmv
ou
http://www.globekites.com/chickloop/upgrade.wmv

The joint files are:

GKupgradekit08.jpg (parts that will be sent to upgrade) http://gkforum.free.fr/archives/qualite ... ekit08.jpg
GKpartschick08.jpg (all ref for CL and stopper parts) http://gkforum.free.fr/archives/qualite ... hick08.jpg
GKCLuser.jpg (upgrade info) http://gkforum.free.fr/archives/qualite ... CLuser.jpg

For those who wish to upgrade there existing black chicken loop, GK will supply free of charge a small upgrade kit.

From now on all the kites will be shipped with the new transparent GK chicken loop.

Now it's time to have a good 2008 season.

Wind is back in Mauritius, yesterday I was very happy to ride with the Vsonic 6m, I am really happy with this kite, others had 9 to 12 m, I had 15m lines and had a lot of power. The projected area of the kite is very high compared to the total area, the turning and the flying speed is also very high. I'm sure the future will go to smaller kites with higher projected area, this is what is good about the Vsonic, we have more projected area, lower aspect ration in the center, faster tips with less drag, making the kite pivot around it's center giving more twist and more turn.

Mat

matpendle a écrit:Hi,

As you see I have been doing some small modification on the QR, making it transparent, so it's much better to understand the simple pin system inside, and check that every thing is fine.
I have eliminated the holes and pins, just added a line to reposition if needed, and a safe line.
We are also using new fiberglass/nylon material, and I personally do the quality control on each T shape part (C6) hanging 320kg for a few seconds.

As you can see on the video I made, you release by pulling all directions, and you click in very fast.
I think these two points are very important for safety, you don't want to think about what direction to pull to get rid of the kite, and want to get going again fast, you don't want to spend time messing around with you QR, you just want to click and go.

We have sent out the first upgrade kits to distributors, and the feedback is good.
From now on all kites shipped from factory are with the new transparent updated QR.

As usual on this thread, some will find negative things to say, these are the same people who 10 years ago where saying that kiteboarding will never work, for sure at the time we could not go upwind, we had almost no safety, we had 2 lines 0% depower, good thing we didn't listen to them, we would still be windsurfing, or just doing nothing.

Kiteboarding for me is a huge experience, it started 1996, I was in Maui producing windsurf video mags, Manu Bertin came to me and asked me if I could film him with his kite, he was a little depressed, finding the struggle to hard to get interest, Neil Pryde, that where producing the first inflatable sample kites had just abandoned the project.

From that time I did the first Wipika user guide, and never stopped.

Today I still want to continue and go froward with innovating ideas, this is what motivates me, for sure it would be easier some times to just follow, and just do marketing.

For sure it takes time to bring new ideas to the market, for example the Sonic, I only put it on the market in 06, but I did the first sample kite with the sonic KPO bridle in 03, see the patent that explains the idea : http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=FR2850355&F=0

At the time nobody would of accepted bridles like we use today, so I made a small KPO bridle, that I put on all the GK kites at the time, not every one understood the importance, but look today how many brands use it.
When the Crossbow came out, people where ready for some change and would accept bridles, when I saw the amount of bridles and bar pressure on the Crossbow, I thought it was time to release the Sonic, it was 80% done since years, my solution had minimum bridle huge depower, and low bar pressure, some times to low, this is why I looked for a solution for an easy control of the bar pressure, so I found a solution with the A-KPO.

All this to say that we have some incredible toys, giving us a lot fun on the water, who would of imagined 10 years ago, what we have today, we all need to keep our minds open to the future, so looking forward for your "constructive" feedback.

Wind is back in Mauritius
Speak soon

Mat