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Low-V vs High-V bar

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Created by salvatore13 > 9 months ago, 11 Feb 2020
salvatore13
QLD, 50 posts
11 Feb 2020 12:34PM
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Hi guys, I've recently bought a second-hand lightwind kite (Gaastra Jet 15m) and I realised that it originally was intended to be used with a high-V bar and I only have a low-V bar...
I flew it and it seemed to be working fine but it was so hard on a bar that it made me a little bit suspicious (like if it was overpowered even though there was barely enough wind to launch it, definetely not enough to kite on a twintip).
I just wanted to ask if you know whether there is any risk involved if I use low-V bar for it?

KiteBud
WA, 1515 posts
11 Feb 2020 11:59AM
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Hi salvatore13

The results of mixing a Low V Bar with a High V Kite or vice-versa really vary a lot depending on the kite itself (model, shape, etc), the size of the kite, the bar, the settings used on the kite, how well tuned your bar is, etc. so I wouldn't trust any general assumptions that you can mix and match any bars with any kite without any performance issues.

One thing that is for sure is that kites that were designed to be used with a High V bar should always be flown with a High V bar and that kites that were designed to be used with a Low V bar should always be flown with a Low V bar.

I remember flying a older Core XR2 17m (high V kite) with an Ozone bar of the same year (Low V bar) and the results were pretty bad. It's probably worse because of the size of the kite, so in your case with a 15m kite I would not be surprised that it's a poor match.

Safety issues ? not really as long as the bar you are using has a single front line safety system this will flag out any kite, any brand and any size.

Performance wise, probably not a good idea

Christian - KiteBud

salvatore13
QLD, 50 posts
11 Feb 2020 2:11PM
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Thanks for the answer. What did you mean by saying that the results were pretty bad? The kite performance was bad but did you try the same kite on a high-v bar later for a comparison?

KiteBud
WA, 1515 posts
11 Feb 2020 12:25PM
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Of course I always used to use the original bar with that 17m at the time, only tried to mix it with a low v bar that one time, the performance was horrible but it was flying totally fine with the High V - original bar.

salvatore13
QLD, 50 posts
11 Feb 2020 2:35PM
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yeah... I would assume some bridles aren't tensioned in the low-v setup on a high-v kite... That sucks.
As I already invested I'm wondering If I can sort out how to modify the bar to high-v setup...

listery
QLD, 103 posts
11 Feb 2020 4:57PM
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salvatore13
QLD, 50 posts
12 Feb 2020 8:21AM
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Do you by any chance know the name of the adaptor? What to look for in Google?

salvatore13
QLD, 50 posts
12 Feb 2020 8:33AM
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I found it.

It's called North V Distributor and looks like that, and costs $6
https://www.wasurf.com.au/collections/orderlyemails-recommended-products/products/2017northv-distributor

Plenty about this in
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/Review/Ozone-Bar-for-North-Kites?page=1

I'll just need to splice a small loop on my lines, fortunately I've got some spare dyneema line at home. Thanks listery!!!


weebitbreezy
617 posts
21 Feb 2020 5:10PM
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I'd go for the duotone v distributor

www.thekitesurfcentre.com/product/duotone-v-distributor-ii

You (probably) don't need to splice because it screws onto the line and the larger diameter of the split point wears the other line less. The North version was known to reduce the life of the lines a little.

salvatore13
QLD, 50 posts
23 Feb 2020 4:52PM
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To be honest after experimenting with that a little I actually just use something like from the image below... That's all basically same thing, nothing complicated here. I still need my line spliced though but it works perfectly!








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"Low-V vs High-V bar" started by salvatore13