Hey Glenno go into any yatch shop or similar and get some dyneema (check spelling there) at the same thickness as your bridle lines. Use the sticky sail cloth repair tape to fold the ends over and then stitch with a sewing machine (you don treally need the sleeves) - will do the job a treat - done it a few times for some of my kites and saves you an absolute fortune.

Thanks fellas,

Silly question - I haven't got a sewing machine but is it too rough to sew by hand? At the moment I've got yacht chandler stuff with knots in the end - they haven't let go yet but I've heard that knots aren't as good as sewn ends?

Hi Glenno,

Do you wash your kite with fresh water after putting it in the ocean ? Also, do you use or can you use ronstan pulleys ?

I learnt to kite with Airush Halo's which have pulleys and bridles etc. The only problem I ever had with these was the squeak from the pulleys when the kites hadn't been uesd for a while, this would go away after a few minutes. I always washed my kites down with the hose if I put them in the water and then would stand them up (using screwdrivers through the front line attachments ) to dry them before putting them away. Probably sounds like a lot of hard work but it doesn't take long and your kites are always like new.

There was a thread somewhere here in this forum about pulleys, how they are fitted is very important. Basically, make sure that the pulley runs straight in line with the bridle. This is more so to protect the pulley but if the bridle isn't running straight through it might rub and cause premature wear.

Braking 4 bridles in less than a year sounds pretty rough, hope this helps ?

Mike

Thanks for the replies,

Yep I do wash my kite as much as I can - the pulley's block pretty easily though - one or two landings in the sand - especially if I'm launching/landing alone is enough and they don't work properly. The pulleys are ronstan but the plastic variety - I've replaced them too as one had a flat spot on it! I'll look around for some better quality ones...

Good to know you tie bowlines - I'll see how long these one's hold up - I usually break the bridles on light days trying to get going believe it or not!

Yeh same as Best kites.. You can do this mod to most SLE's. Just make sure you mark how far the pulley travels when sheeting in and out. Fly the kite at the edge of the window and get a black nikko and mark the distance. Cut that section out and replace with 4mm amsteel. Keep some spare ones and then you can replace as soon as it looks like it is wearing to much.

I'm replacing the rear leader lines on a XBOW2. I've found a shop that sells Dyneema, $3.30/m for straight dyneema or $1.90/m for dyneema core with a polyester sheath. Without seeing it I'm assuming I need the straight dyneema.

Question is bow lines or sewn? For those of you that have sewn on a machine, have you just used normal cotton? Won't that perish over time?

edit

I just found out I can get a new set for $30. Bugger making em for that... I'm still interested to know if you've used normal cotton to sew them...