ignored cheaper to get someone else to do it and or buy a new one!

Hi Lex123,

Just wondering what you mean by your question- have you been being grabbed for lots of repairs for newbies?
I have less than 2 years exp and havent yet (x) had to repair anything, but i guess common sense would be that i would learn as i go. I understand that it's important to be able to do your own repairs and know your equipment, but i would be hesitant to be completely independent in case i miss something or wreck something.
And why not ask an expert opinion when you first start out? I'd rather swallow my pride and ask for help than end up hurting myself or someone else...
How did you learn?

Kym said...

Hi Lex123,

Just wondering what you mean by your question- have you been being grabbed for lots of repairs for newbies?
I have less than 2 years exp and havent yet (x) had to repair anything, but i guess common sense would be that i would learn as i go. I understand that it's important to be able to do your own repairs and know your equipment, but i would be hesitant to be completely independent in case i miss something or wreck something.
And why not ask an expert opinion when you first start out? I'd rather swallow my pride and ask for help than end up hurting myself or someone else...
How did you learn?

G'day KYM. No1 can expect you to know straight of the Bat how best to do these things. Whats bugging me is kiters lack of interest in learning.

I have witnessed many kiters requesting that their stuff get fixed by a mate, instructor, store clerk and all just so simple to do them selves if they would apply the effort.Worst of all is people complaining about it not getting done in time for the next windy day or that there are service costs.

When i first started i Watched a DVD by a company called "real" which explained a lot of the skills needed, which is why i asked if it would be helpful to have such a DVD or u-tube series produced individually for each brands setup. When i had my first bladder failure i went to my local store and asked one of the guys there if they would "supervise" me to make sure i did it correctly. When i first tried to tune my bar, some bloke was watching me try to adjust knotts in my leader lines by my local spot. He came over grabbed my short line and gave it a vicious tug. At first i thought this guys was being a total **** but soon explained why he did that and i listened instead of just thinking "oh its fixed, never happen again".

The overall point of this, is that if people are just not getting the info. I would like to do something about it. Getting stores to do superficial line replacements and tuning etc is just like getting a mechanic to top up your Oil.

Not sure where you are headed with this topic because it's more of a personal decision than anything, though you probably would get a better response with a less inflamatory title, in any case I fit into the category that you are aimed at.

I've had professional repairs for torn fabric only, most other stuff no worries. I have repaired leaky/failed valves and bladder (u-stick and follow the instructions with some common sense thrown in), replaced lines (North Manual from the web was most helpful, checked by an experienced kiter before use and would recommend regardless of experience that work is checkked by an experienced person in anycase - we all make mistakes ). Not sure about other kite brands but the North manuals available from the web show some useful techniques that can be applied regardless of brand.

Information on how to do this stuff is always useful but bottom line I think is that it's more down to the personality than skills necessarily, personally I'm inclined to be a DIY'er anyway but there are plenty out there who are not this way inclined and in this case then sometimes it's not a bad plan to have someone else take on the task.

This is not just a kiting thing, has been happening slowly in alot of other sports and I have been seeing it happen in sailing.

10 years ago when kiting was just getting going there were far more people with the time and willingness to DYI, now people want everything now and usually their exuse is that they are time poor. They get so used to buying everything off the shelf (cause that's the way they were bought up) so when something breaks they don't even know where to start to even think about fixing it!!

I had a 18yo kid come into work on Saturday, one which I know has finished school and is not working, wanted us to build a new rudder box for his sailing dinghy. Now we are flat out and he wanted it within 2 weeks, not going to happen, but when I suggested building it himself he would have no bar of it. Would of taken $200 worth of materials, some tools (which I know his Dad has) and about 20 hours of his time. He then asked if we knew anyone else, we gave him two guys cards, which he rang straight away. He then bitched to us when the guy had quoted him $1200 to build a new rudder box!!!

Another example is guys coming to national champs here in Freo from NSW without as much as a screw driver, no tool kit at all!!!

It seems to be a latest batch are worse than the previous ones.
Not sure what we can do about it but it may be here to stay!!

lex123 said...

^^^ RPM did you just copy and paste a general reply from any of the newbie issue threads? None of that has anything to do what im on about. I don't Dislike Newbies, I'm just curious why kiters aren't learning these skills. How can you call yourself a kiteboarder if you don't know how your gear works and how to fix it when it fails.

same way millions of people call themselves motorists, whitout kknowing squat about car maintenance ?

Dude .... if there isnt a youtube vid for everything you could ever need to fix/brake/steal/make by now , i'd be very surprised.
Some peeps like to dyi , some peeps like to pay someone.
Isnt diversity gr8

Handel tuning what you mean been kitting 4 years .
yes a dvd would be good .
Aksonline (DM) i would go to it but nothing like that is ever going to happen over here maybe you sould video it so we all can see it .

I would be happy to see some articles in magzines or even on the net for general kite maintenance. Even looking up something as simple as should a kite be washed ever gets you many varying answers across the net.

I have been kiting a very short time and have popped a bladder attempting to fix a pinhole leak.... leason learnt. I would like some advice though on what to do with my bridle pulleys. One seemed to derail on the weekend and snag the line beside it.

Another note, where can i find pigtails for a 5 line (i.e. yellow middle line pigtails).

if it aint broke.......then dont fix it!
In which case, as a relative noob, why spend hours learning something when there is no immediate need. If your DYI inclined, then deal with it when a repair is required. If not, pass it over to an expert and hand over some of your hard earned green.
Personally, I have yet to have any issues with my Cabrinha (touch wood), perhaps they really are a quality kite contrary to others opinions
And if / when the time comes and I do have an issue, i'll assess or seek advice on the complexity of the repair, then decide whether to give it a crack myself or have it fixed professionally. Wife, kids, work, studying a degree part-time, time is valuable, particularly free time to kite, I most likely would be taking the most time efficient option.

lex123 said...

AKSonline said...

suface2air said...

Handel tuning what you mean been kitting 4 years .
yes a dvd would be good .
Aksonline (DM) i would go to it but nothing like that is ever going to happen over here maybe you sould video it so we all can see it .

Hi S2A,

Yes, I am planning on making a series of short videos of the night which will eventually be uploaded onto my websites and youtube. =)

Cheers,

Thats exactly what I was going for AKSonline. But every brand has their own little tricks to them like the naish octopus system, the collars on cabrinhas etc. Do you as a store think it's important to do bladder and bar stuff brand by brand?

Once again Im not trying to have a dig at all beginners. I'm quite happy to take money for doing simple repairs but I'd be even happier if they were wanting to learn.

Hi again S2A,

Brand specific repairs can be handled by anyone with a bit of nouse. Proprietary parts like on North, Naish, JN, Cab, F-One etc can make repairs a little more tricky if you don't have access to those parts. Unfortunately some bars can only be fixed with that brands replacement bits and pieces. Luckilythought, it is usually only basic bits and pieces that wear out like depower lines. With Monkeyfish coming along and showing us how to splice Spectra, I am hoping to not need to purchase those items and be able to get people back on the water faster and much cheaper than buying OEM parts by splicing my own spectra that we buy on the roll.

We will be focusing on general repairs and not going into the more obscure types of tricks that are brand related. We'd need a week to cover all the particulars of North 2-pump, Naish Octopus, and the multitudes of various proprietary bar systems.

I feel fairly confident that this will be an informative night.

Just another FREE AKS event!

DM

No, not adding a 5th line. Just replacing worn pigtails on a 5 line hifi.