When I was riding best kites - 08&09 the idea on theirs was you move your leash and clip it onto the osr loop

The difference at that time however was that the kite in normal safety mode flagged double depower style on both front lines so still had a fair bit of pull. Given that almost all kites 4 or 5 line now flag to one line for safety reasons I really can't see the use of an osr on those kites...

there never used to be any flagging to either front line. you clipped to the chicken loop when riding or to the osr if you needed to ditch the kite without losing it. the kite depowers completely. i still use them if i need to drop the kite in a hurry in a big wind.

the old fuels had a little plastic ball on the line about 7 metres up to stop the bar going all the way to the kite.

Cool, thanks for the responses guys
But I'm still wondering why modern kites still have these things?
There are metal rings - which you could attach a leash to ( though I don't see why) but attached to these rings are black and red hand sized grab handles?? What's the point of these??
Why do I need special places to grab the steering lines?

another scenario is if you have twisted your front lines too much or have weed wrapped around them preventing the bar riding up the front line

^^^ I thought it was for relaunching as well !
I remember the old cab bar had a osr above the bar but if you attached your leash to it you could not spin the bar .

If you don't use a death-leash like my good self,

then an Oh-Sh1t grab loop is mandatory equipment for flagging out a kite when landing in strong wind.

I have two loops, one on each steering line located right at the bar in close reach.

Remember, tethering yourself to a power kite with a death-leash can be life-threatening ...

especially in big waves.

Really? The mechanics seem obvious enough? Then again that is all we had at one time. Yeh man can be a great back up.