My 2 cents on kite inflation, after reading many posts etc on the net I have never seen any comments about counting how many strokes of your manual pump to get your kite pretty close to the right pressure once you know and have been shown the correct way to test ( ping and bend tests ) so now on my current kite I just count the number of strokes Eg: up/down =one stroke till I'm at the wright amount then still give the ping test, it just saves a bit of time stopping to test a few times I find, and as your experience grows you can feel your hand pump loading up also.

Cheers and safe kiting.

Yeah I just pump away till the kite is looking solid and it gets harder to pump, then give it 5-6 more pumps for good measure. As Kitcho said air density changes with temperature, so if the water is a lot colder then the outside temp (hot sand) and you drop the kite a couple times, that can make the kite go abit floppy! So worth coming in for a couple more pumps if your likely to have the kite in the water!

What are guys thoughts on locking off the other struts? I've been told if your not going to be far from shore and trying new tricks (eg, likely to hit the kite hard in the water) its best to leave them open as there is less risk of the bladder popping! I've been locking of the centre 3 and leaving the out 2 open, more out of laziness then any reasoning.

Some people will not clip their struts when trying new tricks. The theory being that the air has somewhere to go in the event of a heavy crash. It's not possible to know if this actually works and avoids a bladder burst since no one has actually done any empirical testing to prove it one way or the other. It's one of those ideas that sounds about right so it must be true.

gkawo said..

KIT33R said..
Some people will not clip their struts when trying new tricks. The theory being that the air has somewhere to go in the event of a heavy crash. It's not possible to know if this actually works and avoids a bladder burst since no one has actually done any empirical testing to prove it one way or the other. It's one of those ideas that sounds about right so it must be true.

Maybe. But then again I wouldn't do tricks and risk losing my board 10km out to sea!

Me neither. For the record - I clip off my struts.

Pump till the wrinkles on your centre strut are gone the do the ping test. When thud goes to ping its on like donkeykong.

weebitbreezy said...

Depends on the kite though. North state 6 psi (?) of pressure where as Ozone want more like 9psi.

Agree it depends on the kite... I just bought an electric pump and set it to the 6psi that North indicates... I realised when pumping manually I've always pumped harder... But then, if the kite is designed for 6psi, there is nothing to be gained form inflating any more... Am I right?

subseaos said...
As a bigger guy I've got no choice but to pump the **** out of the kite otherwise it folds.........so its pump until I nearly break the handles on the pump...........never had a problem and never blown the bladder even with some might crashes.

That's exactly what i do and never had any issues. The handles on the pump will break before the bladder lets go or the air just escapes through the hose fittings. Maybe 6-7psi is enough if you're 75kgs but some of us aren't even close!

weebitbreezy said..

evila said..

weebitbreezy said...

Depends on the kite though. North state 6 psi (?) of pressure where as Ozone want more like 9psi.

Agree it depends on the kite... I just bought an electric pump and set it to the 6psi that North indicates... I realised when pumping manually I've always pumped harder... But then, if the kite is designed for 6psi, there is nothing to be gained form inflating any more... Am I right?

Theoretically, pumping to higher pressures will affect the handling of the kite. I believe higher pressures will slow down turning and increase bar pressure (both slightly).

And remember, heat expands it more with the sun blarring on the kite all day too. 6psi is my max

weebitbreezy said..
Theoretically, pumping to higher pressures will affect the handling of the kite. I believe higher pressures will slow down turning and increase bar pressure (both slightly).

I think this is true, but those are minor changes... But if you are expecting very gusty condition, maybe overpower better to inflate quite a loot. It will deform less and better absorb gust, be more stable..

I count ,Edge 7 , 32 down strokes and edge 10 ,47 on an ozone pump, just count then you'll know your kites at pressure, brand and pump dependant

flyingcab said..
Easiest way for me (stole the idea from surfingboye)
Buy the replacement hose piece for a exhaust car jack:


Attach a 7 psi blow off valve, then finally attach your kite specific inflate valve.

Reverse up onto beach, roll kite out and connect her up,

7psi every time, takes approx 30seconds, can be faster if you get someone to red line your old hunk of junk

All up cost is about $100, not bad considering it lasts longer than your standard pump.

epic

My 2010 kites are still going strong, you do more damage by not looking after your kites. Kids down here go through bladders simply by crashing their kites all the time, I have never replaced a bladder.