G'day everyone, on my 2014 north evo 12 there are little clips or cleats between the struts/bladders that can lock off the air flow between them. The manual I just downloaded after using the kite for three months says to lock them off every time after inflating. Is there any point in doing this or am I good to just ignoring them as I have been doing? P.S. Thanks to all the dudes that post and comment on this section you have saved me a ton of money and effort.

+1 ....Calvin.....also if you do blow a leading edge and your struts are cleated off you can do a deep water pack down and be able to lay on your inflated struts as a buoyancy raft...hopefully you will never need this but personally I would prefer to have a floating raft than a sunken raft, at the end of the day ( depending on the situation ) it could save your life.

Does anyone know where to actually purchase spare cleats and tubes? They are hard to find, and marine shops have no idea what they are. I am even thinking of ripping them off on a 3D scanner and printing them myself!

When I went from a 2009 kite to a 2013 I came across the one pump system which I never wanted as I don't mind pumping struts a little harder than the main bladder. With the first couple of times with the new kite I was experiencing one wing tip collapsing when hit with strong gusts or while jumping and just put this down to needing to pump the kite a little harder which did work but in extreme gust or big jumps I was still getting a small amount of the tip fluttering. Anyway one day I just decided to use the clamps and a wonderful thing happened, no more wing tip flutter. Not sure why but it definitely solved the problem and I have used the kite again with out the clips and the flutter returns. Maybe its to do with the lower volume of the main bladder with the clips applied maintains the pressure better.

Hardcarve1 said...
When I went from a 2009 kite to a 2013 I came across the one pump system which I never wanted as I don't mind pumping struts a little harder than the main bladder. With the first couple of times with the new kite I was experiencing one wing tip collapsing when hit with strong gusts or while jumping and just put this down to needing to pump the kite a little harder which did work but in extreme gust or big jumps I was still getting a small amount of the tip fluttering. Anyway one day I just decided to use the clamps and a wonderful thing happened, no more wing tip flutter. Not sure why but it definitely solved the problem and I have used the kite again with out the clips and the flutter returns. Maybe its to do with the lower volume of the main bladder with the clips applied maintains the pressure better.

What kite was this and size please?

Hardcarve1 said...
14m North Rebel 2013

Very interesting. No, I have not touched or ridden one of them, but it's interesting considering the "new" design was meant to reduce the very thing you've experienced.

www.kitefinder.com/en/kites/1180/north-rebel-2013

And

www.powerkiteshop.com/kites/northrebel07.htm

I quote:

"Doubled and cleaned Pigtails:
New ways in constructing Front – and Back Pigtails have been found by North Kiteboarding. No more belt struts are used, but strongest dyneema lines. The advantage of the lines is the flexibility at the edge of the canopy, so they can flex in every single direction, not like stiff belt struts. Further more two layers of strongest Dacron are sewed on all Pigtails which ensures a perfect and flutter free load transmission."