Columbus, Indiana - What's Up

[Elix]

Hi IKE

My name is Chris, I'm in southern Indiana, and I love stunt kites! Recently got into quads and hoping to get into Revs as soon as possible. If you read this and you're near Columbus, IN - please reply or send a PM so we can chat. I'd love to meet other dual/quad pilots near me.

If anyone has a used (gently or otherwise) Rev they can manage to part with for less than retail, let's talk. I've got a bad case of Rev Fever but the wife says it's not a covered medical expense.

[Mike]

Hey Chris!
Welcome to the club!
Our forum has been down for several days and it may take a little while for all our members to figure out we're up and running again.

I don't know of anyone too close to you. For some reason, Indiana doesn't have a lot of quad fliers. You may need to take a little drive to meet up with some like-minded fliers.

Dave in Dayton,OH may be the closest, and I'm a few hours away in Charleston,IL.

Please post questions you have here on the forum, there's a lot of quad-heads in the club.
If you ever want to take a day trip to Illinois, I'd be happy to meet up with you and I could probably gather another flier or two to join us.
You're welcome to fly any Rev in my bag.

[Jeff]

Welcome Chris!

Keep an eye on the Club Fly and Festival forums to find out when there might be opportunities to get together with other kite addicts.

We're not a really formal organization with regular events, so keep in mind that anyone can post in the Club Fly and Quick Fly forum to see if others would like to join them on a given day. Sometimes we'll have a Fly in the north, sometimes we'll have one down south. We try to mix them up a bit so there's something reasonably close to as many people as possible, but we are a pretty spread out group.

[Elix]

Hi Mike and Jeff, thanks for the welcome. I was here earlier this week to register and saw the issues. Glad they were worked out. I work IT support/helpdesk for my company so feel for the long hours that can go into getting life back to normal.

My unfortunate distance from anyone that knows a kite can have more than 1 string seems to be a common theme on the forums I'm visiting. I'm taking a trip to Valparaiso/lake Michigan dunes over the 4th of July weekend. Maybe I'll see some friendly sights on the beach there. Too bad I'm not in Terre Haute, wouldn't be too bad of a trip to Charleston. :)

I'm currently struggling to gain reverse-flight skills, though that might have something to do with the non-rev kite I'm flying. I can rocket straight up to the top of the wind window and then reverse back down just as fast. But once I start to tip my leading edge left or right, the reverse power rapidly vanishes. By the time I'm 90 degrees left or right, as I feed in progressively more brake I eventually reach a point where the kite still isn't really backing up, and the trailing edge tips are starting to buffet in complaint. At that point if I give any more reverse, I'll tip stall and tumble part or all the way to earth trying to recover. Sideways hovers are also presenting a challenge. These are the reasons I want to get a Rev. I need to know if it's me or the kite. And if I do need help, I want common ground for experts to give advice from - so they know if it's me or the kite. :)

I'll keep an eye on the datebook. Exposure to other pilots will indeed go a long way to answer questions you just can't learn while solo.

[Mike]

I've flown a bunch of quads (briefly) other than the Rev. What quad are you flying?

[Elix]

80 inch leading edge, 21 inches tall. A fair amount smaller than a 1.5. Maybe closer to a Rev II as far as sail size. If it has a brand name, I don't know it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfindley/5863607965/

[Darkspark]

Welcome Chris.
I may be willing to go to the dunes for some flying the weekend of the fourth. PM me, or post some more details and I will look into it and see if I can make it for a meet. Never flown at the dunes and always thought it would be a good place. Depending on wind direction, etc.... If I could make it I would be more than willing to let you try out one of my Revs. Although a warning, Try it and you will be buying one. You might find yourself selling all your possessions (or at least part of your Lego collection) on ebay just to get another. ( I wouldn't know nothing about it of course.)
Welcome to the dark side!
Mikey

[Mike]

Interesting kite! It looks homemade to me.
You can also place blame on the kite.

Smaller kites, Rev II sized, are harder to fly. Especially in reverse. People do learn on Rev II sized kites, but it's much easier on a 1.5 sized kite.
From the photo, it doesn't look like this kite has mesh along the leading edge. That screen/mesh allows air to flow through the kite when you fly in reverse. On my own experiments with home made kites, ones that don't have mesh are harder to fly in reverse. Add mesh and it works much better.

I can't tell what the spars are like in your kite, but the flexibility/stiffness of the spars also make a difference in how the kite flies.

Try contacting thekitesite.net
It's a new startup by a great guy who's on the 180GO! kite team. So you know he's an expert on Revs. He'll sell you what you need, not just get rid of his excess inventory. He gives good prices to members of IKE--aren't you glad you joined?

If a new kite isn't in the budget, you an always borrow one of ours if you meet up at a club fly or festival.

[Elix]

Welcome Chris.
I may be willing to go to the dunes for some flying the weekend of the fourth. PM me, or post some more details and I will look into it and see if I can make it for a meet. Never flown at the dunes and always thought it would be a good place. Depending on wind direction, etc.... If I could make it I would be more than willing to let you try out one of my Revs. Although a warning, Try it and you will be buying one. You might find yourself selling all your possessions (or at least part of your Lego collection) on ebay just to get another. ( I wouldn't know nothing about it of course.)
Welcome to the dark side!
Mikey

Hi Mikey, thanks for the welcome. That sounds like a very helpful offer. I'll send you a PM* and we'll see if something can be worked out. Thanks! And I will end up owning 1 before too long, one way or another. Gonna try to sell a spare motorcycle this weekend and convince my wife to let me have some of the proceeds.


* Well it turns out I'm too new to send PMs. Perhaps if you send me one I'll be able to reply. Otherwise I'll post further info here in a day or so.

Interesting kite! It looks homemade to me.
You can also place blame on the kite.

Smaller kites, Rev II sized, are harder to fly. Especially in reverse. People do learn on Rev II sized kites, but it's much easier on a 1.5 sized kite.
From the photo, it doesn't look like this kite has mesh along the leading edge. That screen/mesh allows air to flow through the kite when you fly in reverse. On my own experiments with home made kites, ones that don't have mesh are harder to fly in reverse. Add mesh and it works much better.

I can't tell what the spars are like in your kite, but the flexibility/stiffness of the spars also make a difference in how the kite flies.

Try contacting thekitesite.net
It's a new startup by a great guy who's on the 180GO! kite team. So you know he's an expert on Revs. He'll sell you what you need, not just get rid of his excess inventory. He gives good prices to members of IKE--aren't you glad you joined?

If a new kite isn't in the budget, you an always borrow one of ours if you meet up at a club fly or festival.

Thank you for the feedback on the kite Mike. The information about the Rev II is good to know, as is the function of the leading edge vent. I can tell you the spars on my little mutt are very stiff. The kite barely changes shape at all even in 20+ mph winds. The entire thing is very light, though, and as a result, it gets tossed around in the sky by swirling Indiana winds.

I've added thekitesite.net to my bookmarks and I'll keep an eye on his inventory. Something I noticed: The EXP and SLE both say "kite only" and give a price I would expect. The B does not say "kite only" and even mentions handles/weights/2nd frame in the description. On other sites, that package is ~$320 and the ~$285 is usually Kite Only. If he is truly selling "everything but the lines" for $285 that's where I'll order from!

[Jeff]

* Well it turns out I'm too new to send PMs. Perhaps if you send me one I'll be able to reply. Otherwise I'll post further info here in a day or so.

Yeah, that's a setting to keep spammers' permissions limited. Have to post a number of times before qualifying. You're clearly a real person, so I've lifted the restriction on your account.

[Elix]

Thank you Jeff!

[Mike]

I've added thekitesite.net to my bookmarks and I'll keep an eye on his inventory. Something I noticed: The EXP and SLE both say "kite only" and give a price I would expect. The B does not say "kite only" and even mentions handles/weights/2nd frame in the description. On other sites, that package is ~$320 and the ~$285 is usually Kite Only. If he is truly selling "everything but the lines" for $285 that's where I'll order from!

He'll give you the best deals if you contact him. He can't advertise the discounts he gives to club members.

[Elix]

He'll give you the best deals if you contact him.

Wow, you've got that right. We're talking now, and he's speaking my language
IKE, if you need a kite, don't order from anywhere until you talk to Big Mike at http://thekitesite.net/
Thanks again for the tip!

[goestoeleven]

Chris -

Welcome to IKE. The first observation I have for you . . . . you won't be able to stop at one rev. Trust me on this one. Hope your wife is understanding. Mine is losing patience with my new obsession. I'm out of rationalizations that she'll let me use . . .

[Mike]

One strategy I've heard other guys use: they buy all their kites in the same color so the spouse can't tell them apart and doesn't know how many he's bought.
A better strategy though, is to get your wife hooked too. It's more fun to fly with two! or three! or four! or...

Chris, once you get some basic skills, download the team flying manual over at Rev and then you can have impromptu team flies where ever and when ever you meet up with some other Rev fliers.

[goestoeleven]

Yes, I am not as smart as the one-color guys (and gals) . . . but my wife can count the kite sleeves in the bag, plus see the USPS tubes that appear in the recycling bin (she's resorted to checking the postmark date on the latest tube), plus it does not help that the kites don't all fit in the bag any longer . . . and finally . . . my nine year old son is not very good at keeping a "secret" even though he's one of the fliers!

In all seriousness, try to find a way to come to one of the club flys. If you're like me, you'll learn more in an afternoon with good rev fliers than in a week on your own (although there is no substitute for hours on the sticks after you've heard the advice). Plus, it's just fun to fly with a group. Dayton David drove all the way from Ohio a few weeks back for a day of flying! You are about 3.5 hours from Kankakee - a long way, to be sure, but call a club fly for Kankakee or Pontiac, and it's pretty likely you'll get at least a couple people out there to fly with you. Most of us are within a couple hour's drive of there, so that region now seems to be a more frequent club fly area.

[Elix]

One strategy I've heard other guys use: they buy all their kites in the same color so the spouse can't tell them apart and doesn't know how many he's bought.
A better strategy though, is to get your wife hooked too. It's more fun to fly with two! or three! or four! or...

Chris, once you get some basic skills, download the team flying manual over at Rev and then you can have impromptu team flies where ever and when ever you meet up with some other Rev fliers.

Evil strategy, Mike... I love it!

I've glanced at the team manual, and heard JB calling out the commands on videos. I'll be sure to study it once I've got a Rev singing my tune.

Thanks for the welcome goestoeleven. I've been fully warned 1 is not enough, and I'm already too aware that I'll be miserable for a few years while I save up for another. These kids of mine better be worth all the sacrifices I have to make

Of course one of my plans is to get my (currently 1 year old) son hooked on Revs as soon as he's able. Then "mommy" will have to tell his big blue eyes why he can't have a kite of his own!

side note: if by some miracle I ever convince my wife to start flying Revs, someone please remind me to come back here and delete this post!!!!

[prairierose]

Welcome to the club and rev flying, Chris!