Build Quality.

Mark (Mr. Jest of Eve) has been gaining something of a reputation over the last 12-18 months as that of a quality kite builder, and rightly so. The Talon will go some way towards cementing this reputation. The stitching and construction is excellent. The kite is beautifully made and lovingly constructed with some of the best materials around. Component parts are the PC31 Ripstop Polyester sail with Mylar reinforcing along the trailing edge, Skyshark P200 and Skyshark Black Diamond Nitro leading edges, 7pt lower spreaders and Structil for the spine and other bits.

Design and Technology

The sail graphics for the Talon are amongst the most striking on the market. There seems to be endless scope for colour themes, 3D effects and personal preferences. There have been a few Talon made already with a simply stunning, sophisticated look to them. It wouldn’t take much however, to add some fun and zest to the outlook. A word of caution though, the colorizer (found through the Jest of Eve website) can easily eat up several hours of your time. You have been warned.

A lower Aspect Ratio has been used in comparison to the Trident, so many of the over steer, pitchy issues have been addressed, and the whole effect is one of a much more balanced kite.

Technologically speaking, there’s nothing ground-breaking here. Roll bars and covered leading edges come as standard, and there’s a bit of ballast to help with the manoeuvrability. The Trident came with some neat little cones fitted to the roll bars to help stop the lines slipping during wrapped moves. This has been improved further with a ‘Slip Catch’. This is a small protrusion from the yo-yo stopper fitting (where the roll bars fit into the leading edge), and it seems to work pretty well.

Flight Characteristics

Enough of the arty stuff, how does it work?

Well, pretty nicely. There’s not too much pull and the sail catches the wind effectively enough, so little wind is needed to get the thing working. The 3 point active bridle makes it pretty responsive and it holds a line quite well. So well in fact, that I would suspect that a scaled up version would make a passable precision kite.

Precision however, is not really what the Talon is all about so lets talk freestyle. All of the basic positions are easily accessible. There’s a stable fade, solid if not deep turtle, easy pancake with the flick of the wrists and recovery is predictable. Axel based stuff is sharp with stabby inputs, and flat and soft with a more delicate approach. Combining the 2 makes for some delightful combinations of Cascades, Cometes and Taz Machines, with multi-spins flat and smooth. Similar can be said of 540′s and Slot Machines. Aggressive inputs give really quick spins, whilst smoother, more controlled action does offer a really pleasing “Old Skool” Style.

Backspin moves and combos are very tidy, and lead into one of the very finest Barrel Rolls I’ve seen. Just get it spinning, apply some pressure to the active hand, and keep it there. Pull harder for a fast roll, lessen the tension for a slow one. Release and catch whenever you’re ready. Sweet. Turtle based spins are not the Talons’ forte, but they are a lot more achievable than the previous Jest if Eve design. Lazy Susans (with multi-spins from a single input), Rolling Susans and Inverses come at a snap, as do Insanes and Rolling Cascades, but whilst reversing these moves (ala Cynique / Insane L/R) are perfectly do-able they’re just not as easy as most of the other moves. This is down to the depth and stability of the Turtle and the pitch characteristics, which brings us on to … Roll-ups are a pleasure, as many as you like, real quick and concise, or slow, smooth and flowing. This inbuilt pitch also enables Yo-Fades and Crazy Copters, and all of the variants to come quite comfortably with the right inputs.

To compare and contrast

There seems to be a wealth of fantastic kites available to the serious and recreational flier alike just now, so how does the Talon compare. Well to start with, this is as well, if not better made as any. Bar none. It’s right up there with Benson, CR and Sky Sport Design. The price for a bespoke, boutique kite is about right, and whilst there are cheaper, mass produced, options available, the Talon certainly represents value for money for what it is. In flight, the Talon flows like a Benson Deep Space. It’s nothing like as crisp, but more spin friendly and pitchy than a CR Fury .85, or RSky Nirvana. It’s not all French in its Turtle bias, but backspins and Barrel Rolls like a dream. All told, the Talon is a really accomplished freestyler, with a sleek and silky transitional style punctuated with a sharp and defined aspect. Just this reviewer’s opinion, but “sweet” indeed.

Bryan

Thanks Bryan for another great submission !

Vented kites don’t work they’re not fit for purpose!

‘Tis only an opinion, but an opinion shared by many. So let’s have a look, and try to define what that purpose may be.

Light weight kites are designed to fly in light winds, and standard weight kites for flying in erm standard winds. So a vent then, is supposed to perform in stronger winds right ?

Well yes, obviously, but there comes a point where (for the purposes of slack line freestyle) it doesn’t make much difference just how big, or how many vents there are, or how heavy the framing for that matter. Pressure in the sail caused by too much wind simply takes away the slack in the lines before the flier has had any chance what-so-ever to do anything with it.

Slow, floaty Taz Machine Cascades in the middle of a 25mph wind window! forget it, unless you can run forward at 15mph throughout the duration of the move.

The purpose then, so far as I can see, is to relieve some sail pressure at the point where a STD sail starts to become uncomfortable to continue Freestylie. Straight lines and carved turns are worthy of a different conversation, but we’re talking Trick Style here, so let’s have a look and see if the new Jest of Eve creation for the Talon family is fit for that purpose.

First and foremost, this is a Jest of Eve kite. They are built; beautifully, and this is no exception. Second, it’s a “Talon”; which makes it designed for free flowing, smooth and unadulterated freestyle. Turn off “competition mode”, engage “informality” and let’s go.

The styling is sublime. End of paragraph.

This is one gorgeous piece of flying sculpture. The positioning and shape of the vents complement the already dreamy sail design really nicely, and the continued option to design your own colour schemes leaves open seemingly endless variations to suit.

Icarex PC31 sail with plenty of reinforcements, Skyshark P200 and Black Diamond Nitro (Strong) leading edges and 7PT lower spreaders all add up to make a pretty solid structure. There’s some weighting round and about to help the overall balance, and all of the usual “Talon” features are built in; “Roll Bars” with “Slip Catches” included.

So then, is it – in fact any good ?

Well, yes. Yes it is!

The UL Talon is a dreamlike experience with all its silky delicacies, yet it handles some serious inputs with allure. This’ll get you up to around 7mph winds, much more and you’re into serious footwork to stay comfortable. The STD has a sharper, more concise feel and freestyle flow transition is superb. Anything much over 12mph winds though and again, work is required. Sure it’ll fly in stronger winds, just less fluid.

What the new Vent does, is it makes that 12mph feel like 6mph pressure on the end of the lines, 20mph feel like 14 without losing the feel and responsiveness the Talon has. It’s quite simply, in the context of the Jest of Eve flying style, brilliant.

At this point, I could start to whittle on a bit about what the Talon can, and can’t do. I could reel off a great list of moves and combos that come built in (Crazy Copters are awesome btw. ;-) ), and some that are less accessible, but let’s cut it short. This ain’t no TP or precision flight tool, but it is freestyle Avalon. The Vent will allow you to stay there just a bit longer.

Sweet.

Bryan Beasley

Here are some exclusive shots of Jest Of Eve’s (JoE) forthcoming vented “Talon”.

As you can see the venting follows the lines of the design and is distributed across the main body of the sail. It certainly makes for a very unusual and striking design.

Just imagine how much work goes into creating and finishing the vents, all eight of them. The talon shaped cut out at the bottom on each vent is a particularly distinctive flourish and typical of the level of quality we’ve come to expect from JoE.

Mark reports that the kite performs very well and suffers none of the (lack of) pitch issues which detract from many vented designs.

Pricing has not yet been finalized but expect to pay a premium over the STD/UL given th

e extra work which obviously goes into producing this version.

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