What’s it all about?

A new offering from Kitehouse.de, wahoo! I’m a pretty big fan of all things Kitehousey, so I’ll try and keep this objective.

Of course the first thing I bought and paid for was the bag – with a ‘Kitehouse’ label on it. Oh hang on a minute though, there’s something inside – some crispy icarex wrapped around some sticks. It’s advertised as a gap filler between the ‘Drop’ and the ‘Sin’ in the current catalogue. A bit more advanced than entry level then, whilst not as accurate or tricky as the Sin? Maybe, except it’s a small, fast kite. So the ‘Sin’ then, is slower and more precise with some trickiness sewn in, whilst the ‘Pulsar’ is quicker and more nimble, but with some accuracy in there? Oh I don’t know, let’s put it together and see what’s what.

Build Quality

These particular Germans generally make a pretty nice kite. Raw materials used and the construction thereof is right up there with the best, and the Pulsar is no exception despite being relatively cheap. I say relatively because this is not a cheap kite, but it’s nothing like as pricy as some competition quality offerings or boutique freestylers available elsewhere. Mid-range pricing then, where’s the compromise? I wonder.

Sticks used are a mixture of 6mm CFK (whatever that is) for Leading Edges and Top Spreader and Skyshark P300 for the Lower Spreaders, and it all feels quite solid. There’s an Icarex sail, which is beautifully stitched together, though there’s a limited number of panels. Quite a striking design, but the sail tension does seem a little weak at first impression. We’ll see if there’s a negative effect in the air later… Ok, there’s a bit of ballast round and about, adjustable leach line through the trailing edge and a perfectly functional bridle, fully adjustable with just a bit of turbo. Oh, and then some yo-yo stops… You’ll not miss ‘em. Great big ugly ‘Kitehouse’ branded rubber do-nuts they are.

I can’t actually see a much of a compromise to construction then. I would say however, that within 5 minutes of first flight, 3 of the 4 leading edge fittings had become loose (failed glue at the ‘c’ clips) and slipped all out of shape. No biggy, a resourceful flier has a bag of bits to hand and a touch of decent glue and a bit of tape later and all’s good. Still… Hmmm, OK, let’s overlook that and attach some lines.

In Flight

Most small, quick, tricky type kites have a wind range issue. Generally speaking – there’s quite a blow needed to get them in the air to start with. Then, too much wind and they become really quick and ungainly. There are exceptions of course, but I can’t say that the Pulsar is one of them. The low wind range is actually quite good, at least to get it into the air and flying (trick recovery takes a touch more or some nifty footwork) – and the good news is that it’s robust enough to really handle being thrashed around at pace in higher wind, you’ll just need quick hands to keep up with it. The sweet spot then, is quite limited – below about 5mph and trick recovery is damned hard work, above about 12 mph and it’s too quick to be comfortable. Big fun, just ermmm…  pacey. The trailing edge tension is adjustable though, so it can be slowed a touch.

There’s a light feel at the end of the lines. It’s not totally devoid of presence, but certainly isn’t going to yank your arms out of the sockets. ‘s quite a pleasant fly all told. Straight lines stay straight and cornering is sharp. It’s twitchy, so some careful tending is required to really hold turn exits without wobble, but generally the precision is quite precise.  Nowhere near competition standard, but perfectly acceptable. It doesn’t appear that the sail tension issue in the set-up has much of a detrimental effect – ‘s all good.

This is primarily a trick kite, so  it’s probably high time to stop fannying around and flick it some…

Stalls and Slides – no problem, easily held. Axels, Half axels, Cascades and Fountains, Cometes – nice. I really like the way that the Pulsar behaves with a soft input and plenty of slack – slow and controlled, very nearly graceful and yet smack it about and it’s all really sharp and snappy. Sweet.

Fades, backspins, flic-flacs and waps – no worries, maybe not quite as flat spinning as text book Tricks Party dictates, but solid none-the-less. Turtles, Insanes, Lazies, Multies etc. etc. – No gaps. The settled turtle isn’t so deep as to cause recovery problems, but deep enough to allow rotations whenever you feel like it. ‘Thumbs up’ smiley.

The Pulsar is really quite pitchy. Yo-Yo and Multies (caught good and solid on them there big old do-nuts) are quick and easy with wrapped flight and tricks causing no problems at all. Reverse pitch is also pretty straight forward. Yo-Fades easy enough to hit and catch, and Crazy Copters straight forward to initiate and not too fussy on the rotation. Excellent. There’s a trade off on straight forward flat spins and slots though – overcook the flare just a touch and it’s tip wrapped for sure, hit it right though, and the spin is nice. Taz-Machines are a give-away, much the same as it’s big brother ‘Sin’. Small, flicky, trick capability then – Check, with merit.

Overview

Compare and contrast the CR Fury with the .85, the Cosmic TC with the XS, the Gemini with the Minigem – then apply the same to the SIN and Pulsar, and you’re about there. This is an excellent trick kite. Great fun and really capable without being overly serious. I’ll be sticking with the CTC XS for this purpose if you don’t mind, but for very nearly half the price – and if you prefer the Sin to the Cosmic, the Pulsar has potential to inspire. It’d make an outstanding learning tool for noob types too, certainly take some growing out of until competition level accuracy and definition is called for.  Nice work.

-Bryan

Photo credit: Kitegarage.de

For a kite that has already been out for a number of years and already been covered by some of the best out there why would I need to add more to what’s already out there ?

Quite simple, I have one, I like it and I want to share it, and there are still some that need to know even more about this kite.

First off the Cosmic, for us State side folks, is not cheap.  Easily going over 4 Benjamins and then the wait for it to come is a very daunting endeavor for those who don’t have the resources to give it a spin before they choose to buy it.

For the $450-ish investment the owner will receive a very, and I mean very well made kite.  Everything is well thought out and consistent, and at the same time keeps the tinkerer happy from totally messing up a great package.  One of the things I have found, though may be totally benign, is the addition of dacron tape on the leading edge where the yo-yo stops are located.  The nose is very well trimmed and there is a lot of attention put in the nose pinch that allows for no snags.  Another interesting and effective bit is Kitehouse’s use of flat fishing weights.  They are very low profile and slide into a pocket at the end of the spine.  No need for any fancy slidy contraption to attach weights, and no having to slide barrels through a velcro tunnel.  Removal is simple with a pull of the attached tampon string out of the gap.

I do have beefs with it though.  If you are not paying attention, the weights can be easily slide into the wrong pocket where it will fall out and then be lost forever.  I personally am a fan of the Blue Moon weight kit because the incremental values and simplicity, and because I don’t have to utilize my upper spreader to shove the weight all the way in to the spine pocket and don’t get much pleasure over pulling the attached tampon string, but…

…Ironically the supplied weight(s) cover most of your needs, so there really isn’t need for weight swapping excessively in attempts to change some flight characteristics, and if you really have to you can easily add a BMK kit to supplement.

The yo yo stops for the first version consist of split coolant hose.  Why they went this direction I really don’t know, but they work, and the more recent incarnations use the R-Sky stops, so who really cares here.  It’s still a well made kite and I’m really not going into the bulk of it for I am very happy with mine.  Windrange is very good on this kite. 3-16 is about right, with the bridle adjust ability remaining effective and allowing for a good day.

The bridle is a standard turbo with a good amount (lots of knots™) of adjustment.  If fooled with enough you can get some redundancy, but there is an aspect of where the bridle really shines.  Though perhaps an obvious statement, for some, the adjustment allows the flier to tune the kite to their input style and conditions, but not lose flight characteristics with tricks.  Everything from pull to input strength is there, and the beautiful cohesion between a tinker here and noticeable result there is neither drastic, nor a time vampire in regards to endless knot sliding, nor are there any huge trade offs.  In my opinion it is very personable and gives the flier a great deal of satisfaction.

First flight was a dream. Since the Cosmic has already been out for a while I already had preconceived notions and they were all realized immediately.  Yes there is a flare to fade dead spot, and yes you can get around it, and no it’s not by changing the bridle.  Axel based spins are the kite’s forte.  Very late 540’s, extremely quick mid window slot machines and give away taz machines were the theme on the first flight.

The Cosmic also has very nice backspins that can get flat and can be reversed with almost no effort.  Lazy susan spins are not as pretty and take more attention in the mutli realm, but you get very good cyniques out of the gate.  Be aware that along with the dead spot, the Cosmic loves to get on its back and stay there.  For me this is the largest detriment to the kite.  Insanes are uneven and take some tweaking and can be missed leading to a very frightening Klingon Death Spin™ and “Oh god it’s only a 6mm LE!” moment.

Back on praises it has a very quick and clean rollup with wobble free wrapped flight and a very accessible yo fade which will catch you off guard while the first flier is mucking about the dead spot.  The nose forward stuff like the crazy copter is easy in less than 10mph, and remains accessible, and most importantly worth it, up to 12mph.  The comet is very clean without any rolliness unless told to.  Jacobs ladders are easily accessible after a few minutes.

Precision flying is interesting with this kite.  There is good feedback and with some adjustment to the lower outhaul can allow one to tune their kite with their arm movements.  Though at first it feels snappy and nimble I have found that it’s not as “point and squirt” as the benchmark.  It has a spring in its step, but sometimes there’s an “I don’t wanna” response when asked to lock into the line.  The Cosmic also does not benefit much from leech line loosening.  In fact with the leech line undone I swear the sail was screaming during comets in higher wind.  It really just felt loose like instead of deflating the tires for traction I more like loosened up the lugnuts.  In time I was cutting figures to my hearts content.

All in all the trade-offs are far outweighed, and the Cosmic will provide a very refreshing experience.  I intentionally kept specific references to a minimum, but the Cosmic is truly a change of pace that will not disappoint and has been the answer for those who want something different on the comp and freestyle disciplines.

-Britt

Frame: LE, US and spine 4mm structil. LS Avia Skinny UL
Sail: Icarex, LS tunnels Ripstop Nylon, Dacron Reinforcement
Bridle: 3 point, adjustable at US and LS connectors
Dimensions: 180 cm wide, 75 cm high

Intro:
The first time i saw the Sissy was at the TricksParty in Harsewinkel (Germany) in the fall of 2007. It was Sascha’s prototype in Neon Pink Icarex (hence the name “Sissy“). Originally designed as an indoorkite, but it flew very well in the almost dead wind conditions that day.

We really liked that first taste and Sascha promised to send another (white) proto to Paul Breddels in Holland. At one of our indoor meetings we tested the kite and allthough it was very tricky it didn’t really feel like an indoor kite. It was lot’s of “work” to fly it. Later that year, at a beach meeting, we had zero wind conditions and the the only kite in the air was the Sissy. Most of us decided that we would order one when it was available from Kitehouse. Sascha informed us last summer about the fact that thay wanted to do a run of single colour Sissy‘s for us. About 10 of us ordered one.

Build quality:
Like all kite made by Kitehouse, the Sissy‘s build quality is really good with near perfect sewing. The kite is build with only 2 panels, one for each wing. Ripstop nylon is used for the (covered) leading edge tunnels and for the nose reinforcement they’ve fitted lightweight cordura.

The area arround the center cross and the single standoff is reinforced with a layer of dacron. No leechline was fitted in the trailing edge. The 4mm structil and Skinny UL frame feels quite stiff but the ferrule used for the center cross is a bit short and doesn’t fit that well which results in slipping lower spreaders occasionally. Yoyo stoppers and tailweight are not included. A very nice detail is the Kitehouse logo on the tail velcro.

Flight:
The Sissy excels in near zero wind conditions. On short lines (between 10 and 20 meters) it flies without much effort. There’s a lot of drive and a reasonable amount of feedback on the lines. Inputs for tricks are small and need to be subtle. The kite excels at flatspin trick and trick based on the backflip. 540′s and Slots are flat and floaty and Tazmachines are build into this kite. Just a smal pop after the half axel rotation is enough. Double Taz’s are within reach.

The kite sits very deep in the Backflip and lifts very easily. Lazies, Multilazies, Rolling cascades, Inverses, even Cyniques… they are all there. Rolling up is possible but since there are no stoppers fitted Yoyo’s are not recoverable. I have not tried fitting them yet. Backspins are possible with a little tailweight (4 gram).

This kite can definitely make the difference between a lost day or a great day, if the wind dies. Perfect for those summer evenings. Should also be great for urban sessions on plaza’s or in the park.

Great little kite!

-Carlo

It is essentially a scaled down (I wonder if it’s x0.909 a la SkyMax), heavily framed Cosmic TC Ghost with a few bits of colour. It shares the same funky sail material and even has the same lightweight LE tunnel material which, given that it sports Aerostuff Gold S lower spreaders, seems an odd match up. A super light sail and build combined with a hard-as-nails frame – curious.

Now these LE cutouts look a bit suspect to me on an SUL like the Ghost. On a standard weight kite intended to be hammered about madly… they look misguided.  And while it’s an exceptionally trivial point, for a kite commanding a £260 price tag I don’t expect to see any building faults like a misapplied stick on reinforcement beneath a yoyo stopper.

Considerably less trivial is the sail tension. The sail is drum tight everywhere but at the inner standoffs the sail practically screams. I really don’t like the look of these in terms of longevity. I’ve taken a close look and, frankly, the sail looks stretched already with the inboard straight seams looking distorted even when the kite is disassembled. It’s been a long time since I’ve worried about putting a kite together and taking it apart (probably the Prism Illusion was the last) but this concerns me.

I was thinking about this whilst at work. I concluded that Kitehouse were too good to make such a schoolboy error that We would have flayed, for example, Prism for making.

They put the standoffs in the wrong way around on the right side of the kite . There’s only 1cm difference and I’m a bit sick at myself for not noticing it (shows what a delicate feel on the lines I have) but I once I swapped them around the tension is better. I still reckon that the sail has suffered because of this though but I’m not sure if it’s really up to it anyway.

Frankly… disappointing doesn’t quite cover it for a £260 kite.

Now as far as I’m concerned the money this kite cost was spent several years ago and on other kites so I take a moderately relaxed view on this at the moment. If I had had to reach into my own pocket and pull out new funds then I’d be far less sanguine.

But let’s give it a a whirl anyway….

Bryan has described it as “quite simply brilliant” and if you’re in the mood, he’s spot on. That mood might be more easily entered if you’ve recently necked a Red Bull or three. This is one fast kite. You can provoke (or demand) multiple rotations in any plane with a single input. The only kite that exceeds it in pull forward yoyos is the parallel universe Element.

That said if you do wish to move it to another place in the sky from where it is you’re better off Backspinning it over there anyway. As delivered it had heroic oversteer, bordering on the design fault. I’ve ended up with the bridle set as wide as it can go and it’ll still spin within its own wingspan. This is a trick kite; so trick it and stop faffing about with “figures”.

As some other people have noted it might well have been better fitted with Rollbars as it yoyos insanely well. The stoppers do work fine but the extra security that ‘bars would have offered might have been welcome.

That said I enjoy the kite so much that I am going to try to keep it airworthy as long as I can. A difficult kite not to enjoy the experience of but ownership might come with a heartache or two.

Well I’ve been putting the hours in on this kite. Much like my experience with the Element I found Tab A and located Slot B but had a bugger of a time getting them together on a regular basis. But when I did very nice indeed.

You don’t so much pop and yank the lines as simply ping them back at the appropriate moment and then get out of the way. Very small and quick movements. When the wind gods smiled (or more likely were looking the other way) this little bugger was about as much fun as I can imagine ever wanting from a trick kite. Epic and lovely. Yes, the FlicFlac is a bit… curious… but just work around it. There are plenty of options available.

And then the wind would change microscopically and…. it didn’t fall apart so much as wander off . The various tabs ‘n’ slots suddenly didn’t fit and it was all very disjointed. If ever a kite presented a more compelling case for moving to the coast then I’ve not come across it.

I think I can offer a reason why it behaves this way: mental stiff frame combined with a drum tight sail means it’s very responsive to the wind. A little change in the wind speed and you need to make a different input for your flying. Unless you have a divine touch on the lines (and I don’t) then variable winds just mess things up. At one point I had trouble getting Fractured Axels into a Fade to work at all and that’s really pretty basic.

So who is this kite for ? What is it meant to be ?

Frankly… I dunno. The choice of materials is truly surreal. I simply cannot see these beasts reaching a ripe old age. They beg to be flown in a way that is almost certainly going to damage them. It’s a bloody entertaining ride, I just don’t expect it to be an especially long one. The same kite with an Icarex sail and some beefed up (not slimmed down) reinforcement makes a lot more sense to me.

Do I like the kite ? At times I frickin’ love it. When the stars align it goes to 11 and proceeds directly towards 12. I can live with the crappiness as long as I get some of the good stuff now and then. That’s not to say it can’t be unbelievably frustrating.
Is it worth £260 ? Ooooh. Difficult. In many respects; no, not by a long shot. In others; yeah, why not ? Can’t take it with you.
Could it be better ? Yes. Ditch the Ghost material, stick with Nitro LSs, fit rollbars as standard, drop the price. That would be a borderline essential purchase.

Continuing kudos to the FA Shop for making this sort of highly specialised toy available.

Mike.

The latest addition to the Cosmic TC range… It’s a small one, somewhere around 91% the size of the full size version! 2.25M wingspan.

The CTC has been really quite successful as a competition kite. Pretty good precision coupled with a comprehensive trick repertoire and a degree of presence in the sky make it stand out as a top choice for competitive fliers.

So, a smaller version – Where’s the sense in that? What’s it for?

First off, this is a pretty expensive small kite, 319 Euro for an Icone version, 349 Euro for one with Aerostuff spreaders. Of course, the craftsmanship is superb, what with it being made by Kitehouse and all, and the materials used are top end stuff. Structil Highmod and Avia sticks supporting the light weight high fangled sail material that now comes in red and blue as well as white (the stuff that the Ghost version as made from) apparently, so you can have a white one with red stripes, or a white one with blue stripes – no customs (Hmmph ). Design features include covered leading edges, tensioning for the trailing edge decent yo-yo stops and a bit of weighting round and about. The nose construction, stitching and general build quality is great, so I suppose the hefty price tag is just about justifiable so long as it’s as sublime to play with as the full size version.

Let’s see…

The stated wind range is mightily impressive at 1-5 BFT (about 2 – 20 mph). I’d say though that the XS doesn’t really start flying on it’s own until about 4 mph, and much over 12 – 14 mph and it’s so stupid fast through the air that you’d be needing ‘go faster’ striped gloves to keep up with it. 6 – 10 mph though, and there’s enough feel on the lines to let you know what’s going on, and easily held stalls to let you trick and freestyle away to your hearts content.

Everything happens just that bit quicker, and with lesser inputs than the bigger TC. It’s really smooth with delicate commands, but manic when you really tell it what to do. This thing can be thrashed around at lightning pace, and yet tricks and freestyle combos are really accurate and defined once the timing is under control. The balance is fantastic with very little over-steer, solid tracking and pretty much all of the current whirly, whizzy, wrappy stuff perfectly accessible along with really controlled ‘Old Skool’ capability.

It is, quite simply brilliant.

To answer the question – ‘What’s it for?’ – ‘tis just a trick kite. For flicking about in a style and fashion to match your mood. I couldn’t honestly say it’s a good competition kite, other than maybe Virtual Freestyle or Head to Head Trick-Out type stuff, there’s not enough presence to make it a good ‘show’ kite and it’s a bit too tricky / twitchy for a good ballet. Just for fun then – Ah yes, and what fun! It’s not so much ‘smooth and flowing’ like some freestylers with a curve to the leading edge, more ‘Spiky Death Machine’ but it all hangs together really nicely. Sweet.

A note of caution – If the dead spot in the flare caused issues on the full size CTC, the same issues are here – well worth working around, but there none-the-less. I’ve also got a slight issue with the sail material. It is gorgeous stuff to be sure, and on the SUL ‘Ghost’ works beautifully. This however, is a ‘more or less’ standard weight kite, and it’s a bit, ermmm… delicate. Mine had sail damage after flying over some ‘slightly spiky’ grass and had to be patched up a bit. Nothing serious at all, but maybe not quite as robust as PC31.

OK, all’s well and good and this’ll be a go-to trick fest for a while yet. It’s not going to suit everyone, but if you liked the CTC range, and can keep up with the pace – the CTC XS is absolutely awesome.

Bryan

So what you get is all of a boutique kitemaker’s knowledge and craft in construction, identical materials for the most part but a less exotic frameset and a lower price point.

And what do we get ? Well, it’s a biggish kite at 230cm (nothing Midi, FX or 85 about this kite), the sailwork is very nice indeed (as expected from their good showing in the recent poll) and all the parts are brand name products that you’d expect to see on any top rank kite (Icarex, SkyShark, APA, etc.), all wrapped up with a Kitehouse velcro strap and housed in a tough sleeve. It’s a slick package that gives a good first impression.

The actual design of the kite is nothing extraordinary – all the dimensions and angles seem conventional. It’s neither high nor low aspect ratio, depth seems about right, etc., etc. Maybe the standoffs (two per side) are a little wider apart than has been common recently but still not strangely so. The wingtips are tensioned with an adjustable loop, there is an adjustable and active leech line, the upper LE connectors are covered (with just a hot cut slit in the LE dacron), a pocket for weights at the tail, a neat (if unusual) nose treatment, Mylar reinforcement across the standoffs and wear patches at the spine. The three-point bridle is adjustable at all frame connection points with a series of knots.

A few things I will mention – the wingtip tensioners need a wrap of tape or a bloody tight knot to stop them slipping, the supplied weight (14g.*) escaped the pocket quite quickly, the ULE covers might work but they look a bit low rent, I needed leaders with 50# line to stop snags on the nose/standoffs. However, there’s nothing here that I actively dislike.

I suppose that you’ll be wanting to know how it flies now ?

Pretty damn well. As supplied I find it a bit spinny but not outrageously so. I haven’t run across any bizarre behaviour or weird inputs that are needed to make it do stuff. All of the basic tricks are present and correct. Yes, it will Flic-Flac like a normal kite I’ve only progressed to wrapped Multi-Susans so far but it’s all very accessible. It hits the stoppers and is quite happy flying about wrapped up. Perhaps Half Axels/Cascades need a bit more attention…. but we’re into quibbling territory here. The balance of momentum seems good – you get one good rotation when you ask for it.

The 6mm LEs will flex if you hit the kite hard enough and exiting moves can make them a bit wobbly. It passes.

The Sin does have one potential drawback though – whilst it is clearly hugely competent, it is a little characterless. I haven’t run across a move with it yet that I simply have to do again because the kite excels at it. It does lots, equally well. Nothing leaps out as a particular strong point.

Which seems like an odd thing to even slightly criticise. This is a nice kite that let’s me get on with my flying, rather than having to work around its own preferences. I’ll leave the frame alone for the time being but I think I’ll be looking into the Pro-spec in due course.

Go ahead and buy one. You won’t regret it.

> It does have one quite strong move – the Snap Lazy. In fact anything where the kite transitions into a Turtle then rotates (ie; Kombo) works very sweetly.
> The 6mm LEs do have their limits but this only comes into play once you begin to nudge into the outer reaches. One wrap is OK, two not so much. Then again with the standard 14g. in the tail it’s not a Yoyo monster. I don’t think I got into a situation where it threatened to break but it got well out of shape a few times.
> If you are sufficiently retro. to care about such things, it is a good Precision kite. It holds a line well and, especially once I worked on the bridle, cuts some neat angles and curves.
> Big kite = firm pull. Not overpowering but in no way light.
> You do need to play with the leech line to avoid a really annoying noise. Unless you like that sort of thing.

All in all the Sin hasn’t saved the world or rewritten any rulebooks. It’s a nice kite in all respects, fine value for money. I’ll be flying this one for a while yet and probably slipping some more upmarket framery into it too.

I have a bit more a play with the setup of the kite.

1) added 10g. more weight to the standard 14g. – it’s easy to adjust as there is a pocket at the tail you just slip some flat weights into. They can fall out so make sure the tail piece is snugly attached. However…. I hated it. It turned a well-rounded kite into an oversteering piece of nastiness. Tried it, removed it, won’t be doing it again. YMMV

2) when the winds kicked up towards 20mph and above the kite was getting a bit too swift to be much fun. No danger of it falling apart, little frame distortion but not a great deal of giggles and beginning to get even more firm on the lines. So I slipped on some Kitestudio Wah Pads, placing them inside of the inner standoffs. This worked fabulously. Slowed it all down and re-opened the door to some trickery.

All in all, this kite has a huge usable wind range.

Interestingly Kitehouse is now offering the Sin in Comp (ie; Aerostuffed) and UL versions. I am very tempted to convert this kite to one state with a reframe and get another kite in the other.

Originally posted on Fractured Axel.

*My eagle-eyed kids managed to find the original weight and I weighed it to be 12.22g.

When I first put the kite together I thought it was pretty stout and therefore might need a bit of wind to get going. This is really not the case and the kite can be flown and tricked very nicely from perhaps 3mph. The SIN is not as radical is the more expensive and Tricks Party oriented Cosmic TC but it is more familiar and its no real adjustments are needed to get good results from the kite. Flatspins are good for a modern kite and pitch tricks are very accessible although lots of slack (and footwork) seem to be required for rollup type moves.

This kite is #1 out of the bag since it arrived. Its makes for a very good trick trainer being forgiving of mistimed inputs and capable of most any trick you might want to work on. I plan on using this kite to help me unlock the insane and comete. I’d have no qualms about competing with this design either, it being capable of very good precision to boot.

There is a very good review from Mike Emery here. And a couple of movies “The Sin 2.wmv” and sin.mov.