Kite review: Black Bird One Black Bird Company 13 rue Georges Auric 75019 PARIS FRANCE Phone: +33 42 06 52 19 Fax: + 33 1 42 06 52 63 DESCRIPTION The BB1 is a full size delta, dual line stunt kite. Sail is flat, with winglets at each tips and a vented tail. It uses 7.3 mm wraped carbon frame, 32 g/m2 (.5oz/sqft) Icarex. Wingspan is 2.53 m (8ft11"), height is 1.10 m (3ft23"). Sail is mainly black with a color stripe along L.e. and the tail, available colors are white, yellow, red, electric blue, dark green. Recomended wind speed is 1 to 55 km/h (.5 to 34mph). Weight is 330 g (11.6oz) for usual configuration. Window is 170 degrees wide. SUMMARY This kite is elegant, full of very useful details (b.e. bungi knots are hidden, connectors and carbon do not glue with salt...) , and oriented on competition (b.e. replacing a spar is VERY easy and can be done in term of seconds). Stiffness let it fly in zero wind with a light buzz, robustness let you use it in heavy conditions. Program can be team/precision, but you can have fun with very well controled tricks achieved with smoothness and majestically or sharp accurate moves. I can not fly often in those days, and I fet my skill hanging on the same level. I spend some hours to really understand how it flies, tuning bridles, trying new moves, different walking speeds and hand moves when flying, and I really change my way of achieving tricks and precision movements. I was bothered to do always the same axel, and now I really increase my skill level. You should not give attention to your first feelings. This kite have to be firmly dominated by you. If you do not, you will not feel comfortable with it. This is the reason why you should not try it during just a few minutes, because it will certainly not be tuned for you. Once you feel it, you can do pure precision, fine tricks, and ballet is beauty. Frame details Frame is made with Everglide System (r), e.g. aka Skyshark 5P. There is an [ There was a thread discussing the fact that whilst Everglide may be a registered name, the technique is neither new or protected - Andrew ] original way of reinforcing the frame for heavy winds: optional removable 6mm (.2400) carbon spars can be inserted inside normal carbon spars (l.e, spine, spreaders) to make them more stiff and rock solid. Use them above 30 km/h (~18mph). In this case, total weight is about 400g (14oz), and without, 330g (11.6oz). L.e/spreaders connectors are made with hard black plastic, and they stay loose on the frame until the kite is in order to fly. At this time, the entire frame is stiffer than usual kites, without any heavy tension on the sail. This helps a lot to replace a broken spar in just a few seconds, without stressing connectors or sail. Spars ends are cover with heat-shrinking plastic film, so they won't delaminate and stay tight in the connectors L.e. connectors are not made with aluminium, but with stainless steel. this means that carbon and joiners can not glue together with salted atmospere or water, it happens mainly when flying on the beach. Sail details Sail is made from Icarex and l.e. are made from heavy dacron. The sail is mainly black, and not very much scalloped. There are some medium-sized winglets, their color is the same as the colored stripe. A 2 mm glassfiber, 25 cm (~10 ") long spar is used for tensioning. Once in place, it is curved, assuring a good tension. The sail is more flat as usual, about 15 cm (6"). Two whiskers are fixed on the sail and must be plugged in an hard plastic tube mounted on the spreaders. Once in place, they are curved, assuring a good tension for light or heavy wind. L.e. are not curved and the sail has a moderate billow. There is a kind of window on the tail, which let the wind pressure be more cool in heavy wind. Bridles details Bridles can be very precisely tuned for each needs. Top bridle come from top spreader connector to swivels, and can be tuned separely, to let the kite be heavy or light in your hands. Second one come from other connector to center connector, and go into swivels. Both lenghts can be tuned, you can change lenght oh in-haul and out-haul bridles separely. This way of tuning lets you have your own kite dedicated to your own style. TRACKING CHARACTERISTICS BB1 is even pulling, in the whole window. Tracking can be heavy on high wind. Forward speed is good, and winglets are buzzing in when the kites begins to fly go too fast. Pressure is constant from edge to edge, top to bottom. Teams can fly it with no differences between kite number one and number four, and precision is pleasure. Lines are always tight. TURNING CHARACTERISTICS Like any modern kites, it turns somewhere around the wing tip. It performs very good push-pull turns without oversteer but very sharply. The kite is flat, so changing direction is made inside the sail, and it locks the new direction immediately. You can let it spin, but it does not like hard pulling spins. STUNTS It is incredibly easy to stall this kite, and very steady in side slides. It can be stalled in any position in the window, and slide at from an edge to the other, and perform it in a unusualy slowly move..or very sharply. Every stricky start can be performed, l.e., nose, turtle or face launches and so on. Every tip stand, tip dragged can be precisely controlled. Many axel are easy to perform. Slow axel, kick axel, double axel, anywhere in the window. You can slide from a stall to an edge, stall again, slowly 3/4 axel, stall, slide from this edge to the othe one very precisely. Very often, a kite can slide easely after a turn because of oversteer, BB1 is sliding because YOU wnat it to slide. this is the first quality of this kite. It is doing nothing by itself, but everything because of YOUR decision, when you want, where you want it to perform any trick. CAUTION The first time you will use it, this kite will let you think you don't know how to fly. Do not try it for 10 minutes, you will be desapointed. This kite is VERY sensitive, and you have to learn it, to dominate it, to tune it at your way of flying. The way your friend tuned it is perfect for him, awfull for you. Just 2 mm on the outhaul let it fly in a different manner. This kite do not perform tricks by itself, you have to decide when and where to perform an axel. Trying to axel let me understand I never know to do it before. My kite was doing it. Now, I perform it. This is different way of flying, the kite do not fly by itself, but it is doing precisely what you want and what you decide. In fact, you have to deserve it. I is the real way of increasing your ability, your skill and your talent. --------------------------- Bruno Brottier 37 rue Chaptal 92300 LEVALLOIS PERRET - FRANCE E-mail: Bruno.Brottier@icare.fdn.org -- [NeXTmail] ---------------------------