In a bit of a spin regarding gear..
Backstory: I'm a poleboarder, and to be honest, quite happy with it - but I miss a lot of sessions due to a lack of transport, and have storage issues, so took a few lessons and tried this kiting thing.. Got the hang quite quickly, had a go on a friends gear (SB IDS), now off to the buying gear stage.
Now, I'm a bit of a tightwad.. much as I liked the SB, nearly 2k for a kite is a bit more than I want to invest in a sport I'm not fully committed to (as yet..) bearing in mind I need a board too..
Been offered an 07 crossbow, which looks to be in tiptop condition - severely tempted, but the bar and lines are a bit less tidy - the seller has a pile of stuff, and I think the lines have seen considerably more use than the kite.. $850 asking, with all the required bits.
The other option I'm tempted by is raiding the pile of 08 revolver HD kites at the local shop, all still in shrinkwrap, but going for $1050 for a 12m. I understand they're a dedicated surf kite, not sure if that makes it a bad idea. Some mutterings about line extensions, and whether they're any cop for jumping?
As for riding, I don't think I'll be a hardcore freestyle nut, getting on a bit for that.. but I do expect to do some jumping and the like..
Thanks :)
$850 for an 07 kite is far too much. Looking more at paying around the $600 mark, perhaps less. Have a look at the buy and sell section here, plenty of good deals to be had. But I suggest getting professional lessons so you don't harm yourself (or other people, which is a bit of a hot topic around here at the moment), then ask your instructor about what you should be looking at (i.e. what models, size, ect)
Ok, thanks for the price advice; I can find little of interest in buy and sell - I know I want something 12m (ish), and in vic so I can see before I buy..
Already done the lesson thing, as I said.
As for advice:
Shop 1: If it's not a brand new cabrinha, it's no good.
Shop 2: If it's not a brand new north it's no good.
School: Buy our package deal...
Which is why I came here for some advice less tainted by commercial considerations..
Keep in mind that with the increased price of new kites for '09 due to the economy piking, it's actually reinforced the second hand market these days so second hand kites are holding their value much better than they used to. In all honesty the second hand market for kites was a joke; $500 for a 2 season old kite that was $2000 new is ridiculous unless it's been trashed and repaired a couple of times over.
I'll just give a rundown of my experience as I was in your situation not long ago.
I definitely wanted something second hand as I couldn't justify spending thousands on a sport I wasn't sure I would like. There was nothing close that fitted my requirements - 10m kite 2007+ for around $500. So I had to resort to buying off the net. Which for my first kite was fine, the others that's another story...
After a lot of shopping round I got:
2007 kite $500
new harness $99
new board $400
So just on a grand got me on the water which I thought was pretty good. I did do a lot of shopping around though to get it for that much.
I will agree with you about making sure you are able to view the equipment before buying. I have bought 2 kites since off the net, both having leaky valves after asking directly about them. In both cases these were genuine mistakes I believe but still it could be avoided by viewing the gear. Also gear tends to look great in photos and pretty average in real life.
As for the shops, I had better luck finding cheaper gear privately. Just depends if you want support or not.
My brother and a friend have since bought kites both 2007 models for $500. Both in hardly used condition, BUT they had to buy them online and post them.
This probably hasn't helped you much but just thought I'd give you an idea of my experience.
