Had a chance to compare the two high performance c-kites today,
11m tribal and 9m rebel
Big differences were,
Tribals' bar pressure was much lighter than the rebels for the same pull.
Rebels' Pull feels more like a bow than the tribal (in that the turns with the bar sheeted half out were relatively depowered and sheeting in resulted in a lot more pull and seemed to feel slighty like a pully bar even though it's not.
Tribals' sheeting in results in gradual increase in bar pressure, rebels pressure initially is less than the tribal ( with bar sheeted out) but ramps up A lot quicker over a shorter throw and ends up being heavier for the same kite pull than the tribal
The rebel depower or way it flies when depowered felt very impressive... it was super stable when overhead in that the lines and kite just sat there without surging forward or backward at all and the pull from the depowered kite was nice. This is partly due to the handy throw stopper that is easily set and alters your normal max bar sheet out so you can set it to fly at whatever level of power on you want pretty quickly with the bar out. The tribals depower feels as effective, but the lines will be slacker on the tribal than the rebel when it is depowered
tha hang time was good and as said before it reminded me of the bows that i have flown more than the c-s that I usually ride. the 9 m rebel didn't match the 11 m tribal in the winds I tried them in for hang time or jump height but they are two different sizes and I suspect that if I had the same sizes jump height and hang time would be pretty similr, max jumping technique is slightly different between the two kites.
the depower pully on the rebel is one thing i didn't quite get my head around.. given the huge difference in pull between sheeted out and fully sheeted in ( unhooked) i found it hard to adjust the depower strap in to unhook, and out once i had hooked back in again. It was easy to depower just by pulling the strap , but repowering up involved me sliding a finger under the elastic strap to pull / yank the line out from the pulley and ease off. Mind you im probably doing it wrong but I did try as did someone else to pull the depower strap line and yank in the same go and I think the tightness of the new elastic strap was making it all to hard to pop out of the cleat grooves., that was about the only thing i found that was a ergonomic point aside from the fact there's a big metal pulley sitting a couple of feet up the line. the tribals depower strap on the other hand is pull to power, pull to depower and two different colours so you don't pull the wrong strap.. both simpler and easier to use than the pulley system.
speed wise, I would say the tribal is quicker .... you can fly the rebel quickly if you like with the bar out but it's definatley not as quick as the impact in the same size model ... taking a guess I would say the tribal is the faster kite.. especially in the powered turns.
the safety systems of both kites and line setups are pretty much the same , Infact the rebel looks almost like it's exactly the same shape as the 06 impact, except with a flatter foil and slightler bigger front to back. One thing interesting is the north lines loop through each other. First time I've seen it done on skinny lines and I wonder if much rubbing goes on in there. the kites pretty light but i suspect that the tribal is lighter without the weight of the batterns and strut reinforcing .
overall
they are both great "new school" c-kites that have huge gust eating and wind range abilities. The rebel is a little heavier on the bar whan compared to the tribal BUT is still light when compared with most other kites. The rebel feels more like a bow in comparasin to the tribal which has a smooth classic c-kite feel. both safety systems are top notch and they are about the same retail price aswell I think. The rebel I think will appeal to anyone due to it's high performance as will the tribal but in particular bow kiters who like the feel of bows but would rather do without bridle and pulley line systems will enjoy the rebel.
nice comparison chopper,
how would you compare the bar pressure from the 06 to the 07 Tribal???
07 is lighter , turns faster with less pressure, feels more like a c than the 06 , or feels more like the impact basicaly
quote:
Originally posted by ascole
is it as quick as the impact or has it been toned down a bit??
right-o...thanks for that. it sounds like the tribal could be a goer for me. i found the last years tribal to be overly heavy on the bar and the impact to be a bit too twitchy for me. from the sounds of it, they've ironed out the issues that i had with last years f1 kites.
not to hijack the thread (too late) but has anyone got a comparison to the new rival???
The Rival is basically a high aspect Tribal.
All the usual differences between the high and mid aspect.
Should jump higher but haven't tried one in good wind. Slightly slower turning, slightly heavier on the bar.
Biggest difference between the tribal and the rival is Bar pressure. The tribal is light and the rival is meduim. Thus it's easier on the arms to turn the tribal than the rival, and the tribal itself turns faster..... I would hazard a guess though that although the tribal jump heights are up there with the best of them... the rival should give you more hang time and possibly a smidge higher. You really have to try both because they are completely different.
