3 replies to this topic

[kwmf]

Since I've been doing a fair bit of low wind and street style flying lately, I decided to apply my nerdy side to my kite flying and do a little weight comparison between various bits of Rev kit that I have to see how much weight makes how much difference.

Apologies to all you imperial Yankees, but in South Africa we use metric measurements, so my weights are in grams.

I started with the benchmark for light Revs - the Indoor Rev, then the SLE I started with and then my new full sail B series. Both the SLE and the B had a full Race Rod frame in it, the Indoor was obviously standard with it's Race Rod frame.

The weights came out as follows...

• Indoor Rev - 153g
• SLE (Race Rods) - 195g
• B series (Race Rods) - 170g

It seems that the 42g and slightly larger sail on the Indoor Rev makes a fairly big difference in the ease of no wind flight, float and glide.I was also very surprised to see the weight difference between the SLE and the B series. Both had identical frames, end caps, bungees, etc - so the difference has to be in the sail area. I'm also assuming the leading edge and leading edge mesh are the same. My SLE is the one just before the change to the current cheaper sail material, which means my SLE material is the same or similar to the B series if I recall correctly.

Anyone got any insight as to why the B series weight is so different to the SLE?


With time on my hands I took to weighing the rods I had. The weights below are for the rods without ferrules in...

• Race Rods - 13g
• 3 wrap - 20g
• 4 wrap - 23g
• SLE - 32g

Obviously this is just the weights of the rod and speaks nothing of their flexation and rebound characteristics or other flight characteristics. I didn't have my 2 wraps with to weigh since I have Race Rods and don't fly the 2 wraps.


Finally, to satisfy my own curiosity, I compared 12' of LPG in 50# and 90# line to see if the weight difference was there at all. The 50# line is unsleeved on the kite side, where the 90# is sleeved on both ends. Both sets came from Theresa of The KiteShoppe, so I figured they would make a good comparison.

The weight difference between the 2 sets was 1 gram.

For me that would indicate that any difference in performace between the two is as a result of the different cross section and resulting line drag moire than any kind of weight dirrerence.


Anyway, thought that might be useful for anyone else who has ever wondered about the difference. Anyone know where the difference between the SLE and the B series comes from?

Steve

[Watty]

Anyone know where the difference between the SLE and the B series comes from?

Steve

Depending on which model of SLE, it may have mylar panels. The mylar is a heavier and stiffer material that is not used in the B-Series kites.

[kwmf]

Depending on which model of SLE, it may have mylar panels. The mylar is a heavier and stiffer material that is not used in the B-Series kites.

No Mylar that I can see ... it's a standard red/black SLE with black center from the last quarter of 2009. I've attached a pic...

Attached Thumbnails

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[awindofchange]

The 1.5 SLE was made from Ripstop Polyester which is probably slightly heavier than the PC31 Icarex used in the B-Series kites (which is also ripstop Polyester material, just from a different factory hence the Icarex labeling). There are a couple of different things which will make the material lighter or heavier, one is the actual coating that is used. Some materials use a heavier coating on the ripstop than others, also some are coated on both sides, others coated on one side - this obviously will effect the weight as the material coated on both sides would have twice as much coating as the material coated on one side. I am not sure but believe that all ripstop Poly has coating on both sides - but the type and weight of the coating from the Icarex brand and another brand could vary quite a bit.

Also, the actual weight of the material will differ from one company to the next - which is probably where the main difference in the weight between the B-Series and the standard 1.5 sle is. I have been told that the PC31 stands for polycarbonate material that weighs 31 grams per measured area (sq. yard?? not sure). The ripstop Poly used in the 1.5 sle probably weighs slightly more per measured area - maybe it would be listed as a PC43 or something like that (obviously I am just making up a number for this comparison as PC43 does not exist to my knowledge). This would explain the difference. Icarex measures their material in this way. Most other manufactures measure their material as .75oz or 1.5oz etc... Again, I am not sure what the actual measurements stand for, but know that 1.5oz poly is twice as heavy as .75oz poly.

Only revolution would be able to say what the actual weight of the material they used is.

Hope this helps understand the weight differences a little more. It is interesting to see the actual weight differences between all the different parts.