I wanted to report an incident with my lightly used CrazyFly Sick bar bought last year in 2023. I have put 15 to 25 sessions on it, no more. So it is still in mint shape...or it was. I don't kite much as we don't have lots of windy days where I live.
The center line broke while i landed a double back-roll. The center lines are in a PU tube, there is a white line and the red safety line. The white line broke apart. The red line shows abnormal wear too.
Where those 2 lines rubbing inside the PU tube and got worn that way ?
This is surprising considering the bar is almost new. I've never had that with my old Best, Naish or Cabrinha bars. This is my first time buying CF, and I bought the whole gear from CF (sculp kites + sick bar + Raptor LTD board).
I was for 2 weeks in Brazil for kiting, it happened after 1 week, so it ruined my 2nd week of vacation as I was not able to kitesurf anymore and that was the whole purpose of my trip there. Very frustrating.
Also I was real far away from the shore, like 1 kilometer away so it took me a good 50 minutes of self rescue to finally reach the beach, not a fun experience.
I am not familiar with CF, the kites and the boards seem to be good quality, but I don't trust that Sick bar anymore. What other brand of bar could I use with CF Sculp kites ? Or is the Savvy bar more reliable ? Not sure ! A friend of mine just bought a 2023 Sculp with a Savvy bar and when he launched it for the first time, the red (rear) line was not properly attached to the bar and his brand new kite flew away in the bushes. I was there and saw it happening with my own eyes. Luckily he didn't damage the kite. We used some tools to fix the line, i mean to properly attach it to the bar (as it was supposed to be in the first place), and he was good to go.
But both these events make me question the quality control of the CF bars. A member of this forum (CEZARY) had the same line breaking on the same bar, so this is not a good sign to me. Even if CF's answer to him is very professional, clear and reassuring, those center lines still broke and this should not happen, but I also understand they are hand sewn and this can't be fully controled.
Jozef from CF answered me that he would resolve the issue, but I am not sure how long it will take and I am far away from Slovakia here in the US. He asked for a serial # and some photos of the broken line, which I sent, I didn't get an answer yet.
Wind is coming here in 2 days and I feel like I will loose more kite days again.
My personal conclusion is that I will think twice before buying a brand that is not very present on most places, so I can't get parts or repairs as I would with Duotone/North/Cabrinha/Naish and so on.
I like to support smaller European family ran businesses (being European myself), but to a certain degree as my safety and my vacations are important to me.
ps: sorry as a new member I don't have the right to post photos of my broken line.
