You may have seen that overnight Flysurfer has released the 5th generation of their “Speed” series of kites.
This series is now in its 10th year, and each new release has continued to build and improve on the last.
The SPEED5 is designed to deliver high all-round performance on any terrain – snow, land or water, and for every ability level. Like its predecessors, the SPEED5 offers high stability, light bar pressure, easy relaunch and a “triple depower” to ensure both novice and experienced riders have an incredible wind range in which to kite.
An higher aspect ratio (6.15 v 5.8 Speed 4) in combination with an optimized profile and rigid leading-edge foil technology increases jumping height and glide ratio compared to previous editions.
The Deluxe+ cloth is Flysurfer’s newest cloth material developed for the Speed 5. I was fortunate to fly the prototypes in October 2015 and felt the stiffer fabric resulted in a more direct bar feel, and increased the turning speed and responsiveness over the Speed 4 Lotus kites. This made jumping easier with longer hangtime, especially for those riders coming off LEI's. If you’ve flown the Sonic FR race kite, the new Speed will feel familiar but easier and more forgiving to fly.
The Automatic Drainage System allows water and sand to exit the kite without influencing performance.
SPEED 5’s also come with German made Liros lines, which offer equal breaking strength with reduced line diameter and thus less drag.
As with all Flysurfer kites, the SPEED 5 also comes with a 12 month free repair warranty. If you like all round free riding, big air and hang time, then the new Speed 5 should be on your radar and I’ll have demos here in WA in due course.
holly ****balls that video is better with the mute button on. thats gotto be a contender for britney spears
got a link to some geeky specs for me cell counts chord lengths etc etc ? im interested
Self advertising and self-sponsored posts, should really be on their own forum section... Just sayin
Just to clarify
the Race bar comes with the cam cleat and 300/160 kg lines. Jumping is not recommended on these lines for obvious reasons.
The Airstyle bar has the pull / pull depower strap and 300/200kg flying lines.
http://www.flysurfer.com/en/download/17586/
( Just trying to get the information out there Lofty. It's not like there are FS dealers on every corner. Maybe some kiters want to find out where to demo something other than the most common brands. )
can't wait to get my hands on the 9m and 12m Speed5s. BOOOOOST!!It will be interesting to see how they go at the Red Bull king of the air..
Hi James, just wondering how the FS 5 9m will behave in the upper wind range with gusts. My Lotus 8m is surging forward in gusty conditions and is not really fun to fly in those conditions, unlike my FS 4 10m gust munching big air machine.
Hi Billtotal.
My 12m Speed 5 has just been delivered this afternoon but it will be a few days before I can ride it myself.
The surging you describe - can you give me a little more information ?
If it's surging only (not collapsing) then the first thing to check is the front / rear line length (all 4 lines equal with no depower on and bar sheeted in fully) . After 10 hours of use or so, Flysurfer state that you need to lengthen the rear lines a knot or so under the bar floats to compensate for the shrinkage that occurs during the bedding in process. A kite with too short rear lines could certainly exhibit stalling / surging characteristics in strong wind. I notice this first in light wind when I find myself having to pull on a lot of trim to stop back stalling - this is a sure indication the rear lines have shrunk and is easily fixed by lengthening the rear lines as described (or shortening the front lines on the Speed 2/3 series - there is an adjustable black rope above the trim strap for this reason)
If you are seeing the canopy collapse, then power up as it falls deep in to the window and surge forward again, then i would check the mixer AFTER making sure the front / rear line lengths are correct. Stock trim for Speed 4's is B&C equal when A=Z. Check your kite and reset if necessary. If you are already at a Neutral setting, then then shorten C by 0.5cm at a time, on both sides (ie move the knot towards the bar, away from the kite) and retest. This will increase stability of the canopy.
Let me know how you get on.
Surging in gusts is normal. You can control it with the bar, but in those conditions you're better if with a less reactive kite like a tube...
Unfortunately not..... the day job is taking priority at the moment, and we've had quite a bit of wind around too. This weekend for sure - Sunday looks a better day for foiling. Might try the Twinnie on Sat if I can.
Does the FS Speed 5 only come in deluxe material now?
ps. Marvin... come on you love the FS Sonics. Speed 5 won't be for racing surely.
Right I've had 2 sessions on the Speed 5 so far - first was some LW foiling in about 12 knots & fading, and the second was yesterday afternoon on a strapless surfboard at South Trigg beach in a 20+ seabreeze. Flysurfer say the wind range on water for the 12m is 9-26 knots, I had too much power for wave riding really but was a good chance to see how it flies in a solid breeze. I'm 90 kgs for reference.
First impressions are the kite feels closer to the Sonic Race kites than the previous Speeds. The bar pressure feels slightly heavier than the Speed 4 (still light in comparative terms) but feedback is sharper. Everything happens a little bit faster than on the Speed 4 - the kite rotates quicker when turning and for me is easily fast enough to down loop on the 21m lines. I think the move to the Deluxe+ fabric has helped here. In addition to the higher AR, the canopy is also thinner in cross section than the Speed 4, and much less rounded / ballooney - Flysurfer have spent significant efforts to reduce creases and wrinkles in the cells (double cordwise ballooning) and the result is a much smoother aerofoil with better efficiency.
The canopy is super stable - what I noticed is when launching, like the Sonic FR, the center section fills quick quickly, and you need to actively backstall the kite to continue inflating and force the wingtips out. Once they fill however, that was was it - rock solid. This meant that with slack lines - either foiling downwind or bottom turning towards the kite, it seemed to hold it's shape in the air with more rigidity than than the previous generation. Maybe the kite has more internal pressure ?
I also noticed the leading edge has very little deformation in gusts - you could see the leading edge "square off" on my Speed 2 & 3's in gusts, but with the the stiffners in the leading edge, I couldn't notice this at all.
I can't comment on how it jumps & glides - not really had a chance in the 2 sessions I've had, but I'm guessing with the higher AR, hang time won't be a problem. I'm hoping to get a few more sessions this week ....
In conclusion the Speed 5 seems like a nice mix of Speed 4 Lotus and Sonic FR - very balanced and stable to fly, great depower and wind range, and impressive power & upwind performance.
That is a cracking diagram !
my comments about higher AR are self explanatory - it's the relationship between span and chord, so I'll leave it at that. AR is higher than the S4, but not as extreme as the Sonic.
With "thinner cross section" comment, I was referring to what is shown as "thickness" on the Side View airflow diagram. The Speed 5 is thinner than the Speed 4, which i believe reduces drag.
Now for my highly technical term "ballooney"..... :)
( I should have taken a picture of my S4 and S5 inflated next to each other at the beach, but the image below will be ok.)
What i wanted to highlight is the Speed 4 (and previous editions) have quite obvious 'corrugations' in the top and bottom skins due to the shape of the cell profiles - ie it's not a smooth surface like an airplane wing. If I interpreted Armin's comments correctly from his presentation in Montenegro, "Double Cordwise Ballooning" is a construction technique designed to minimize the corrugated effect, especially on the leading edge. When you look at a S4 & S5 next to each other, the difference in profile is quite noticeable. The goal overall is to improve the lift to drag ratio.
Lads. Pricing in AUD on my website right now.
http://www.specialistkiteboarding.com/#!product/prd1/4456161051/speed-5