Rider: Weight 74kgs, Level advanced.
Style: Surf Review (however I mostly ride Wake Style)
Weather: 20knots with stronger gusts.
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 8-9/10
Disclosure: (e.g. Stonker- Wainman Team rider, who stock several brands including Takoon)
My Comments:
Takoon Furia 11m Review.
1st off I normally ride Wainman Maniac C kites- Wakestyle. For those who know me, this is not a wakestyle gear review but a surf kite review.
Construction:
Takoon's are very strong and well-built kites. Everything from kite profile, one pump system, bar, bridles etc, has been refined to be of top quality and designed to make everything work really well. I'm going to focus on the features that stand out for me.
Kite is built tough as all kites should be. But you can see this kite has good materials, everything is double stitched and reinforced. Lots of different setting, to tune to kite to your liking, i.e. sheeting ability on front lines, or turning speed on steering lines. Bridle is a SLE set up, with direct connection for steering lines. Pretty simple and effective.
One pump system is like most others, other than this has a huge single pump up valve, meaning you can pump up you kite quicker and easier, and dump the air all through the one valve. I know other brands like Cabrinha also have this set up, and it’s probably something other kites will eventually move towards. Makes life easier.
The bar is really nice, good grip, above bar depower cleat. Really easily to reach and trim. The flat out line is attached to one of the leader lines and is really clean and easy to use. All lines running through the bar are coated in a plastic sleave so they will not wear and snap.
Performance:
Like most hybrid kites the Furia has a huge wind range, and a really nice solid consistent pull. The kite is very quick and responsive, with several turning speed settings. Fast relaunch. Pull a steering line and the kite rolls and relaunches, making it handing if you're about to hit by a wave. Riding this kite hooked, and steering with one arm is so easy. Once you’re on a wave the kite allows you to accelarate and slow down by pulling or pushing the bar away. It feels pretty smooth through the power, but it’s also very responsive. Basically it made surfing and carving fun.
While I mostly rode a surf board on this kite, I also gave a twin tip ago, just to see how high I could jump. Yep like most Hybrids they go big. I was able to get some really high lofty jumps. Let’s face it, no matter what you ride style is, launching as high as you can off a nice wave and getting pendulumed is always rad.
Dislikes:
IMO, not an unhooked wakestyle kite. I have seen other people doing unhooked tricks on these kites and ride really well. But IMO, If you want to unhook, get a C kite.
Wrap Up:
Really nice kite for surf or free riding. Straight out of the bag everything is really nice, easy to set up, idiot proof pigtails, spare parts kite, etc. This is a kite that an advanced rider will really enjoy and be comfortable putting a learner on, given the safety features, ease of use, and wind range. Build quality is top notch. When bows 1st came out in mid-2000's, cabrinha and Takoon were the 1st companies to release a bow kite. And like with Cabrinha, you can tell that the Takoon Furia has been refined over the years to have a really nice kite.
I welcome all questions.
Hi Kungfupete, Nice review, Did you fly it with the new Bar? If so how did you find it in comparison? It sure looks the goods. Cheers!
I had a early 'Furia', loved the kite
I then bought a 'Pure' as I ride more waves these days, what a mistake!
The Takoon Pure IMO was another Hindeberg, right up there with the Slingshot Link!
One of the shortfalls of living miles away from any shops and not being able to Demo any kites.
The salesman blew any credability he had with me in more ways than one
Demo if you can
Hi Kungfupete, Nice review, Did you fly it with the new Bar? If so how did you find it in comparison? It sure looks the goods. Cheers!
No I used the current bar (or model before?). It look pretty much identical except for the hook in loop, which is way cleaner on this pic. Otherwise I think it probably the exact same. Its funny cos the one thing my mate commented on when we were sussing the Furia out was the hook in loop and how it had too much going on. So its good Takoon improved this.
Takoon have 2 bars on offer at the moment, the Diamond Bar V6 and the Onyx bar. Main difference is that the Onyx has a push away quick release and the Diamond has a the older style Velcro QR. The centre piece of the bar is also different, the Onyx being smoother and the Diamond bar being a bit more edgy, which I think would wear out the gear running through it a bit quicker.
Pete, did Stonker give you any Takoon Logs to try? On the new Takoon website, they say that the Furia is more of a surf kite than the Log. To me the Log looks to be more of a surf kite. I would be interested in hearing your comparison of Log vs Furia for surf kiting.