Test twintip North Team Series 138*41cm 2015

North Team Series 2015

How much better is a twintip that costs approximately a 1000,- euro’s compared to cheaper twintips with similar features? We tested the North Team Series 138*41 cm 2015 to get the answer.

North online board selection tool

North produces a large quiver of kiteboards. With 10 different (in 2015) twintip boards to choose from it’s a good thing they have made an online tool to point you in the right direction. When you set this tool to “100% freestyle” it suggests 3 twintips; The Team Series, the Team Series Hadlow version and the already tried and tested Jaime.

 

Board Review: North Select 133*41 2015

According to the North website their North Select twintip is a 100% freeride board. It is described as a fast, light and responsive board and is build with Textreme Carbon. Out of curiosity we checked what Textreme Carbon actually is. Apparently it is not just a marketing term, but an existing material.
TeXtreme is the trade name of Oxeon’s “spread tow” carbon fiber composite. TeXtreme is different than traditional carbon fiber because the individual fibers are configured like extremely small ribbons, not round strands of carbon as with conventional carbon fiber. The wider, flatter orientation of TeXtreme carbon fiber means the individual carbon fibers nest closer to one another, producing a denser, stiffer, stronger interlace of carbon fibers. Since the carbon fibers are arrayed in closer proximity to each other there is less room for the matrix material, the “glue” that makes carbon fiber solid. Less matrix means more carbon and more carbon means better stiffness and energy management. It also means North can use less carbon fiber to produce an even stronger and lighter board.

Test North Vegas 7m + 9m 2015 on 5th element and wake style bar

Design North Vegas

The North Vegas is a designated “C”-kite. It is one of the last kites that comes without bridles. Even the Slingshot Fuel, a traditional C-kites, from 2015 models on now have bridles. The Vegas has a very specific aim: Freestyle. Its shape, this year for the first time, done by former world champion Aaron Hadlow, has been set to “create a superior kite for our team riders“.

We tested the new Vegas to see how it is any fun riding it “non-freestyled”.

Bar and lines Bandit 8 and Dice 2015

Both Bandit and Dice have a 4 line set up. The Dice kite comes with a 5th line (hidden in a pocket on the middle strut) for the kite, which means a 5 line bar could be used on the Dice. The North bar is available in one size only and costs (either 4 or 5 lines) 439,- and you could choose between 4 lengths;19m, 22m, 24m and 27m. For a dice 2015 22m or 24m is recommended. In this test we used 22m lines. According to North a 5th line is added to a better safety, but further is has n’t got any extra functions.

The f-one “Monolith” bar, unchanged from 2014, comes with 21.8m lines. The bar is available in 2 sizes; 45 and 52cm (for 11m and above).

The differences between the North and F-one bars are mainly to be found in the details;