Eleveight kites came to the market late last year with a full range of kites and boards. Although a new brand to many, Eleveight is built by a team of passionate kiters, surfers and skaters that have put allot of time and effort in to bringing you premium products. We were lucky enough to take a few of the kites out for a demo and wanted to share our feedback with you.
The Eleveight FS which is targeted at the freestyle end of the market and for more experienced riders. It is a five strut high aspect ratio bridled kite designed for boosting big and maximising slack line for freestyle trickery.
THE BAG
This has to be one of the nicest looking kite bags on the market it is built well, and inside comes with a neoprene phone holder and a repair pack.
One of the biggest things we noticed is that standard backpack but a satchel bag with a detachable strap.
We loved the fact the bar bag is detachable, it’s always a worry shoving a bar directly back in to a kite bag in case it catches the material.
It feels like Eleveight have designed this bag to be used with more than just carrying your kite, making it useful for other activites.
One downside to this bag is, it’s not very big, meaning you are going to have to fold your kite properly to get it back in the bag.
THE KITE
All the Eleveight Kites are produced in the same factory as North & Core using Tejin Technoforce D2 ripstop. The kites are beefed up and ready for battle featuring a triple reinforced closing seam along the leading edge making it practically indestructible. Load diffuser panels to allow perfect canopy tension, improving stability and increasing the longevity of the kite.
The one pump system is great, high diameter tubes connecting the struts to the leading edge make inflation a breeze, and we love the fact you can connect your pump directly to the kite with no adaptors.
When it comes to quality Eleveight ticks all the boxes, our local repair man was even impressed.
CONSTRUCTION FEATURES
Leading Edge Bumpers
Strut Connection/one pump
FS Bridle Connection
Trailing Edge Load Diffuser/ anti-flap batten
Inflate vaulve/ neoprene cover
3D Bridle Deflector
THE BAR
First impressions of the bar visually are not great. The large bar ends are out dated and the colour does not help learners to figure out what side of the bar of which after a big wipe out can be useful.
However the bar has brilliant features, which include. Below the bar swivel, adjustable stopper and one of the nicest quick releases on the market.
In hand the bar feels comfortable and the EVA grip is lovely, the chicken loop is a nice size not to big or small, and keeps the bar at a nice distance from the harness.
The bar is not to heavy and with a low split on the centre lines can be used with other brands to.
IN THE AIR
On Launching the kite, the first thing you notice is just how solid the FS is in the sky,
The load diffuser panels found on the leading edge, and trailing edge of the kite can really be seen working, there is almost no flutter from the canopy just a smooth feeling in the sky.
Feedback from the kite through the bar is responsive with a light to medium bar pressure, it’s a very agile kite in the sky and has allot more power in the turns compared to other SLE kites, in fact I would put this more in the c kite bracket then SLE.
Boosting with the Fs will bring a huge smile to your face, it really does snap you out the water and take you up high. The loop is powerful and progressive no loss of power or hard yank as it reaches the bottom. Just a smooth delivery of power all the way through.
I would place the FS in the high performance bracket. If you have nailed jumps loops and looking to progress on your unhooked riding this is the perfect kite, however if your looking for something a bit more forgiving then look else where.
Overall we are extremely impressed with Eleveight, and they have released 3 amazing kites in their first year on the market. There are some refinements that could be made in places, but this can be said about every brand. The Fs is a great kite in our eyes and we can’t wait to see what Eleveight do next.