Airush Lithium Review

Took the Airush Lithium out with a few of the guys in fairly light winds.  We wanted to test it in 8-10mph but it ended up being 12-15mph instead.  Overall, the kite flew very well but the 6 strut (missing middle) strut prevented it from relaunching from directly down-wind.  The missing strut help the kite produce more lift because the middle section of the kite was flat instead of curved like a normal bow, so that was good.  
Here are some of the kite’s specific specs:

Kite:
-Somewhat confusing rear bridle attachment  (why is there like 4-5 inches of extra length with markers on it?)
-Similar bow kite shape as the Cabrinha Contra, but different strut configuration
-6 strut design with no middle strut
-One pump system
-Super long bridles (wrapping problems??)

Bar/Lines:
-IDS type emergency system (leash brings kite down to both front lines)  Same as GK and Cabrinha kites, not great for teaching or self-landing.
-Cabrinha style depower straps above the bar
-Great sliding stopper ball
-Push away primary release that works great (could be improved to be reloaded with the red release either way instead of just one)
-Good large CX finger slide in/out for unhooked tricks
-Slick push away bungee leash works great, but hard to reload even with two hands
-1:1 bar system
-Aluminum bar that is adjustable with pushbuttons to become larger or smaller.
-3 piece line system for many length options

The most unique thing about this kite was the adjustable bar system that used a pushbutton-type mechanism to adjust the overall length of the bar on the fly.  The rider is able to adjust the bar length while the kite is in the air just watch out it is easy to let go of the bar ends.  Leaving the bar ends out loose was also really fun, it felt like paragliding except in reverse.  Overall, good flying kite with some light wind relaunching issues.  The overall ease of use of the kite is good but needs to be more refined and will be better in the second version.  If I could change one thing about the kite, I would switch it to 5 struts and put one back in the middle to help with the downwind relaunch issues.  More specifically the kite will wrap up in light winds and the middle of the kite will sag into the water once directly down wind. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Kiteboarding Product Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.