Some Good Reasons to Buy New or Used Kites

Yeah, what's up guys? Rygo here from MACkite. I'm here in Arizona picking up a new RV for the MACkite RV tour. I spent the last year living in a 27-footer, and then when we were in Oregon we actually swapped that out for a smaller 1985 Toyota, which was super sick. Oh man, it was so small. So we're here in the Southwest just picking something up that's a bit bigger, probably more practical for living full-time on the road, and I wanted to talk to you. Lately I've been thinking about new kites and used kites and things like that, and one video that I thought would be interesting is new kites versus used kites. What are the pros and cons, and who should consider them? So let's dive into this one.

Just to get this out of the way before we dive any further: do you need to buy new kites? No, of course not. Truth be told, kiteboarding has been around for 20-something years now. The gear's been good for a while, so if you know what you're looking for you can get a smoking deal on a used kite. Getting new gear is not essential, but there are some major benefits if you do. I think the biggest con with used gear is, if you're going out and doing extreme things, there are definitely some cases where you don't want to be on gear where you don't know if you can trust the lines. Personally, when I'm doing a kite loop session, I have a new bar that I only use for 25 knots and up when I'm doing big kite loops. Then when I'm freeriding or doing freestyle or anything else, I leave that bar in the bag and keep it fresh because if I'm like 30 feet in the air, I don't want to risk my line snapping. I don't want to risk my kite just falling to shreds, so I'm going to be on fresh gear when I'm doing more intense things.

Benefits of Buying New Gear

Let's start with brand new gear and the benefits. With new gear, I think longevity is going to be the first point. You have something that's fresh, it's crispy, you're going to get the maximum life out of that kite. Obviously, every piece of sporting equipment does have a certain lifespan where it goes from awesome to kind of bagged out and useless after a few years, and if you go new and you're looking at getting a warranty, and provided that you're not smashing your kite into trees and being really irresponsible, you're going to be good.

I think the second biggest point with getting new gear is that you're getting the latest technology, and this is kind of a gray area because I really do feel that gear has kind of hit a point, with advances with the shapes and the designs and the purpose-built gear, where they've been incredible for a long time. I still personally use gear that's up to five years old on a regular basis. I have the option to use every brand, every new kite out there, and sometimes there's a time and a place for it, but I have no problem cracking out an old 2017 Slingshot Fuel and going out for a rip. Something I did mention in another video is that lately the biggest arms race for technology is the lighter weight fabrics. I think we're going to see a lot of growth in that area, where kites are getting lighter and there's huge benefits for light wind and for foiling. And there still are design changes. Designers are tweaking things and they're getting better with their lineups. For example, if a new kite comes out, you have a 1st gen, 3rd gen, 4th gen... Obviously, by the time you get to the 5th generation of a particular model, that kite is going to be pretty freaking dialed, so there are benefits to that.

So what are the cons to getting a new kite? Really, the only con that stands out in my mind is the price. You're going to pay a lot of money for a new piece of gear and, frankly, some kites and some brands have gotten pretty excessive, like when we're looking at the Aluula and all the new tech. So that really comes down to the rider and what you're looking for out of your gear and, truth be told, if I didn't get gear from a shop and I wasn't testing gear, I personally probably wouldn't drop an extra two thousand dollars on a kite, but I know a lot of riders who would and they love it, so it's really all about what makes you happy. If you're not that rider, there's nothing wrong with sticking with the the classic gear.

One way to get around this is going for closeout gear. You can get a current kite, but you can also get last year's kite and save yourself a buck, or get the standard kite. You don't have to get the lightest weight material and the most advanced kite that the brand has to offer because, frankly, all the other kites in the brand's lineup that aren't their special material, or whatever special tech, are still going to be an incredible kite. So if you go closeout and just get the standard kite, you're going to save a lot of money and still get all the benefits of a new kite.

Benefits of Buying Used Gear

Let's talk about used kites now. The first pro, and actually it's kind of a pro and a con, that comes to mind is it's cheap. You can save a ton of money getting used gear, and one of the most common pieces of advice that I see online is that new riders should only consider used gear because they're going to be trashing their gear, beating it up, just really putting it through the ringer. I'm going to challenge that and say that is completely backwards, and here's why I say that. If you are crashing your kite, which is designed to be crashed--kiteboarding equipment is made to be dropped on the water, it's meant for the rider to progress and move forward--if you're dropping your kite in a way that's breaking it or ruining it, man, you need to go take a lesson because you're doing things wrong and you are misusing that gear. Now, that said, a more experienced rider, somebody who's been at it for a while or somebody who has a friend who is super knowledgeable, or if you're buying from a shop with some used gear... they're going to point you in the right direction. They're going to get you on the right gear, they're going to make it safe.

The thing is, I think we all know that guy who posts on the Facebook groups where they're like, "Oh hey, I got this 2008 piece of wreck, no safety system, frazzled lines, destroyed piece of garbage," and that's a pretty common case, where somebody's looking for a smoking deal and they find a kite quiver for like 200 bucks. And that's what you want to avoid, so there's definitely a fine line. I think some basic guidelines are to just stick within five years. You're still looking at relatively modern tech, it's probably a pretty good design. Truth is, kites have been well-designed for at least a decade now. Not all of them, but most of them have been really well thought out and you could still have a lot of fun with an older kite. The thing is, when you go back as far as, say, eight to ten years, man, that kite's had a lot of water time, depending on who was using it. Eight years in the sun, in the sand and the salt... that might not be a kite where I would trust the lines- definitely not for really big kite loops. I don't think I would ever want to use a used bar for anything really extreme or dangerous like that, but just things to think about.

Another pro with used gear is, for example, I mentioned the new kites. Let's say you got the latest and greatest, like a big high-end lightweight tech kite and you dropped like four grand on that single kite. That four grand could get you a couple of closeout kites or, if you found a good deal on used kites, then you could get an entire quiver and a board for all of that money, and now you're set for all of your kiteboarding.

Really, I think the biggest cons with used gear is if you're going out and doing extreme things, there are definitely some cases where you don't want to be on gear where you don't know if you can trust the lines. I think if you're a more experienced rider you can get an amazing deal from an industry insider or shop. Most shops are going to have a handful of used kites. At MACkite we have demo kites for the other riders, myself, people who are testing the gear... we're always going to have some really good deals on some used gear that's usually only a season, maybe two seasons, old. So that's a really good way to go, through your local shop. If you're experienced you can even hit up some pro riders. A lot of times they'll be looking to off their gear because they have to upgrade to the next year's gear, so you can get a good deal on something really niche, because they're all going to be using a niche product.

Weigh the Pros & Cons.

Ultimately, the takeaway here is that you've got to weigh the pros and the cons. If you know what you're looking for, you can get a smoking deal. If you don't know what you're looking for, it can be downright dangerous. I think the best middle ground is to give the shop a call and get yourself something from just a year ago, maybe something on closeout. Maybe it's not on closeout, but it's just going to be a better price because it's last year's kite. It's still new, you're getting the warranty, you've got the longest shelf life, it's going to be safe for those more intense conditions because it is fresh gear, and you're not dropping full price for this year's in-line kite, and you're only sacrificing a little bit on the tech side because gear only progresses so much. The caveat here being, if you're that rider that wants the best material, the lightest material, whatever they're working on right now with all these new things, you're going to miss out on that, but if that's not important to you, I've said before that mostly impacts light wind performance, foiling, in the feel of the kite. I think it's going to be pretty cool in the next five years to see where they go, but there's no shame in getting last year's kite and saving a buck.

So hey, I'd love to hear your feedback on this. Let me know what your thoughts are. Did I miss anything? Do you have any thoughts on this topic? If you found the video helpful, give it a thumbs-up, hit that subscribe button, and I will catch you next time.

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