Latest News, Blog & Videos

This video and blog are meant to give you perspective and to help you decide if the Evo is the right kite for you.  What kind of kite is the Duotone Evo?  The Evo is a true modern All Around kite. I'ts meant to please everyone and it does a good job of it. It’s easy to use, and you’re just as likely to see someone teaching on this kite as you are to see someone riding on a completion level for big air. Fast, playful and fun is a good way to describe the traits of thi …

The Orbit and the Reach are two offerings from North Kiteboarding. One's a big air specialty kite and the other is an all-around kite. The North Orbit 2021 North Orbit Let's start with the Orbit. This is a five-strut big air specialty kite. The Orbit implements a two-stage arc in the canopy. This means the top of the kite is flat to help with a hanglider-floaty feel. The wingtips are curved so the kite turns faster than it should. This makes the kite exceptional at kite loops. It's designed t …

This blog is a quick look at the Swithcblade. Hopefully it will help you decide if the 2020 Cabrinha Switchblade is the right kite for you.  What kind of kitesurfing kite  Cabrinha classifies the Switchblade as a Performance Freeride and big air. This means the kite excels at hooked in and sent jumps. Things like bankroll hand drags, board offs, simple low kite loop based tricks. Jump transitions and getting a ton of height. Its okay but not the best for waves and an unhooked. It wor …

This video and blog will hopefully give you an idea of what to expect from the spectrum and help you decide if it's the right kiteboard for you. ANNELOUS LAMMERTS popping a melon grab What kind of kiteboard is the Cabrinha Spectrum  We would classify this as a midrange all around freeride board. This means the Spectrum is made to do a little of everything.  Like any jack of all trades, the spectrum is a master of none. That said, you get a lot more out of this board than you wo …

The Roam is Ocean Rodeos Surf kite and if you kite foil, you know up until brands started developing foil specific kites like the UFO, Surf kites were a popular choice among foil enthusiasts. You might be surprised to hear that Surf kites are still the most popular choice at the shop among the team. Mostly because they give you options from surf performance to high-end kite foil performance. For reference, currently, I weigh 185 I was using the Slingshot Infinity 76 and I tested the Roam Aluul …

These bars are similar in design. They use a clicking system to adjust the steering lines rather than the center lines. The Stick Shift is super soft on the hands The Ocean Rodeo Stick Shift is soft and floaty; while the Duotone Clickbar is a little less soft, it's more refined. The drawback to the Clickbar is that sometimes the centerline can bind. This is due to the automatic swivel feature. The Stick Shift's main drawback is that you must flush it out between each use. Obviously, these …

The carve has a different design than your average wave kite. For perspective, regular waves kites share a few traits. On & off Depower, down the line drift, they also fly a bit smaller as far as power. The Carve is unique. Like the Duotone Neo, they have taken a different approach. You can expect the on and off depower but the real surprise is the low end power of the carve. With this in mind, the on and off depower becomes more important because you can sheet out and still have good cont …

The shop asked me to try to compare Duotone's SLS kites and the Aluula kites from Ocean Rodeo. I've decided to do a couple videos on this to share my experience and that of friends who tried it. I was able to get some time on the Neo SLS, and now I've got a Roam Aluula and a Flite Aluula. So far I've tried the Flite and the Neo SLS. Two very different kites, so I'll compare how the lighter materials used impacted the kites in their own respective ways. I do have a Roam that I'll test and compar …

Today we're going to review the Eleveight FS. Who is this kite good for? Whats it good at and what's it lacking? This is a kite I have gravitated towards for a couple of years. It's known as Eleveight's freestyle / big air kite. It's an open C design, so you can expect more direct input into the kite. This gives you an aggressive pull up on the jumps and aggressive kite loops. Don't expect a ton of loft from the FS. This freestyle-oriented design is made for pop and slack so you will rea …

The Roam has been a favorite in the Ocean Rodeo lineup for several years. This great surf/freeride kite comes in an all-new construction called Aluula. This new material takes this solid kite to the next level by making the kite lighter and stiffer. What this does for the kite's performance is to make it more reactive to bar input and to perform better in lighter winds. Improved Performance What this means for improved surf and foil performance is that the kite stays in the air; you can …

The Neo SLS performs a lot like the old Neo, but it does have some advantages. The real question is whether these changes are worth trading in your old Neo. I had the chance to try this kite in some light wind and some stronger wind with onshore and cross-shore onshore conditions. I've had loads of time on the original Neo, and after trying the SLS I do have an opinion on whether the trade up is worth it. Let's break down what you can expect and then we'll get into whether it's worth it or n …

The Ride Engine Momentum is a unique soft-shell harness. It comes with the classic ride engine fit and lumbar lock yet its soft and flexible and allows for completely unrestricted movement for the rider.  This year Ride Engine has 3 flex patterns in their line up and it's a smart call. Not everyone enjoys the feel of a true hardshell myself included. I prefer something with some torsional give and support like the Saber. Some want the absolute stiffest harness like the carbon Elite.  …

This week I’m going to do a review on the Ride Engine Saber harness. To help you understand what this harness is like, I’ll be making a comparison to the Mystic Stealth Harness. This is more a review of the Saber than a full comparison but doing a small comparison will help the review be more in depth and hopefully help you decide if this is the harness for you. So if it sounds like I’m leaning too much towards the Saber in the review, don’t be mistaken. I used Mystic fo …

The new Sentry bar is a welcomed upgrade for Slingshot. I’ve been using their bars since 2013 and while they were making welcomed changes, like above the bar depower and a functional swivel the core design of the bar hasn’t changed all that much. So What's New? Softer Bar The new bar is soft. This really stood out to me. We now have soft molded ends, a soft grip, coated center lines. The older bar was cool because it was so simple but there was a lot of hard plastic. I found …

A ride and review of the 2021 Duotone Dice by Jake Mitchell. The team is keen on getting more reviews out with different perspectives. We'd like to make these videos as informative and useful as possible, so please let us know what you would like to know in the YouTube comments section of the video! To kick off the review, I have to comment on the colors and graphics. I know this has nothing to do with performance but I've been a big fan of the Dice since 2015 and the new colors remin …