Global Bar RRD
Global Bar Technology:
Molded floating side caps:
- Molded floating side caps injected with high memory EVA which facilitates a better bar grip and increased safety.
Aluminium centre connection:
- Made with CNC milled and polished aluminium, the centre bar piece comes with and oversized oval hole to improve de-power tube sliding even during some extreme steering.
Chicken loop safety release:
- Chicken loop safety release system with oversized handle and increased sliding potential of all components to secure an effective functionality over the years. This safety release system has the least amount of steel components on the market, meaning a longer lifetime and less maintenance.
New stainless steel de-power rope cleat:
- New custom design stainless steel de-power rope cleat conceived around the double chamber tube, allowing the security line to slide freely.
Rigid thread lines
Equipped with the legendary rigid thread lines.
- In addition to the new features, the ‘RRD Global Bar Y27’ is still equipped with special lines called “RIGID THREAD LINES”. These are used exclusively on the RRD bars with great success for over 9 years now. A product that’s now widely tested around the world, but there is little known about the details of its uniqueness by kiteboarders. A pro rider will choose our rigid thread lines over any flying lines in the market. They simply DO NOT STRETCH!!!
All our lines are produced and developed in Italy, with a worldwide patent granted only to RRD.
- The ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ are the result of the collaboration with an Italian manufacturing company that has more than fifty years of experience in the processing of lines and ropes, using the most recent and innovative exotic fibres, combined with an intimate knowledge of the physical and mechanical properties of Dyneema.
Why are the ‘rigid thread lines’ different?
The difference of our lines is that conventional Dyneema braided lines also have excellent breaking resistance characteristics but can’t keep their original length when under tension. This is due to their entirely braided structure that sees the fibres being crossed over each other with an angle of approximately 30° compared to the load angle (0°). Once a conventional braided line is under tension it’s fibres will tend to align towards the load line and progressively start to stretch. A conventional braided line will stretch up to 10% of their original length when under load. (so a 25 meter line can stretch up to 25 cm).
Imagine by comparison the ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ like a widely used electric cable. Core copper wires are covered with a plastic protection sock. In the ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ copper is replaced by unidirectional Dyneema pre-tensioned fibres instead of braided fibres, covered (like the plastic part on the electric cable) with a very thin braided Dyneema sock to keep the internal non-braided unidirectional fibres in place and protecting them from abrasion.
This allows to create a direct connection between the bar and the kite, since what connects them together is a unidirectional non braided fibre core.
For this reason, our exclusive ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ have a maximum stretch of 0,1% (so a 25-meter line can stretch up to max. 2,5 cm).
The ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ of RRD Kites will never be subject to adjustment, since they won’t even stretch under stress-related moves, for example by extreme loops or other radical manoeuvres, and consequently it is impossible to end up with stretched lines and/or of a different length and therefore the trim of the kite remains unchanged through the years.
The ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ will always be visually, technically, and feeling-wise, compact, and rigid throughout the course of their lives, maintaining all its physical and technical characteristics unaltered over the time.
The standard braided kite line has more stretch, which results in different line lengths, power absorption and reduction of performance, especially at the moment where you change the direction of the kite, where the load on the lines reaches its peak.
Another weakness of the standard braided line that ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ have turned into a strength is the unchanged rigidity over the time.
Any new conventional line has a rigid and compact touch/feel because of the resin (generally polyurethane-based) that covers it. This resin has a very short life and after only a few sessions, the touch/feel of the product is softer.
This translates into a series of annoying consequences such as:
- The softened lines are more subject to unwanted knots.
- The protection of the line is reduced after each session.
- The braid tends to open, and it becomes more fragile, allowing the absorption of water which (after drying) will create small salt crystals inside the threads, which will weaken the structure of the line over the time.
Why are RRD kite lines innovative?
Unlike standard braided lines, the unidirectional structure of ‘Rigid Thread Lines’ provides a fibre memory that is significantly more efficient. A standard braided line under stress combines all ‘dynamic elongation’ of the fibre and flattening of the braid, whereas the core unidirectional structure uses exclusively the elastic modules of the fibre.