A useful gadget for those that detest line tangles or have OCD

It’s a fact of life that salt, sand, friction and lack of servicing all contribute to the wear of the moving parts on your kite bar. We’ve all been caught out by snapping a depower line that we should have already replaced weeks. If that sounds familiar then your worries are over, the solution to depower line wear is finally here.

Slingshot Sports and Liquid Force are both market leaders when it comes to product innovation and today Slingshot has agreed to license Liquid Force’s latest binding patent and Liquid Force has agreed to license Slingshot’s control bar patent.

Slingshot's Chris Schey gives us the lowdown on the 2011 Control Bar, Slingshot's 2011 kite/wake boot bindings, and the all-new 2011 Slingshot harness.

TKB gets the inside scoop on the 2011 Nobile kiteboarding control bar.

TKB gets the scoop on the 2011 kite line from RRD kiteboarding.

Evan O'Connell shows off the latest features on the 2011 Best Redline Performance Bar at the 2010 AWSI. Evan also shows us the 2011 Best Kiteboarding seat and waist harnesses.

Dimitri Maramenides begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting from Epic Kites shows off a prototype 2011 Epic twin tip and the 2011 Epic control bar.

We were sent a 12m Cult and rode it in 20+ mph winds. Inflating the Cult is simple and fast with the Octopus single point inflation system. The overall quality of the Cult is one of a kind with solid construction throughout the kite.

Upon inflating the MX, we found it to be a stylish kite complete with Caution’s trademark flame graphics across the top of the canopy. The Mayhem X is very stable, rock solid in the gusts, and delivers a strong consistent power stroke.

There is no doubt people will see you coming with this kite – we couldn’t help but be attracted to the colorful graphics of the kite and bag. Upon setting up the Obsession, one of the most noticeable things we found was its long bridle, however, it seems to work perfectly with this kite design.

Anyone planning to buy this kite should spend at least a month playing around with the tuning and different settings. Yes, it does work out of the bag just fine, but the NXG is the dream kite for those who like to tinker.

We were surprised and intrigued at how fun new school C-kites have become. The one common myth that was dispelled during out test was that the Torch doesn’t have mass appeal: It’s not just a high end performance kite that can only be enjoyed by experts.

We read the hype about the Octane on many of the forums before we tested, so our staff was excited when a 13m arrived in the mail. After spending hours riding this kite, we have to admit it lived up to its reputation and more.

The Envy is a very easy and fast kite to inflate due to the Union single point inflation system and the fact that the Envy is only designed with 3-struts. By taking away the 5th and 4th struts, Liquid Force was able to make a lighter kite.