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Robertshaw Fury Review
Flexifoil Fury Review
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Introduction

It is fair to say that this review has been some time in coming. kHiTe has had a Flexifoil Fury for several months. The main reason for this is that it is very hard to review a cut down version of a kite that we like a lot. When you are used to flying a high performance kite, flying something similar but not quite as good is a frustrating experience. That should in no way reflect on the quality of the Flexifoil Fury, but it does mean that throughout this review we cannot help but compare it to Carl's £180 version of the kite.

Construction

The Flexifoil Fury has a good quality of construction for a kite this size in its price range. The Chikara nylon is an excellent cloth, far better than nylon's of the past and perhaps preferable to some of the overly thick budget polyesters. The colours are strong on this cloth. The frame is a mixture of 8 mm and 6 mm carbon, which results in a more flexible kite. The Tradewinds fittings are stopped, and the centre T is solid brass, which adds some tail weight and is very unlikely to break, however it is affixed to the spine with cut clear tubing which strikes us as a little old fashioned. There are no other weights on the kite.

Centre T-Piece

The bridle is a standard three point with a single adjustment rather than the easy adjust bridle on Carl's version. The seams however are very well stitched and rolled. I understand that the kite is still being made in Soham England, rather than in China. The bridle has the same leaders as the Robertshaw version but no Yo-Yo line. Gone also are the leading edges that prevent snags, and the lines to prevent the bridle snagging the tail. There is no trick line with the kite.

The kite does come with 95ft of 200lb line and hearty straps, as well as a spare set of elastic bands for the wing tips in a good quality bag.

In general the Flexifoil Fury exceeds thequality of many Far Eastern kites, although it is let down by the quality of its frame, when many kites are using Skyshark P-series branded or unbranded frames.

Style

The Flexifoil Fury has the same sense of presence as the Carl robertshaw version. This looks like a lot of kite for the money. Flexifoil have used the range of Chikara fabric available to their advantage, even the Rainbow version looks good.

Flexifoil Fury Colours

This is an attractive kite, that looks good in the store and on the end of your lines.

Flight

The Flexifoil Fury flies like a de-tuned Robertshaw Fury. It requires more breeze than it's more expensive sibling - you can fly it below 6mph but you have to work hard. The more flexible frame knocks a little off the precision performance, but it is still miles ahead of many other Ballet kites. If you are looking for a kite to train in precision flying the Flexifoil Fury is fully capable.

Pushing into Freestyle and the de-tuned analogy holds. Cascades and Half Axels are crisp and controllable, as are Fades, Flic-Flacs and 540's. All the basics are there. However as the wind picks up they become a lot more tricky, as the Flexifoil Fury lacks the extra inertia provided by the Robertshaw Fury's weight system. Even using aggressive arm movements things become harder work. There is probably nothing that the the Flexifoil Fury cannot do that the Robertshaw Fury can, but it is limited in terms of ease and wind speed.

The Flexifoil Fury with a Yo-Yo line will wrap up from a Fade to overcooked Flare, and it Cometes well just like its brother. However we found that the exposed fittings and bridle would soon begin to catch in exactly way the Robertshaw Fury doesn't. Pushing the Flexifoil Fury to the frontiers of Freestyle can be a frustrating experience.

That is not to so the Flexifoil Fury is a poor Freestyle performer, it certainly performs as well if not better than the Hornet and the Profile, it is just not as good as the Robertshaw Fury. You could certainly learn many of the basics of trick flying in 6-10 mph on this kite and mix it up with some squares.

Conclusion

So who is the Flexifoil Fury for? Wandering around festivals this year where the public turn out in force a lot of people seem to be carrying Flexifoil Fury 250 bags. This is a kite that in strong winds will pull a lot, probably as much as many budget power foils. It doesn't suffer from any sort of over steer making basic flying, loops, squares and the first freestyle moves available. However there are other kites for less money that are better for learning tricks, Flexifoil's own Pulsar being one of them.

This is not a cheap way of owning a competition level Fury. By the time you have reframed, tweaked the bridle, added weights, added a Yo-Yo line, covered the fittings, you will probably have spent £80 and a whole lot of time to have something which is still not as good. It's a bit like buying a BMW 316i and trying to make it into a 323i. The 316i is still a BMW, but it is always going to be a de-tuned BMW.

However the Flexifoil Fury is probably overall the best Big Wing kite in the £100 price range, and offers an unprecedented entry point into competitive style flying. If we hadn't flown the Robertshaw Fury we would be very excited about what this kite represents. If you are looking to get into sport kiting and want a Big Wing the Flexifoil Fury is an excellent place to start.

Fury Feature
Robertshaw Fury Review
Flexifoil Fury Review
Robin Smith Interview
Fury Details
Fury Wallpaper
Jim B's Fury Diary
Fury Video
Discuss this Feature