Most Innovative
Size tested: 10m Suggested retail: $1,399; $1,799 (complete);
Sizes available: 6, 8, 10, 12m
Test Team Report
The Flysurfer Cronix is a unique design that caught the attention of many onlookers at the beach, with its three half-battens and trailing-edge bridles. There are tons of features on this kite that are exclusive to Flysurfer and give it unique performance traits that are nothing short of admirable. The reverse relaunch system that utilizes the bridled trailing edge works effortlessly and has lots of applications for any riders who self-launch in tricky scenarios or light winds. Test Team riders were impressed with the 10m grunty low-end drive, and remarked that it was as powerful as some of the larger kites in the test. The ultra-wide wing tips provide good feedback and deliver quick kite reaction and good turn speed. They also offer some extra pull through the latter half of the turn.
Steering the kite, you can feel this extra power through the swoop and use it to your advantage to boost some loft jumps or power carves and propel you through kite loops. The higher aspect canopy of the kite also ensures you get great glide through the air as well. The wide wing tips provide positive feedback from the kite, and you can steer and turn the kite while fully sheeted-out, which also has good applications in waves or riding overpowered. Flysurfer has done a remarkable job at putting its own twist on the LEI kite. Consider the Cronix for its unique performance character and technical-packed features that set it apart from the rest.
The Trade-off:
A bit complex for the more basic plug-and-play rider, with all the bridles on the trailing edge and the longer, more intricate leading-edge bridle system.
Best For:
Any level of rider who wants a kite with tons of low-end power and extra range that can relaunch in any situation.
Designer Notes:
The Cronix is our first released kite after we changed our philosophy to be open to any systems and solutions. We just want the best possible kite for every customers needs, which are quite different. Another example for this is our new ultralight SingleSkin Kite PEAK, the first of its kind on the market.
For the Cronix the goal was absolute Freestyle ability, jumping, kiteloop etc., and userfriendlyness. That’s why we made some new approaches to improve lightwind relaunch of tubekites, and to simplify Self-Launching. Also effortless easy pumping was a main goal for us, because hard pumping can be quite annoying.
The serial Cronix is the end of 2 years development in very different directions: We tested doubleskin prototypes as well, as supported ribs protos (flat kites with bridles ribs), more flat SLE-Kites, less sweep, etc..
The Cronix size range is spited in 2 main constructions: 12.0 and 10.0 the canopy is scaled, the bridle is adjusted individually. 8.0 and 6.0 are a different construction, optimized for stronger winds, with thicker stiffer tubes. Also the bridle is adjusted on each size individual.
The main new feature is the adaptive-airfoil: Every sailor and windsurfer trims the airfoil of his sail for different conditions.Each airplane changes their airfoils by using flaps for different flying speeds and situations. Also every paraglier and foilkite changes its airfoil for different lift, speed etc.. The adaptive airfoil introduces the same effect into tubekites, where you had to choose a com-promise airfoil until now. More camber for Lowend and hangtime, fast flat airfoil for high-winds. And on top it improves the lightwind relaunch a lot.
