Performance Characteristics
Freeride - Smooth jumps and loads of float with gentle, controlled lift plus it's nice and easy to feel where the kite is when coming in to land. Big airs are effortless.
Freestyle - For unhooked jumps and powered wake-style tricks. More aggessive and will rip you off the water. Keeps power in the turn, so you get a more constant and predictable pull during kite loops.
Unhooked riding
Freeride - More pivoted turn, so it's easy to get the kite in the right place when smacking the lip and riding down the line.
Freestyle - Loads of grunt and a good, precise driving turn. Both setups can be flown unhooked with tight rear lines so that it's easy to feel where the kite is and steer it one handed without and back-stall in the kite.
Bar pressure
A light but progressive bar pressure means that you can easily feel where the power of the kite is, giving an intuative connection to the kite. In freestyle setup the tension of the 5th line makes a massive difference to the bar pressure. Heavier with no 5th line tension or much lighter with the 5th line pulled in by a couple of inches. You can tune this to your preferred setup.
Stability
Really stable even in gusty winds and when the kite is depowered it remains rock-solid in the sky. There is always a smooth feeback to the bar from the kite, making it great for progressing and learning new tricks. The Ion2 excels in gusty conditions as the kite remains stable making it great for flying sites that can have turbulent conditions.
Size range
Each size has been systematically tailored to the conditions it will be used in. The 14.5 and 16.5m have been set up to be more powerful, for light wind conditions and hevier riders. The smaller sizes have large wind ranges for greater top. Turn speeds adjusted so all kites have a similar feel and a turn rate that reflects the conditions that they will be used in.
Simplicity
The Ion2 has been designed to make your kite flying life simple! Easy and quick single point inflation (rig-up in no time), freestyle/freeride bridle diagrams printed on the bag for easy reference and a freeride to freestyle conversion process that you can do in literally a few minutes.
