STOPPERBALL VS STOPPERKNOT
The basics
When the QR is activated the bar shoots away over one of the powerlines. To prevent the bar from going all the way up to the kite a stopper can be placed on the line to (as the name suggests) stop the bar.
The rule of thumb is to put a stopper a minimum of the half the kite’s length + 1m. In most cases this would mean something like 6m / 8m up the line.
Why is it important
A stopper will make your self rescue much easier and safer! It also helps when you’ve accidentally activated your QR to reload and continue your ways without the lines being tangled.
The adjustable stopperball
A stopperball is a small plastic ball which is placed on the line. It can be placed anywhere on the line as close or as far as you would like! Some stopperballs can be removed fully!
Due to the thickness of the ball not fitting trough the frontline splitter the bar stops when it reaches that point. Making it easier to reload the bar and continue kiting or do a self rescue.
The thickness may be a problem when you do a lot of tricks as the lines may wrap around your stopperball which may cause dangerous situations.
it also adds some weight to the line and over time a stopperball will damage the line. It’s needed to place some sort of protection on the line before mounting a stopperball or mount it on top of a spliced area.
Benefits
– Removable
– Moveable in height
– Easier line layout / easy to mount.
Drawbacks
– Damages the line over time
– lines can wrap around and cause dangerous situations.
– Harder to untangle
STOPPERKNOT
A stopperknot is a loop to loop connection in the frontlines that is also to thick to pass trough the frontline splitter (v distributor). The downside is for the manufacturer. As there are no longer 4 lines to be made but 6 lines! 2 rear – 2 upper and 2 lower front. which is 50% more work than before. You may understand manufacturers generally try to make lines as cheap as possible to gain more profit. Having a lower and upper section in your frontline has many benefits!
It’s a much cleaner line layout with less chance of a line getting stuck than with a stopperball. It also has benefits to replace your worn lower front section when you have too much abrasion due to line crossings
Benefits
– Cleaner design
– Easier to replace your lower section where the is a lot of wear from lines crossing.
– Flipable, flip the frontlines to put your wear point higher or lower on the line making the lifespan of your lines much longer!
– Minimal adjustment possible to adjust the difference between 2 frontlines.
Drawbacks
– Fixed stopper point.
– more time consuming to make
The line smith
At the line smith we believe that a stopperknot is the best option. It does add work for the line smith but in the end the rider has many benefits.
For most sets at the line smith we have a stopperknot standard in the line layout! That’s the power of the line smith. With a lower 8M and an upper section to match to your prefered line lenght.