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Loki (Cunning Stunts)

DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION
The Loki is one of the biggest kites in the test and it has an unusual shape sail with a twin tail. Four stand-offs keep the leading edge taut although the sail is fairly flat. The quality of sewing was good with straight rolled seams and Dacron reinforcements at all points. The kite has a trick line and a leech line on the trailing edge. The 6mm frame was light and stiff. The fittings are all good quality "Tradewinds". Both upper and lower spreaders were stopped as was the spine. The bottom of the spine had a Velcro fastening.

FLIGHT QUALITY
The Loki would takeoff in a very light wind. It was very smooth in flight and tracked nice and straight. Tight. angular turns had a little oversteer and round curved turns were achieved easily as were tight spins, although the kite tended to skid a little out of a tight turn. The Loki had a large window and felt positive and under control at all times.

FREESTYLE
The Loki was able to stop fairly well, although it did not like to stay perfectly still and needed control from the pilot to maintain it. A simple axel was easy, as were the half and rolling axel; the kite did them with no problem. The Loki spins fast if not perfectly flat and we were soon doing flat spins and 540s without any great stress - the kite had a nice habit of while spinning. A turtle was fine and the kite seemed very stable on its back. We found that the Loki would go into a flic flac but it was difficult to maintain as it lost height. Overall it was fairly forgiving and tended to recover well from a messed up trick.

VERDICT
The Loki is one of the better-behaved kites in the test. It has an unusual appearance and is well made. It was easy to fly in "normal" mode and had a big wind window. It would do almost everything asked of it and even if it was not the most graceful kite in the test. it would certainly offer plenty of potential for the beginner to progress. The whole package was good quality and was still good value despite being more expensive that some of the others.