2017 North Click Bar Review

August 31, 2016

2017 North Click Bar Review

2017 is the year of the 'Game Changer', according to the hype. But this is by far the biggest innovation that kiteboarding bars have seen in recent years.
Introducing the 2017 North Click Bar.
2017 North Click Bar Quad Control WA Surf Review
For those of you who haven't seen the Click Bar yet, check it out HERE, but for the rest of our readers, we'll jump right into it.
The first thing you are going to notice is just how clean the bar really is. There is absolutely nothing above the bar or below the bar, no toggles, no depower lines, no swivel. This is by far, the cleanest bar on the market.
For those of you coming off of a North Trust Bar, the bar will feel almost identical in your hands. The weight difference is unnoticeable and the bar diameter and grip is almost identical to the North Trust Bar.
Once on the water, operating the Trim Unit is exceptionally intuitive. We've found that most of our customers who have demoed the bar have felt right at home from the get go.
We have had some concerns raised by customers about the ability to dump the depower quickly in a tricky situation. It is quicker and easier to depower than a traditional system, and does not require you to come off your edge. Powering up may be a fraction slower due to the "click click" nature of the Trim Unit, but we have not found this to be of any major concern thus far.
2017 North Click Bar Quad Control WA Surf Review
There is two other major advantages to the click bar that seem to be skipped over in the marketing material and from other reviews. The first is the auto untwisting frontlines. The second, is the ability to adapt this bar to about 99% of kites manufactured in the past 10 years.
Firstly, the untwisting front lines works like no other. While most bars provide a swivel either above, below, or both above and below the bar, we all know that even the best swivels become stiff and require some 'convincing' over time, to actually do their job. What North have done on the click bar is to cover the centre lines with a rectangular TPU tubing, that is aligned with your bar. This means that every time you spin your bar, your centre lines are automatically orientated with your bar. The future is here, you can now do 100 back rolls in one direct and never worry about twisted front or safety lines again!
Undoubtably one of the biggest advantages with the click bar is it's versatility. You can run this bar on four or five lines. You can adjust the front line Y split height to anything from the high Y setup of the North and Naish kites, through to the low Y split of the Airush, Slingshot, Naish and Ozone kites. You can change your line lengths from 22m and 24m in an instant. You can swap your pigtails between your lines to suit any pigtail setup on your chosen kite.
You no longer need 3 bars for 3 kites. Now you can have one (or two!) click bars and ride every style and brand of kite on the market. The only thing it won't fit is the 4/6 line setups that Aaron Hadlow and a few others ride. However, most people riding those kites will be on smaller, wakestyle bars, so we can't see this being an issue.

THE HISTORY
7 Years. That's how long this bar has been in development.
The Click Bar was actually designed in Western Australia, back in 2010. We know the designer Jerome, and some of our previous staff and team riders were lucky enough to ride some of the earliest prototypes. It worked back then, and North has put a lot of time into the development of the bar since picking up the design several years ago. We've been hearing the promise of this bar for a few seasons now, so rest assured that this is a tried and tested design, with minimal moving parts and chances of damage. No matter how much sand or salt you try to jam into the trim unit, the Click Bar just keeps on going.

 

FOR & AGAINST
FOR
Where do we begin. A super clean and totally new way of trimming your kite. Loaded with features we've already mentioned, this bar really is the future.
You can now use just one bar instead of two or three for your quiver.
AGAINST

Freestylers may prefer the smaller wakestyle bars, while some users may miss the ability to change the length of the bar, as is normal on the North Trust Bar.

 

If you'd like to demo the 2017 North Click Bar, simply drop into the shop in Safety Bay, or contact us to arrange a demo.




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