First a little background on the rider who's writing this review...

• This is my 5th season riding year round.

• I've owned and ridden every WW production kite ever produced except for the Rampage 1.
• Most current kites are 9 & 14m '06 Waroos that I've enjoyed and had huge success and fun with.
• I'm 5'11", 165 lbs. 
  

Conditions: 22-26mph Gust 30 on flat water.

Construction: Classic WW strength & durability.  I can't pick out the fanciest Dacron blends or newest adhesives, but a well built kite is a well built kite. And this one certainly is.  Bumpers & reinfoced seams everywhere.  The tiny battons along the trailing & leading edge canopy have made this kite the most stable I've ever ridden.  I tried to oversheet, overpower and aggresively turn the kite with the intention of making it jellyfish or atleast bend a wingtip, and the kite never even fluttered.  I exhausted myself trying to beat-up the kite in strong, gusty wind.

Performace:  My benchmark is the '06 9m Waroo.  I still love that kite, but the Rampage 2 had some significant advantages. The 9.5 pulled and jumped as well as any other top of the line hybrid, bow or C kite I've ever ridden.  The thing I noticed right away was the kites stability in every position and attitude.  As I depowered it and sent it low and fast directly through the window, it never fluttered or flapped like my waroos do.  Sheeted in and flying very aggresivly it continued to fly rock hard without any hint of control issues or instability. After 6 tries to get it to spend more than a few seconds on the water, I finally witnessed the best relaunch ability of any kite I've ridden.  Its wing tip picks up far better than my waroos can.   Jumping is fast off the water with a long floaty descent for a kite of its size.  Kiteloops are beyond easy, as it turns on a dime.

Negatives:  The  tiny battons are a major part of the kites performance makeup and I'm sure keep it flying perfect, but they are very fragile. Great care and time packing up is a must so you can't stuff it and run if you're late.  The MIS one-pump system is the biggest dissapointment.  I see the logic behind making a safer one pump by using small diameter tubes (slower air leak during a failure) and leaving stopper balls in the struts and LE, but it causes too many problems.  The glue holding the tubes in the caps leaked and I lost 2 struts after 20min on the water.  I simply replaced them with the original style caps and there was no issue there after.  Even if the glued tubes didn't leak, the struts inflate very slowly and you need to wait for the struts to catch up to the LE as the air hisses in via the very small tubes.  The stopper balls constantly need to be pinched back to allow air into the struts. If you don't care about the one pump feature, just inflate traditionally. 

Synopsis:  This is the absolute best kite WW has ever produced the single best kite I've ever ridden.  I'm selling my '06 waroos as soon as I get the larger Rampage 2. 

Any questions please feel free to ask. 

Cool.  I figured it would take a few times through the gears to figure out the best technique.  Thanks again for everything.

ANy more comments on the MIS system? Seems a pretty neat system if it works...

theKiterider200-

In reguards to your question...I've ridden '05 & '06 Crossbows that belong to friends of mine.  I was amazed at their low end grunt and how stable they were when I screwed up any number of jumps with spins. The Crossbow for me held up like a champ when I didn't know which way was up until I hit the water.  What I didn't like was the vry slow responce and turns speed. Compared to C kites it's fast, but the Rampage absoluty out-turns and speeds through the window faster.  These kites as you know depend on more appharent wind.  The Rampage 2 whips through the window and powers up more like a C kite.  Any 9.5 will fly and turn fast, but I can't seem to describe just how much better it flies, pulls and remains totally rock stable.  You can't go wrong with those stats! Let me know if there's anything more I can tell you.

 

BK-

I am not on the wind wing team but would be happy to accept free kites any day now. 

I originally got wind wing kites (rage 2's) because i could get 3 (17, 12,8) for $1500 including postage.  I put these kites through a workout with heaps of kiting and many crashes in surf and still have them in great condition. 

I am blown away by the rampage 2 but have to admit i am kinda new to this whole bow kite thing. 

I weigh 75-77kg but sometimes less when i get "high"

Well I just got my new Rampage2-12m and I have a couple questions. What psi should I pump the kite up to using the one pump setup and do I need to use the wingtip battens as I did not use them on my rap2 kite?  P.S the kite looks great now we just need some wind

Boston kiter/Mr High are you guys using the wing tip battens and what psi are are you pumping to. Thanks

Thank you .

I too have ridden the Rampage 2 9.5m

Contrary to what has been said about launching abilities. The kite launches very slowly and took MANY GOES before it launches. The wind was 20-25knts and the kite would take ages to go to the relaunch position. Kept dropping back down.

Flys OK but nothing spectacular, compared to a Waroo 9, Xbow 2 12.

I would not buy this kite due to relaunch and those stupid battens.

Pack ups a bitch when you've had a good session. The MIS was an after thought as the tiny tubes do bugger all and are troublesome.

My 2 cents

I couldn't agree more with the WW reply to kik128.  If there was some confusion as to witch Rampage kik was flying, that would certainly explain his experience.  In any case, I took my R2 9.5 out on Thanksgiving.  There was a Noreaster raging through New England last week blowing 25-40mph all day.  The kite again stayed unbelievably stable in the worst wind I can imagine riding in.  I only droped it once and it relauched from a total LE down position almost on its own axis. You can't get a kite to relaunch any better. 

As far as the wingtip battons go, I use them.  Im only 165 pds but find the kite turns much better with them in. I fly and ride aggresivly and have found the R2 to be the best platform for my riding style.

Kiterfreak, the Rampage II and our next line of kites called the Batwing might have to redefine the sizing rules for kites.

We have found for example, a Rampage II 9.5 will give you the same power as as 12m or even a 14m kite in low winds, while able to fly in high wind conditions that calls for a much smaller kites. You've heard of the "One-Kite-Quiver", this concept comes from the efficiency and incredible range we've built into each Rampage II kite.

We have dropped 15m Rampage II because of the diminishing return of the kite in larger sizes...meaning the bigger they are, the slower they fly...thereby generating equal or only slightly more power than the smaller sized kites.

We will bring out a 15m and bigger sizes under the Batwing model. The Batwing is a completely new Windwing technology centered around building larger kites that generate power with the efficiency of smaller kites, i.e. turning speed, going through air faster and slippery...like a golf ball.

Lots of exciting things coming to you from Windwing!

Hard to believe. Sounds like a hype or your really HIGH

I have asked few times here and the answers received have not been concrete. I just want to know if I can replace my Rap 2 16.5 with a Ramp2 12. I have a Rap2 12 basically new, if I can exchange it for a Ramp2, great. How much?

Seem like everyone is giving a huge thunbs up for the Rampage II. Is the trade in still going on?

This new Rampage II 9.5 meter kite performs so different than any other previous Windwing Kites.

I have no idea what Windwing has done to make such an improvement in these kites, maybe they will comment. But it’s a massive difference and this kite handles unbelievable. It fly's in almost no wind.. Its stays in the air in 6mph? That's crazy!!!

 

After 5 sessions on this kite I'm convinced that this is the only kite I need.

 

I actually had fun on a day that I normally would have not been able to kite the wind was too low, but with the combination of this Rampage II 9.5 and the new light wind board I could ride back & fourth small pops and keep my ground, I'm talking about conditions with gusts of 11MPH and lulls of 6mph! And No walking back upwind. I had to come home and weigh myself I couldn't believe I was planning never mind holding ground.

I was on the water from about 12:30 to 2:30

I have used this kite from 7mph to 35 mph and for me at 180 lbs the sweet spot range is 12-30mph.

Very Very Impressive... Fantastic improvement. Major difference from all previous WW kites! ...What a kite.

 

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