Thursday 2 October 2008

Review: RS Buggy - power kite racing buggy

RS Buggy - power kite racing buggy
The preparation

After playing around with the landboard for sometime I was bitten by the kiting bug and craved more speed and an easier ride. A buggy seemed to be just what I was looking for.

In December 2007 I set myself a budget of £250 and started to hunt around for a nice kiting buggy. At this point I'd seen a wide variety of buggies in the flesh at the kite club at Pontefract but I didn't have the experience to know what any of them were. The only brand I really knew anything about were the Flexifoil buggies, which I suppose I ended up aiming for.

After discovering how expensive the flexi's were I'd plumped for the Peter Lynn Comp buggy as a good compromise on price and usability and I was all set to pay.

About the RS Speed buggy
My friend had stumbled across some posts on the Flexi Forums talking about the RS Buggy and these after some more research these looked brilliant and were amazing value with my £250 budget getting me the top end RS Speed buggy with everything I could ever want!
* Swan neck
* 150cm wide axle
* Delli Midi 16x6.50 - 8 inch tyres

A few weeks later the parcels arrived and I excitedly assembled the buggy in my front room. It was quite simple to put together and it stayed built with the exception that I removed the rear axle for transport & storage. It felt super solid and nice & heavy. The buggy itself is very well made, strong, clean welding, 27mm side rails, 40mm box section downtube, 43mm diameter axle, 20mm wheel bearings all round, choice of 3 axle lengths, standard or midi wheels etc. etc. If anything it's too well made, with my wide axled beast weighing in at a hernia inducing 20+kg.

The buggy went into the back of my VW Golf with the back seats down and the axle off. No other changes were needed.

The ride

Bearing in mind that at this point I hadn't ridden a buggy of any description I had nothing to compare this against.

The deep racing seat was really comfortable with a relaxed riding position and support provided by the hard back rest. The adjustable footpegs meant I could set the swan neck for maximum length and keep the pegs back as far as they would go. I later found this was a good choice as it meant I avoided rubbing my feet on the wheels on sharper turns.

My first proper session was at Mablethorpe where the big tyres and long wheelbase kept me from sinking into the sand and the wide-axle meant I could keep a lot of power down during long runs and make faster turns. The ride was always comfortable and super stable even at speed.

I had many great sessions in the RS with my best session being at Bolton-Le-Sands where I clocked up a 70 mile trip and maxed out at roughly 43mph without batting an eyelid. The stability of the RS filled me with confidence on speed runs and big powerslide turns. The comfort meant I could stay out all day without any aches & pains. Fantastic all round.

I bought a Total Splash Guard from buggybags.co.uk mainly to keep all of the sand/grass/water landing in the seat as the swan neck effectively turned it into a low slung scoop by lowering the front end.

Summary

I would definetly recommend these buggies to anyone - they are amazing value, fantastically built and inspire confidence while riding. I definetly learned faster while using the RS. *****



UPDATE (Oct/08):
I recently reluctantly decided to sell the RS Buggy solely for transport regions. I got a new job and I had to swap cars and relocate so I needed something that would pack down into a smaller package. Sadly, I swapped the RS for a flexi buggy.

When comparing the RS buggy with the Flexi buggy I've traded a lot for the ease of transport. I appreciate that I've gone from a buggy intended for speed to one that's mainly intended for freestyle.

The flexi bug seat is nowhere near as comfortable for longer trips. The lack of deep sides & proper back support means it feels like I'm always going to come out.

Even at full stretch the flexi bug isn't really long enough and my legs ache from being permanently bent. At 5'10" I'm typically described as 'normal' but it's an issue for me.

With the smaller axle and shorter wheelbase the flexi bug is *nowhere* near as stable and I now have to fly one-handed to hold on to the buggy and lean out of the opposite side. I've had a few unintentional 2-wheel events and some near OBEs too. I'm tempted to invest in the 1.5m axle but this would take me back to where I was with the RS.

Hats off to any speedsters in flexi bugs, it's way more scarey with virtually zero stability.

I wish I could get a RS buggy that was more transportable. Deeper seat and wider axle would be my top picks.