Description

The F-One Bandit 2018 is a benchmark from which others follow, for eleven years it has been one of the most popular kites on the market, with good reason. F-One have put all our knowledge into this kite, creating the ultimate tool for kitesurfers to use whatever their riding style!

It offers a unique range of use; the top pro riders choose it for freestyle, waves and big air, it’s also a popular school kite, thanks to its auto-relaunch capabilities and it’s easy to fly nature.

The F-One Bandit is also perfect for beginners, intermediates and experts alike, whatever your style is on the water, the Bandit delivers.

 

The Bandit offers a huge wind range, allowing you to get going early while providing you with total control even when overpowered. It offers unrivalled hangtime and support all the way through every jump, allowing you to perform your tricks and land with ease. This year F-One have worked hard to give the kite the perfect amount traction, with less lateral pull. This means you won’t get as fatigued on the water as the new Bandit is always flying forwards rather than pulling sideways.

 

The larger sizes have had improvements made to the handling, making them faster, so you feel like you have a smaller, more nimble kite in your hands. Another significant upgrade for 2018 is the one line flag out safety system offering total depower when the quick release is pulled. Once again the kite is very intuitive to fly, there is no adaption time, and riders feel at home right away.

 

The kite is still based on the original Delta C Shape patent; this unique design makes the kite exceedingly stable in the air, offers unrivalled handling characteristics and also allows for easy relaunch. With years and years of development, we have learned precisely where the stress points are on the kite, by using high-end materials in the right places the durability of the kite has been further improved for 2018.

 

How Can One Kite Perform So Well In All Disciplines?

“The F-One Bandit is a kite with lots of power, excellent top-end control, smooth power delivery, great hangtime with plenty of support when flying; it offers fast turning capabilities, auto relaunching, superb upwind drive and control at high speed, coupled with exceptional bar feeling and perfect feed back.

 

Making a kite that can handle like this is a tricky challenge, especially with disciplines like strapless freestyle demanding very different handling from freestyle riding. However this is a big part of the secret of the Bandit, it’s not just about the amount of power you can create when you need to, it is also about how the kite delivers it and how you can control it.

 

New Features Of The New Bandit 11 That You Will Feel While Kiting?

When you fly a kite, the pull is always lateral, a sideways pull that is trying to drag you downwind. Essentially, we spend every session fighting against our kite to stay upwind. F-One have always been working on reducing this lateral pull, allowing the kite to fly forwards and for 2018 the new BANDIT offers the perfect amount of traction.

This unique concept in the design process lets you edge your board against the kite with less leg pressure. The board will feel livelier on the water too, as it isn’t fighting against the kite. This makes a big difference to the upwind performance when you are on the water; you will find it easier to go upwind with a better angle too.

 

Achieving this characteristic is quite difficult, and F-One are one of the only brands looking to reduce the lateral pull in our kites. The secret revolves around controlling the amount of pull, and the direction that the pull comes from. It’s all about positioning the kite in the sweet spot within the window. Too far back and it will pull you sideways, however, if it flies too far forwards in the window then you lose power.

The trick is to place the kite in the right spot to balance the power and pull precisely, you need to do this across the entire wind range of the kite, so the pull is uniform, from underpowered to overpowered. Keeping the profile stable when the kite is fully depowered is really important in order to maintain this sweet spot in the wind window.

This is the key area where F-One have improved the eleventh generation of the Bandit, when depowered the kites profile stays clean and efficient, ensuring the perfect pull, plenty of performance and lots of comfort too.

 

Once you have achieved the perfect amount of power and depower, the next factor to consider is how you deliver that power.

 

The Bandit has a really short depower stroke, meaning you can dump the power very quickly and still maintain a proper stance on the board. All the power is at your fingertips. Equally important is how that power comes back when you pull the bar in again. The kite has a smooth power transfer, ensuring there are no nasty surprises to pull you off balance. However, if you want a solid boost of power, for example when jumping, you can just pull the bar in faster and get fantastic lift. You could say the kite has two modes, depending on how you interact with the bar.

 

When brands mention wind range, they mean the spread between the top and low-end range of the kite. With the Bandit it is so much more than that, power, de-power, lateral pull, power transfer, the stability of the profile, all these factors combine in the Bandit, and this is the secret of its success over the last eleven years.

 

Weight:
We all love the handling of smaller kites, so this year the new Bandit feels lighter and faster than ever before. The way the larger sizes move and how you can steer them has been improved; you’ll think you're flying a kite that is a size smaller!

Bar Feeling:
With so much experience developing the Bandit over the last eleven years F-One were able to achieve a mix of feelings at the bar that you don’t normally get. This year there is a little more bar pressure, so you can feel the kite and hold onto the bar for excellent balance throughout your session. This small amount of extra pressure and balance on the bar will immediately improve your riding!

As you pull on the bar, you experience a smooth progressive power delivery, rather than something hard and heavy, reducing fatigue and increasing the length of your sessions. The more you pull, the more the pressure increases, so at times when you need it, such as during a trick, you get really positive feedback from the kite. In addition to this, the handling and turning speed is very direct sending lots of information back to the bar and your hands allowing you to become at one with the kite and get the most out of it.

 

Secret Recipe:
The recipe for success with the Bandit is the mix of different feelings and performance characteristics that the kite can offer. It’s an original C-Shape design but with early planing and incredible control right the way through the wind range. The kite provides excellent hangtime and good traction on the water, coupled with fast, light handling and great bar feedback giving you total control. It can take you to the podium of the world tour in freestyle, while still offering stunning strapless wave riding capabilities and at the same time, is used in kite schools all over the world!

The best selling kite on the market:
F-One believe the BANDIT is the best selling model on the market thanks to its unique qualities and army of fans around the globe. Regardless of your riding style, the Bandit will appeal to you. We are proud of this success; it’s down to nothing other than pure hard work, time and effort. Robert Graham, our designer, works tirelessly with the testing team of Mika Fernandez and Raphael Salles. Each year around 80 prototypes are designed, built and tested in order to achieve the perfect kite. We test in all conditions and disciplines, from twin tips, surfboards and hydrofoils.

This year the Bandit is the culmination of over 600 prototypes that we have tested and ridden over the last eleven years. It’s arguably the most intensely developed product on the market right now.

 

F-One Bandit 2018 (XI) Main Features:

 

• Top performances in all disciplines.
• Huge wind range
• Controled lateral pull for improved comfort
• Original auto relaunch
• New Reactor Valves for faster inflation.
• New Linx Bar with one line flag out safety system
• New Materials and colour coding for reinforcements
• Prooved durability
• Delta C shape patent

Why the Delta C-Shape is the only choice:

 

• Get a fifth line effect with only 4 lines
• Its powerful and get the best depower around
• Get the auto relaunch effect. the Bandit Has a big projected area for a c-shape because most of the m² are in the centre of the kite. The tips are quite small and therefore allows easier relaunch
• The Delta C-Shape is so efficient that F-One has taken away some AR compare to the Tribal
• Get a lot of hang time
• Its incredible for unhooked riding with a better bar feeling than the F-One Tribal
• Get a new Force Frame construction
• Get a swivel on front lines so you never have twists
• Accept any lines length
• Can be use by any rider from school to pro level
• Has only 54cm of de power rope.
• Can also used with a short Tribal depower rope. You only lose a little bit of auto relaunch if you shorten the depower rope
• Lose and gain power really smoothly.
• Keep the control of the kite even fully de powered because the back lines always keep some tension.
• Get a perfect stop and go.
• Get an incredible stability on the wind window above you.
• Get a smooth handling because naturally the Delta shape likes to go straight and you have to make it turn.
• Works well and feels good even in the 12 or 14 m² sizes.
• Doesnt feel like a mosquito in sizes 7 m² or smaller.
• You dont need much time to get used to it. You don't have to change your way of riding.

**Prices shown for kite only - includes bag, pump and repair kit**

 

	* A Harness is required to fly this kite - click for harnesses >>
	* You can learn how-to setup and fly water relaunchable kites using the Kiteboarding Progression DVD - click for info >>

Wind Range

Wind Range - Based on 65kg / 165lb rider
Model	Knots	Mph	Beaufort (Force)
4.0	35+	36+	8+
5.0	30+	34+	7+
6.0	28+	29+	6+
7.0	25+	27+	6+
8.0	20-35	20-43	5-8
9.0	15-30	17-34	4-8
10.0	12-26	13-32	4-7
11.0	11-24	12-30	4-6
12.0	10-22	10-25	3-5
14.0	8-18	9-21	3-5
17.0	8-16	9-18	3-4

 

Download Product / Instruction Manual (PDF) >>

You can purchase spares for this item here >>

Depower Control Bar

F-One Bandit 2018 11 (XI) Linx Control Bar and Lines:

The F-One Linx bar takes all the best bits of the Monolith Bar and added some great features to create the ultimate connection to your kite.

 

The Linx bar is available in two sizes, 52-45 and 45-38cm; this allows you to choose the perfect size bar for your quiver. The new integrated floats on the rear line not only offer a cleaner look; they also house the mechanism to adjust the size of your bar too.

 

A new One Line Flag Out safety system features this year and is now the standard for all F-ONE kites. There’s a high-quality corrosion proof Inox steel hub on the front lines that allows one line to slide. The first 6m of the front lines are larger in diameter for durability, and there is a stopper to prevent the bar from travelling too far away from you when the safety is engaged.

 

F-One have also added a manual swivel on top of the chicken loop this year; it uses a high-quality ball bearing and is easy to rotate even when powered. This allows you to untwist your front lines after performing rotational tricks and is a feature every rider is going to fall in love with!

 

The Lifeline safety connection has an added swivel, so there is no danger of twists affecting the release of the kite, and the same goes for the leash too. The safety can be set up in suicide mode for freestyle riders while still retaining full functionality when the chicken loop is released as the loop can slide through the Lifeline safety connection with ease.

 

There’s a new Inox steel ring on the front lines; riders can choose to run the front lines through this ring to give the kite a short V on the front lines. Or you can run the lines outside of this ring to have a full front V. Kites like the Furtive perform better with the full front V, while the Bandit flies better with the short V. This feature of the bar means you only need one kite bar regardless of your quiver of kites.

 

F-One have retained the ability to tune the rear lines, so if a line does stretch, you can still tune the bar so all the lines are equal and the kite will still fly properly.

 

The LINX bar features a smaller diameter to make it comfier in your hands and reduce fatigue and, of course, we have new fresh colours for 2018!

Reviews

Ultimate in Performance! Dan Eaton

I have flown, tested and owned numerous of kites but this one I am keeping!

Its a C-Shape kite but at the same time has SLE qualities in terms of safety but its wind range is huge.

This kite is really good in the gusty conditions, it turns really quick, has a very direct feeling and the kiteloops are just simply unreal.

The F-One Bandit currently holds the speed record for kiteboarding and is no surprise. It is the quickest kite I have ever flown and allows you to take out a smaller kite in reasonable light winds. I only use the 11m and I have used this from 8 knots to about 30 knots. It nearly is a one-kite quiver!

As for jumping - I've never jumped so high and you float there without too much carry downwind. You can work and redirect the kite 4 or 5 times before you land and ride away at speed.

 

Build quality is excellent and setup is so easy! Inflation and deflation is also very quick!

 

Relaunch of the kite is excellent - the best I have found! Pull on the side of the bar and up it comes out of the water. It really has no problems whatsoever.

Handling of the F-One reminds me of the C-shape and Peter Lynn ARC style kites with a very direct feel with some but not too much bar pressure allowing you to feel how the kite is flying even when you are not looking at the kite allowing you to concentrate on your trick. Unhooked riding is a dream!

 

Overall, this is a confidence inspiring kite for everyone! Whether you are just starting out or after a high performance kite with the safety of a SLE this kite does it all!

 

Ideal for all seasons! Victor McMahon

Went to visit Powerkiteshop which was a great pleasure and got great advice - bought the F-One Bandit 9m for kite buggying.

 

This is ideal for all seasons and great in all winds! The shorter bar when in the buggy makes it easy to manoeuvre and with its huge wind range it is so enjoyable!

 

Thanks for the recommendation - best wishes to all the staff!

 

Victor McMahon

 

2-Kite Quiver! Derek Gallacher

Well Worth Waiting For! After the hype surrounding the F-One Bandit 3 (III), I wanted to see what all the fuss was about... I took the plunge and ordered an 11m in Full Black on the Thursday and on the Sunday got out at Brancaster in great testing conditions. Base wind was 18mph, gusting to 30mph and dropping to 12-13mph with some cloud fronts coming through, so the full range for top and bottom end.

 

Setup was quick and easy, great pump and easy to inflate. Full Black with Silver graphics looks simply awesome on the beach and in the air. Never flown a Delta before but have to say it was very easy to acclimatise.

 

Excellent low end grunt and unbelievable turning ability for a bigger kite. In fact this 11m was way quicker to turn that my 8m kites! The upwind performance was incredible and my friend could get nowhere near me on his kite. Excellent jumping performance, so quick to send up and great pop off the water. Easy to control in the air and redirect.

 

Depower system very easy and reliable. I weigh 90kg and the wind gusted 30mph but it never felt like I needed to head to the beach for a smaller kite. Equally, when it dropped to 12mph, I still managed to keep going and remain pretty well upwind too.

 

The kite itself in great design, graphics, huge wind range, excellent in the air and really drives upwind. In short....loved it, and have ordered another one today (8m). After testing the 11m this weekend, I am confident that just a 2-kite quiver is plenty enough with this great kite.

 

Derek Gallacher

 

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