ride engine Carbon Elite V7 vs Momentum V2

rockwind1 · Since 14 Aug 2020 7 Posts Kook

been kiting long time but have not used a waist harness in a long time,, only seat harness,, dakine vega right now.

for a lawn mowing 57 y/o kiter, in slightly below average shape, who foils 99% of the time,, what is most comfy waist harness

my choices for the most part are the latest ride engine harness,, the more expensive Carbon elite v7,,, or was looking at the less expensive semi soft shell Momentum harness from ride engine.

i went to a seat harness years ago before foiling because it was so much easier on my apparently old and useless spine.

i usually foil with a 5m ufo,,or 7m hyperlink or 11m chrono v3, the chrono does pull a bit.

i dont' like it when the waist harness rides up into my ribs and becomes a chest harness essentially.

i was going to try one because trying some new tricks and the seat is so confining to bend

shred_da_gorge · Fri Feb 11, 22 12:28 pm

Comfort is definitely subjective. I left ION and DaKine soft harnesses which drove me nuts riding up. I also had back aches after sessions, which I partly attributed to aging.

Switched to a hard-shell Ride Engine harness in '17 or so, and it helped ease the pains (although switching to kites with lighter bar pull maybe helped more). It still rode up but not nearly as bad. (Jokingly I told friends who work there they should call it "Ride-Up Engine").

Ultimately I switched to a slider from a fixed hook, and the pain disappeared. I haven't tried their new bar attachment to see if that improves the riding up, which I find annoying but acceptable. Overall I'm very happy with the hard-shell, which was their top-line model whatever year that was (and it is a large shell, vertically covering a large portion of my back). I'll likely never buy another soft harness.

I think the hard shell allows you to tighten the harness really firmly which ultimately lessens the movement. That said, I know more than one person whose backs are incompatible with the curvature of the composite shell, so hate them (even though there are different curvatures available, I think). I am also tall and 'thin' (all things relative ;), and one of those friends has a sizeable belly... just sayin.

Don't commit without trying the hard-shell version out, if you can't demo both.