Tell me About it: CrazyFly Savvy

It looks like you’ve been working hard to release the new Savvy! Talk us through the changes compared to your previous Sick bar.

The Savvy bar is a completely different system to the Sick bar. With the Savvy, we had clear design goals: safety, ease of use, simplicity, functionality, durability, and renewability. And we listened to our customers who were asking for automatic frontline untwist, bar width adjustment, click-in safety and two chickenloop options. These features were all incorporated in the new bar. Compared to the old bar, the new Savvy is a four-line system without a fifth safety line, so one less line to worry about. Also, there is no bungee on any of the lines which makes the Savvy lines more durable and eliminates potential safety hazards. As safety was a top priority the Y split is six meters above the bar. Six meters is the length you need for 100% full flag-out of all kite sizes. The Savvy has an ergonomic Delta shape which reduces hand fatigue and increases grip. As durability was another important design goal, both power lines passing through the bar are covered in PU tubes for less wear and smooth sheeting and handling of the kite. The center of the bar allows for more angle resulting in more pivotal turning of the kite. The only three things we kept from the old bar are the above-the-bar depower, the Liros lines made in Germany, and the premium leather grip made in Italy.

You mentioned bar width adjustment – tell us more. Do you also offer different line lengths?

The Savvy bar comes in one size, but you can adjust the size from 45 to 50cm via the width adjusters under the bar ends. The Savvy comes in two versions, regular and XT. The regular Savvy has 24m lines and the Savvy XT has 18m lines plus 4m and 2m extensions, so you can have 18, 20, 22 and 24m lines.

Tell us about the new QR? And what are the chickenloop options?

The SCR push-away quick release is the most important function on the bar, as it guarantees safety for the user. The bright red quick release part is always visible and has an ergonomic grip shape that is easy to trigger in all conditions and emergency situations. Reloading the quick release has never been easier – just click it back in – it is that simple. There are two chickenloop options. Both the Savvy and Savvy XT come standard with a 20cm freeride chickenloop which is ideal for mostly hooked-in riding. The second option is a larger 25cm freestyle chickenloop, sold separately, suited for unhooked tricks.

How have you managed to make the Savvy more sustainable?

Even though we have chosen the most durable materials, eventually things will wear out on the bar, especially the moving parts and those that experience friction. So we designed the Savvy to be easily renewable. Pretty much everything can be replaced in just a few minutes if it gets damaged or worn out. All spare parts are available along with bar service videos showing how to replace the parts. We believe this makes the Savvy last much longer and prolongs the product lifespan. The user benefits by spending less money, as replacing worn out parts costs a fragment of the price of a new bar. And in the case of the Savvy, anyone will manage to fit these replacements.

Does the Savvy work with all your kites and how is compatibility with other brands? 

This is one aspect of the Savvy bar that we were not completely happy with, but the benefits by far outweighed this one compromise, and I believe our customers will appreciate these benefits in the future. With the features that we and our customers wanted on the new bar and absolutely no compromise on safety, full backward compatibility with all previous CrazyFly kites was unfortunately not possible. On our 2022 and older kites, we only suggest using the Savvy on sizes up to 12m. As mentioned the Savvy has the Y split of the front lines six meters from the bar, so the lines pull on the kite at a different angle. On the smaller sizes this is not felt so much, but with bigger sizes the kite shape closes and the kite becomes more like a C kite resulting in less pull, slower turns, and harder relaunch. On the other hand, the Savvy is fully compatible with all kites of all brands that have a bridle with pulleys or sliders. And it is also compatible with kites with a fixed bridle that are designed for bars with the Y split between three to nine meters from the bar.

Who was involved with the redesign?

The main designer of the Savvy is Jozef Bukovcak, the founder of CrazyFly with over thirty years of experience in designing and manufacturing windsurfing and later on kitesurfing products. His experience, knowledge, passion and never-ending drive to innovate and improve is second to none. It is a privilege to have such a designer who is also highly skilled and experienced with hands-on production. The rest of the R&D team was also fully involved, including the head of kite design Pavol Bukovcak, because it was essential to make sure we create the best possible fusion between the new bar and the kites. A huge portion of the credit goes to our main tester Ki Hwan Kwon, also with over twenty years of experience in kite development, and to our fleet of over 40 test riders who have been giving the prototypes some very hard rides over the last two years.

How do you feel manufacturing in Europe improves the QC and build quality?

In complete honesty, the bar is the most difficult product from our range to design and manufacture. We are extremely happy to have our own bar production literally next door to head office. Firstly this allows the designers to build prototypes quickly and be present during the initial phases of serial production to make sure everything is done correctly. At the same time, it allows us to constantly check quality and improve the production process immediately should anything go wrong on the product. We have skilled staff and water sport enthusiasts who actually understand the product and how it is used, so they appreciate why we have such strict protocols on bar manufacturing and why every single detail matters. Manufacturing in Europe is more automated resulting in higher precision and consistency of the parts produced, lowering the risk and percentage of flaws. We are proud that the production is our own and personally care about highest quality, and this culture spreads to our production managers, supervisors, and manufacturing staff who truly care about what they make. ■