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I received my new X-Masque Rage (hereinafter referred to as the Rage) a few days ago (thanks Steve!!). Fireball Rob and I got to spend a couple of hours last week in some laboratory-grade winds perfectly suited for testing a new kite. The first flight was conducted at St. Augustine Beach, Florida. Winds were on-shore (= SMOOOOOOTH ) at 4-10 mph. Here are some of my thoughts and impressions. As a point of reference, I have owned and enjoyed the following L'Atelier kites: Impact, Masque, X-Masque, Masque UL, and Transfer xt.r.

Construction: Typical of what I have come to expect from L'Atelier, that is good materials, nicely sewn, no slop, everything fits well. This kite utilizes G-Force Excel UL sticks for the LEs and the LSs. I was pleased to see that a mylar reinforcement patch has been added in the area on the back of the sail around the standoff. Also, the nose webbing installation has been modified to eliminate the small flaps of fabric that are prone to snagging the lines during backspins (ALL of my other L'Atelier kites except the xt.r had this problem). Unfortunately, no Dacron reinforcement has been added to the trailing edge around the standoffs, a vulnerability that has been seen on the Impact, Masque, and X, especially during yoyo, JL, and ML tricks (the TE on my Impact is pretty ragged from doing endless JLs ). The Rage comes with nice factory-installed yoyo stoppers composed of an APA fitting with a hard plastic piece glued into the socket to stiffen the fitting. Very nice.

Bridle: The bridle is a straightforward 3-point model. Unlike the bridles on the Impact, Masque, and X, no marks (remember the red, blue and green marks??) nor pigtails have been provided for rapid adjustments. No bridle adjustments were made during this initial flight.

Spine weight: The Rage comes with two of the black (7 gr each IIRC) L'Atelier trick weights. All of my testing was done with both weights installed.

Flight characterisitics: As expected, the Rage flies and tricks identical to the X in many areas: light pull, moderately fast forward speed, quick turns, decent precision and tracking for a smaller kite. Comments and comparisons for specific tricks:

Turning: Unlike the X, the Rage exhibits a small, but not objectionable, amount of oversteer in tight turns. This may be due to the bridle settings I was using on the X, the lighter Excel frame, and/or the spine weight. Next time out, I plan to experiment with the bridle a little to see if I can tune that out.

Fade: Easy entry from flare or broken axel, stable, does a nice rising fade. Identical to the X.

Flare: Easy and fairly stable. Sometimes needs a little tending to keep the nose from pitching up too high.

Flicflacs: Take a bit more tending than the X or Masque. Probably due to that spine weight, the nose likes to pitch up a little, which can cause the kite to slide back or fall out of the trick if you don't catch it right.

Turtle: One of the distinguishing characteristics about all the L'Atelier kites I have flown is their very stable, VERY floaty turtle. The turtle is so stable, it can sometimes feel like the kite is stuck there. As expected, the Rage is no different in this area. As we'll see in a moment, this is not all bad.

Axels: fairly typical of the "French" style kites, but the Rage can be coaxed to give a nearly full axel.

Cascades: takes a little while to gauge the timing for the cascade, but once dialed in, does them very nicely. Masque and X exhibited this same characteristic.

540s/Slot Machines: I have always loved slots on the Masque and X; these kite do a neat "jump" when you pull for the rotation that looks very cool. The Rage is no different.

Backspins: The Masque was the first kite I ever backspun, so it will always have a special place for me, but I have always found the Masque and X to be somewhat sensitive to set-up to initiate backspins. But once you got them going, they flatten out and look quite nice. The Rage seems easier and less sensitive to set up to get a backspin going, and also seems a little easier to get backspin cascades.

Jacobs Ladders: Due to that deep, floaty turtle, I would characterize all the L'Atelier kites I have flown as "JL trainers", and the Rage carries on that tradition. Since the kite is so stable in the turtle, it just sits there, patiently waiting for the pull for the half lazy. The pull though to fade is very snappy, and the barrel roll back to turtle is easy to time. You can literally do JLs non-stop on these kites for hours.

YoYos: This is one area of performance that is definitely improved over the Masque and X, (and even the Impact), all of which I was only ever successful at rolling up via the "Mayet Method". This is not to say that the Rage will yoyo as easily as kites such as the Machine, Transfer, or Nirvana, but it's a definite upgrade. The Rage will yoyo from both the broken JL and the over-rotated flicflac entries. And before you X fans jump all over this comment, I did try the X with up to 15 grams on it to get yoyos, and although I got easier yoyos, other characteristics of the kite were degraded to the point that I took the weight off. With the Rage, yoyos are easier without compromising other performance traits. One other thing I REALLY liked about the Rage's yoyos: this kite is among the best I have flown at recovering from a missed yoyo stopper.

Wapdoowaps: The Rage does the neatest WdW I have ever seen... a really flat spin that looks like a nice flat backspin. I really like this trick on the Rage.

Lazy Susans/Multi-lazies: Similar to the JLs, due to that super-stable turtle, lazies and MLs are super easy and real nice... and addictive. Speed can be varied from slow to blazing fast. The only kite I have flown lately that is easier to ML is the Delta Drive (more on that kite at a later date).

Cometes: This is not a trick I am very good at yet, but I will say that the cometes are fast and furious on the Rage. I can get 1 rotation very repeatably and easily on the Rage (I just have to master linking them up). Perhaps Fireball Rob can post a comment or two on cometes.

Overall impressions: I like the Rage a lot. It is a fun kite that does a lot of things well, and I plan to keep this one around for a while. I found the frame upgrade to be an incremental improvement over the X. Are the changes worth the price differential?? That's a value judgment that you will have to make, but for me, I think the answer is yes.

Now, a word of caution: the Masque/X-Masque family of kites are not for everybody. As has been previously noted on this forum and other places, these kites require time and patience to get the most of them. Feel, input timings, and input magnitudes for many tricks are different enough from other kites in this same class that it can be a bit frustrating at first until you get the kite's input needs dialed in. Since I hadn't flown an X or Masque in some time, it took me a solid 30-45 minutes to get connected to the Rage before I was really able to get things going. If you are the kind of flyer that expects immediate results, definitely try before you buy. But if you have the patience to learn these kites, you will be rewarded.

Ted Goodman

NB: my Rage is the black/gray/white one. I really like the look, too .

Addition by FireBall Rob: "I have also spent a good amount of time on Teds Rage now as well. Very fun kite. I always have a blast on a kite that opens the door to new tricks. This one seems to do them all plus others. Fast or slow cometes, a super wapdoowap. I am not very good at this trick but can do it like a pro on the Rage. Good frame, good kite, lots of fun."