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Sizes Available: 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14m
Sizes Tested: 7, 9, 12m

Blade Says:

This year we’re celebrating 10 years from the day the Trigger was presented to the kitesurfing community. In these 10 years, we have learned a lot about you and about ourselves. Thanks to your embrace, your loyalty and yes ””also your criticism, we have been able to bring you a better kite each year, tweaking the features that were most important to our riders. For the Trigger’s 10th gen we kept all the core characteristics that have been a crowd favorite from day one””agility, quick turning, massive hangtime””and added a little something extra for each kite size. For example, for the 7m we added stability in high winds. The 9m has been beefed up with even more hangtime and the 14m received extra power on the low end.

Visit for more info: www.bladekites.com/kite/trigger/

Our Testers Say:

“Awesome, super smooth kites with crisp handling with what I’d call a perfect response to input. Excellent in the lift/boosting and hangtime departments with very good upwind ability and tons of power.”// Paul Holcomb

“Nice flying kite, turns well, liked the tapered bar but swivel took effort.”// Kurt Althen

“The Trigger is a fast turning freestyle weapon with an ergonomically shaped bar that provides a short bar throw, fast power delivery and giant boost. Light bar pressure until the last few inches, flies very forward in the window. The bar is complicated and experiences additional friction in the throw at times.“// Justin Lord

Meet Our Testers

TKB Says:

It’s hard to believe that the Trigger is turning 10 this year, but it’s easy to believe that there’s been a ton of improvement between that first model and the advanced wing we have today. The modern configuration offers freeriders a 3-strut medium aspect C-shaped canopy that has been known to put massive smiles on testers faces. The Trigger features the Max Flow inflation system which is probably one of the most efficient and fastest inflation valves, but it does require a proprietary wide-mouth pump nozzle attachment to make it work. The Trigger features a single setting wingtip design and single pulley front bridle with two adjustments to switch between ‘standard’ and ‘advanced wave’ trim modes. The first impression the Trigger left on our test team was the light bar pressure mated with incredibly crisp steering response. While some kites with lighter bar pressure may not deliver good kite feedback or positional awareness, the Trigger does an excellent job of delivering quick performance and user-friendly control in a performance package. With a wider steering arc the Trigger builds a solid amount of power in turns and generates a remarkable amount of lift for explosive jumps. When it comes to relaunch, once you put some tension on one side of the bar the kite rotates into a relaunch position fairly deep in the window for problem-free restarts. The Trigger feels fast through the window and goes upwind really well and when it comes to range the various sizes tested seemed to deliver power in the low end and depower and control in the high end.

The Trigger came with Blade’s Unibar which features a single center-line safety depower system on a fixed length bar which has the center lines end in a knot for rigging purposes. The Unibar features a low-V split on the center lines and an above the bar tuning cleat with a Velcro attachment on the power toggle. New for this year, Blade has removed the above the bar swivel and integrated it into the quick release body for a below the bar hand swivel that cleans up the rigging quite a bit. The new system is an auto-rotating system that un-swivels the center lines when you sheet in the bar. We found ourselves intentionally sheeting the bar in all the way to initiate the auto-swivel, otherwise twists left in the throw line tended to create additional friction in the travel of the bar. The Unibar has a Spectra depower/throw line that doesn’t feature a sliding stopper but the Unibar does have an adjustable length throw to dial in the distance between the tuning cleat and the rider. This year the bar ends have been newly redesigned to feature integrated floats that are relatively compact and molded into the soft bar ends which are a nice feature if your forehead unexpectedly meets the bar. Testers liked the gentle curve and finger nubs/ribs built into the bar’s grip. Overall, the Unibar is a very well thought out bar that testers applauded for its comfort and feature-rich function.

Visit for more info on the bar: https://www.shop.bladekites.com/product/uni-bar-3rdgen


Want more gear reviews all in one place? Read detailed and objective reviews on the 30 kite models and 33 board models that Tkb and freeride testers reviewed for the 2018 Freeride Gear Review Guide.