Tkb Review: 2019 DUOTONE Evo

Sizes Available: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14m
Sizes Tested: 7, 9, 12m

Duotone Says:

The Evo is the best allrounder with an incredible wind range, precise power delivery, amazing stability and responsive handling, making it the choice for any type of conditions or riding style. The EVO was a real standout kite of last year; completely redesigned on three struts, it is now a dedicated three-strut all-rounder that impressed everyone who flew it. With incredible hangtime and massive boosting capabilities, it became one of Duotone’s most popular kites. The EVO is a delta-shaped kite designed to offer fantastic upwind performance and huge jumps. It has a dynamic turn that lends itself well to playing in the waves, and the kite is perfect for those riders looking to try their first freestyle moves too. It doesn’t matter what your style is on the water; the EVO is truly capable of handling it all. The structural stiffness of the smaller sizes has been enhanced, making them rock solid even in gusty and strong winds. Reduced bar pressure makes the kite easy to fly and very forgiving, appealing to a lot of riders across the ability spectrum. Sheet and go handling further enhances the rider experience, meaning the incredible performance of the EVO is available to everyone. If your riding isn’t confined to a particular discipline and you like to keep your options open for freestyle, big air and waves, then you need the EVOlution!

Visit for more info: www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/kites/evo

Our Testers Say:

“Flies great with excellent boost and turns well with no downsides. Super stable, comfortable bar pressure, excellent turning speed, jumping, hangtime and upwind ability. This kite is so fun you may never want another kite.” // Kiter Mike

“Super fun and reliable, steady pull throughout turns, balanced bar pressure and always knew where the kite was in the window. Huge lift, easy relaunch and love the Click bar. This is the Swiss Army knife that does it all.” // Joe Chehock

“Stable kite, drifts well, responsive steering, smooth power delivery. Medium bar pressure, steers well and is very predictable. Found it difficult to adjust the Click bar while riding.” // Giuseppe Molinario

Meet Our Testers

TKB Says:

This is the first year that the Evo will be marketed under the Duotone brand and the second year that the Evo will be built on a 3-strut platform with a medium to high aspect layout that has sweptback wingtips and a delta style shape. This year Duotone has made some changes, stiffened up the structure a little bit, but for the most part this is the user-friendly freeride kite that delivers similar performance to that of the Rebel but with the standard sheet and go type of feel. When it comes to inflation, Duotone’s large diameter inflation valve dubbed the ”˜Airport Valve II’ connects directly with Duotone’s pump hose without the use of a nozzle and the inflation system’s twist valve rotates with the insertion of the hose to keep air in the system. Deflation happens through both the inflation valve and a dump valve on one side of the kite, making both inflation and deflation quick and easy. The Evo offers three settings on the wingtip for changing between Hard, Medium and Soft settings and the single setting front bridle makes use of a single pulley for adjusting the kite’s angle of attack. The Evo comes with front bridle attachment points that end in knots and wingtip pigtails that end in loops. We tested it on the medium setting and we would say for those thinking about purchasing an Evo, its standout qualities are its nice light to medium bar pressure, fairly swift steering response with a nice direct feel, and substantial boosting power. Overall the kite’s turn isn’t quite as tight as say the Neo. Instead, the Evo has a little bit of a larger steering arc, yet turns quite fast. When it comes to boosting big air this is probably the Evo’s primary area of strength, yielding impressive lift on sent jumps that we quantified as explosive. Accessing the Evo’s lift is intuitive and its boosting power launches you really high with a decent amount of hangtime that requires just a little bit of management to keep a nice soft landing, making this one of Duotone’s all-around kites that flirts with big air freestyle. The steering was a little bit more intuitive for us on big air compared to the Neo, as the Evo seemed to always track where the kite was in the window with good feedback that created kite awareness. These days the Evo is best compared to the Rebel, as they both are 4-line kites that deliver in the performance freeride big air department. One of the biggest differences between the Rebel and the Evo is that bar throw for the Evo is a bit longer compared to the Rebel’s and the Evo’s longer bar stroke may be more intuitive and the power delivery more progressive. The Evo seems to want to fly more comfortably in the middle of the window with better drift and more depower, while the Rebel likes to charge to the front of the window and create lift. While the Rebel and Evo are both specialists within the big air freeride realm, we’d choose the Evo for those that are looking for more general freeride cruising or the occasional surf session. The same qualities that make the Evo one of our favorite freeride kites also makes it a top choice for foilboarding as well.

The Evo can be flown with either the Click bar or the Trust bar, descriptions of both bar options below.

The Click bar is back for its third year although branded under the new Duotone label with a few changes like an updated color scheme that visually sets off one side of the bar along with the introduction of a smaller bar version. The Click bar now comes with either the smaller fixed length 42cm wide bar with 20-22m lines or the original 49cm length with 22m or 24m lines. The Click bar features a single center-line safety depower system, and an adjustable attachment point that allows you to swap back and forth between a high and low-V (it’s worth noting that you don’t have to re-thread the entire length of a line through a ring to accomplish the change). The outside lines end in knots and the center lines end in loops. The Click bar features a molded plastic throw line that untwists itself after you spin, a sliding stopper and Duotone’s proven push away quick release. The quick release when opened horizontally, locks into an open position, holding the gate open. Reassembly still requires two hands: one hand holds the loop in position and pushes on the catch button while the other hand raises the quick release handle so the catch can move back into its closed position and then the handle is released.

The Click bar settles the debate between above or below the bar tuning by placing it exactly at your fingertips. The twisting motion for powering up takes a little bit of focus while riding and the button for depower is easily accessed at all times. While it’s a big shift from the systems we have come to know, seamless controls like this are the future of the sport. The ratchet knob built into the bar end is easy to grab a hold of and easy to rotate while kiting and easy to tune on the fly. The Click bar also integrates a visual indicator that reveals the position the bar is set to this is actually a very nice feature. Compared to other systems, the mechanics of Duotone’s Click bar is entirely closed, which means you won’t be washing it out. The Click bar features retractable bar bungees, soft bar ends and integrated floats with a fairly dense EVA grip that feels asymmetrical in your palm with subtle raised bumps between fingers, and a very comfortable stamp pattern the entire length of the bar.

The Trust bar also received a color way upgrade to the new Duotone colors for this year. The big change last year was making the Trust bar a standard 4-line bar with an optional 5th line aftermarket upgrade package (yes, it looks as if the 5-line freeride kites are going the way of the dinosaurs). Essentially, you can switch back and forth between 4 and 5-lines from the same base bar purchase. The Trust bar is a dual adjustable length bar that comes in two options, 42/49cm and a 46/53cm length. On the smaller bar you can choose between 19 or 22m lines and on the longer bar you can choose between 24 and 27m lines. Duotone feels line length is an important tunable feature to match with your kite and style of riding. Our kites came with the 4-line base version with the single center-line safety depower that runs up to one of the bridles. The center lines are knotted for rigging purposes and the outside lines end in loops. The adjustable length spectra throw line features a tuning cleat with a magnet on the depower strap to keep it in place. The Trust has a push away quick release with a below the bar hand swivel that also functions as a quick release travel guard. At the time of purchase you can select from four different chicken loop options (Wakestyle, Freestyle, Freeride and Rope Harness). The Rope Harness Kit is a super short loop with a metal center for rope traveler based harnesses. The second and probably most common is the Freeride kit which is smaller than the standard-length chicken loop for regular freeriders who won’t be unhooking. Then there’s the Freestyle loop that is the standard length most kites are offered with and finally a Wakestyle kit which features an extra-large loop for those that are unhooking on a regular basis. We tested the bar with the Freestyle loop, but we think the Freeride loop is an excellent idea for those kiters that won’t be riding unhooked. The Trust features a spectra trim/throw line, a sliding stopper for long tacks and a firm molded chicken finger to prevent accidental unhooking. The padded bar ends are tunable and offer integrated floats and retractable bar bungees for a clean wrap up. In addition to adjusting the length of the bar, you can adjustable the length of the outside lines by pulling the bar ends apart and choosing from three color coded knots for length options (green/blue/red). The bar grip is fairly plush EVA with middle of the road texture which makes the Trust a very comfy bar and continues to be a bar that gets rave reviews during our test week.

Visit for more info on the bar: www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/bars