Sizes Available: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14m
Sizes Tested: 7, 9, 12m
Naish Says:
This year we have fine-tuned the tension in the whole canopy by adding a seam that spreads the backline tension further towards the center of the kite for an even more powerful and balanced kite as well as the new OnePoint and SureLock Inflation System.
Two-time winner of Red Bull King of the Air, the Pivot is direct, versatile and efficient, maintaining its stand out performer status in the Naish kite line. Perfect for both novice and professional kiters alike, the Pivot provides plenty of sheet-in-and-go, predictable power, direct bar pressure, easy jumping and control in the air. The superior choice for versatile performance, the Pivot maintains a large wind range, proving dynamic and responsive in everything from waves to flat water.
It has earned an impressive reputation for its intuitive steering and tight, quick axis of rotation and this new generation continues to push its capabilities even further. With the Quad-Tex material, we have managed to remove heavy dacron panels along the struts””reducing weight while retaining canopy rigidity. The leading edge seam is made with our exclusive thread that has tested off the charts in overall strength. The Pivot also comes with our exclusive Bladder Lock, which eliminates the risk of bladder movement in the leading edge and struts to ensure they stay in place when inflating, deflating, crashing or packing.
While the Pivot has received various tweaks and improvements that enhance the performance characteristics, it continues to stay true to its loyal following and remains as one of the most sought after kites worldwide.
Visit for more info: https://www.naishkites.com/product/pivot-freeride-wave/
Our Testers Say:
“One of the best kites I’ve ever flown! Turns on a dime, I never had to look at this kite because it was always where I think it should be. Best all-around easy to fly kite.” // Kelly Grief
“Good pull with a light feel a great workhorse that will make you want to play hard. Strong stable pull, fast turning but not twitchy and with good range offering good to excellent boost for big airs.” // Tom Moore
“Pivots on command, turns great with good boost and hangtime. The Pivot demonstrates outstanding upwind ability and turns with a flick of your wrist yet you know where it is at all times.” // Brad Poulos
TKB Says:
The Pivot is back as Naish’s do everything freeride kite that also runs double duty as its big air boosting machine. The 3-strut medium to high aspect airframe has undergone some construction changes with a new diagonal strengthening seam that stiffens the connection between the center of the canopy and its wingtips. This year the Pivot got a completely redesigned inflation system. Instead of the Octopus system of year’s past, the Pivot has a simplified single inflation/deflation point which uses a high flow push button valve. With the previous system you had to let air out of the struts via small individual valves, but this year the struts deflate through the main valve so you don’t have to open/close and double-check the valves on the struts during re-inflation. This simplifies the rigging/pack-down process and the push-button valve is incredibly easy to operate while the hose twist locks into the valve so the hose never slips out during the inflation process. The Pivot uses a single setting bridle with a single slider to adjust its angle of attack. The front bridle uses a knot attachment point to attach to the center lines and a larks head loop on the wingtip pigtail. The Pivot features three settings on the wingtip to adjust between positive and negative bar pressure; the factory setting is located in the middle. The construction is solid with Naish’ Quad-Tex crisp canopy material, a sharks tooth trailing edge and minimal use of dacron in the wingtips to keep the weight low and the kite super responsive.
The first thing we noticed on the water was that you can feel the Pivot is always ready to turn and respond to your inputs. The Pivot seems always ready to initiate a turn ”” you pull on the bar and you get an instantaneous reaction from the kite. As its name implies, the turning arc is a tight pivotal turn. It doesn’t generate a ton of power in the turn, yet the kite is still really quite fun for boosting big airs. Because you can precisely control the kite’s position it’s really easy to load it up hard, put the kite in the perfect part of the window and set the kite up for massive amounts of air. The Pivot airframe also generates enough of a high lift feeling that when adequately powered up, it just felt like it wanted to send you to the moon and it’s three strut airframe seemed quite fine with handling that load. The Pivot was one of those kites where sometimes mid-jump you just hit a gust and you feel like the kite is generating even more lift and in that respect, it’s really fun for jumping yet it still has the user-friendly feel and steering of an all-around freeride kite. The Pivot’s hangtime was solid, but most notably in jumping we found the quick steering and fast turning allows for quick corrections that can save even the most poorly setup landings you know the ones where the pit in your stomach drops and you’re puckered for impact yet the Pivot is the king of last-minute saves with its precision steering and fast moves.
In terms of power delivery and sheeting, the Pivot has a nice long progressive power up feel along the bar’s throw and the bar pressure was light to medium that testers found very comfortable. For those that have tennis elbow and joint discomfort on longer sessions, the Pivot is a kite that is really comfortable on your arms. The throw requires a little longer of a motion and the kite has really good depower; when coupled with the BTB Torque bar you can really dump all the power in the canopy. When it came to water relaunch we dumped the kite nose down in the middle of the window and as soon as you put a little energy into one side of the bar you could see that the kite lifted up a little bit and began to taxi to the side of the window where it launched back into the air. We would classify this relaunch as really reliable and user-friendly because it didn’t hot launch out of the bottom of the window. The Pivot flies efficiently through the window and seemed to want to blaze upwind on long tacks. In terms of drift, it performed really well driving downwind with the waves, eating up line slack while the kite felt really stable in the window. The Pivot never had any problems maintaining line tension and the canopy felt super stable and drifty in the gusty winds plaguing our launch area.
The Pivot has once again impressed us with its big air performance while maintaining its all-around freeride user-friendly abilities. The Pivot has the kind of peaky but all-around performance that suits just about everyone, from the big air junkie to the cruise-oriented freerider to wave hounds. Its fast turning and quick responsiveness are its most notable features that make it a great kite for the confident beginner or someone who’s looking to progress into advanced freeride kiting and plans to wring the fun out of every type of riding.
The Naish Torque control system is a dual adjustable length bar (40-45cm or a 45-51cm option) that allows you to change its effective length by pulling out the bottom clip and swapping it around to get a more or less leverage against steering the kite. Inside the bar ends the outside lines can be adjusted among a couple knots to tune the bar or compensate for line stretch. The Torque bar’s center lines end in larks head loops and the outside lines end in knots. The shorter bar (40-45cm) features 20m lines plus 4m extensions, and the longer bar (45-51cm) is purchased with either 20m or 24m line lengths. The Torque features a single centerline depower system and can be purchased with either the below the bar power tuning (BTB) or the above the bar power tuning system (ATB). Both bars use a spectra throw line and cleat system. The above the bar tuning system allows for adjustable length throw and features a minimal toggle handle with Velcro to keep excess slack from slapping around.
The BTB system offers the power adjustment located below the bar at the quick release. The quick release features a hand swivel for untwisting center lines that also acts as a quick-release guard and the push away quick release pushes out and cocks into open position. To reset you just have to push the harness loop back into the hole and then push the handle down until you hear the little click reset. It has a really nice motion that has a click and with a little tug you know it’s connected. The quick release features a plastic molded finger for preventing unwanted unhooking. The tuning cleat at the base of the quick release is easy to operate; like all below the bar tuning systems, it’s best to adjust when the bar is sheeted out and you have less pulling power in the kite. The factory setting for throw length does seem to be a bit longer for someone with shorter arms, and in that case, you might want to adjust the stopper, which can be done with an Allen/fin key to keep the bar a little closer. For those surfers out there and normal-sized riders, the longer throw will work just fine. The Torque features foam floats integrated into the bar end which have a good amount of flex in them and a retractable/hiding bungee that has a plastic tab for pulling the bungee out and securing your lines when you’re done with your session. The Torque features a nice rubbery asymmetrical grip with a bunch of gusset holes, asymmetrical diameter and raised humps that get smaller as you move your hands towards the center. Overall, the Torque has a really nice feeling with a little bit of softer padding on the top and is denser on the bottom with a little thinner grip, with a triangular shape. The center insert that the throw line runs through features a replaceable plastic insert (two Allen screws) and an imprinted Naish logo on the anodized insert to tell you if you’re holding the bar the right way. The color-coding on this bar is really obvious. Solid red on the left, solid blue on the right, and compared to industry standards, has pretty solid safety color-coding that is very clear. Overall, the Torque control system is a feature-rich bar with a noticeably light weight that is really comfy and has a ton of options for kiters of all levels.
Visit for more info on the bar: www.naishkites.com/products/control-systems/
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