Sizes Available: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.5m (LW 15,17,19m)
Sizes Tested: 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19m
Core Says:
As a member of the Universal+ Series of kites, the XR6 is engineered to perform in all conditions and disciplines. Like all Universal+ Series kites, the XR6 is designed to excel in one area, and for the XR6, that’s interstellar travel. The XR’s legendary linear response delivers effortless cruising, record-breaking hangtime, and super smooth landings while transforming difficult conditions into a sublime riding session.
Visit for more info: https://corekites.com/us/kites/xr6
Our Testers Say:
“Choo Choo hook me up to this locomotive! Very comfortable even in overpowered conditions, great upwind ability with a stable yet strong pull with good range.” // Tom Moore
“As a skeptic of Core’s recent entrance into the US market, the XR6 is a mind changer with its smooth power delivery, stable yet nimble and intuitive steering with lots of lift and hangtime. Overall, comfortable and confidence building.” // Dray Murray
“Super stable, lots of boost/hangtime, impossible to stall with a locked-in feeling. Loved the bar with its overall lightweight and clean/simple design.” // Matt Kargl
TKB Says:
The XR is back in its 6th iteration as a 5-strut, medium to higher aspect delta-hybrid canopy with sweptback wingtips that delivers the smooth freeride comfort of a Cadillac with a supercharged big-boosting lift ticket hiding under its mild-mannered hood. The XR6 features Core’s proprietary inflation valve that requires a normal size pump hose without an attachment on the end to be inserted into the valve and needs to be rotated to lock. With the large size aperture, the kite inflates very quickly and the valve stays closed until you put a 2.5″ plastic finger (hidden in a pocket of the center strut and attached by a small tether) into the valve to allow the air to deflate. The XR6 features a sparing use of dacron on its wingtips, a double ripstop trailing edge and a three-setting front bridle that utilizes two pulleys and a slider to adjust the kite’s angle of attack. Since this kite is part of Core’s Universal+ Series, the XR is designed to cover a large amount of ground and to accomplish this there are three bridle settings adjusted on the leading edge to swap between ‘Wave, All Around, and Freestyle.’ Wave is the attachment farthest forward for more depower, and Freestyle is farthest back, with All Around being the factory setting. The wingtip offers three adjustment settings to select between ‘Medium, Easy and Super Easy,’ with the factory set to Easy in the center. The front bridle pigtails end in larks head loops and the wingtip pigtails end in three knots.
The XR6 proved itself to be a really versatile kite that straddles the worlds of perfectly user-friendly freeride cruising and performance freeride’s stratospheric big air. The first thing we noticed about the XR6 was its incredibly comfortable sheeting and power delivery. With light to medium bar pressure, we found the bar’s tension and power delivery to be smooth and predictable over the kite’s throw from full power to full depower. The XR’s bar feedback and power felt extremely smooth even in really gusty conditions, demonstrating a textbook definition of ‘sheet and go.’ Power delivery through gusts was smooth with tons of depower in the canopy when needed and a forgiving lift that continued to create power while kiting through holes, with little sensitivity to over-sheeting the bar when you’d expect stalling and loss of power. The turning response was fairly swift with solid direct bar feedback that resulted in a fairly tight pivot turn and fairly quick turning speeds overall through the sizes. Although we didn’t have an XR5 at our disposal to truly vet the XR6’s changes, we think XR riders will find slightly lighter bar pressure and crisper turning dynamics in the new model. The XR6 feels like it sits a little bit deeper in the window for some extra pulling power, but when it comes to sending it vertically the XR6 delivers some explosive lift that will launch you into orbit where all things terrestrial start to look really small. The 5-strut airframe can handle riding one size bigger and its good-natured handling allows that extra power to be easily turned into extra vertical height. The XR6’s predictable steering lends confidence to the technical kite flying that goes with big air, and we found that the hangtime delivered by the canopy is on par with its efficient lifting surfaces that produce nose-bleeding height. Testers reported the XR6 as an upwind machine and in the water relaunch arena, the XR6 was always quick to recover. From nose down in the bottom of the window, a minor tug on one side of the bar caused the XR to rotate along its sweptback wingtips and launch directly out of the bottom of the wind with a quick and reliable relaunch. Overall, the XR6 continues its march towards balancing the user-friendly comforts of a kite that can do just about everything freeride and its big-air chops that go with being Core’s designated progressive freeride vertical lifting machine.
The Core line of bars is incredibly diverse, starting with the Sensor 2, Sensor 2S and Sensor 2S Pro. We tested the Sensor 2S and Sensor 2S Pro; the main difference between the two is the Pro takes the standard titanium chassis and wraps it with carbon for lower weight and uses Tectanium flying lines for lower drag/windage (see the Xlite review for our thoughts on the new foil bar).
Both the Sensor 2S and 2S Pro are dual adjustable length bars (46/52 cm) designed to control all size kites with the center lines ending in knots and the outside lines in loops. Both versions of this bar come with four line-length extension options for those that want to vary their line lengths (choose between 18/20/22/24m by removing extensions). The throw/power line utilizes two PU-coated Tectanium lines (one of them is the safety depower), a replaceable plastic insert, no sliding stopper and a non-removable donkey dick. The double throw/power lines offer incredible durability and also auto-untwists the center lines when you sheet in the bar. The single centerline safety depower system utilizes a high V, and routes through the power lines for a very clean design. These bars also offer above the bar depower and a custom clam cleat with a Velcro tuning handle to keep the depower control toggle from tangling.
Core bars have long been known for their twisting quick release with auto swivel ”˜S-System’ that doubles as a quick-release guard and integrates ceramic bearings for longevity. As we have said before, it’s an effective system if you practice with it and is less prone to accidental releases. Yet, it is immensely important that riders new to the system should dial in some muscle memory so they’re ready to address any problems in a pinch. The length of sheeting/throw can be adjusted for varying arm lengths of kiters or the type of riding. The non-molded foam floats are connected to the bar ends with the tips of the bar being hard. While the outside leader lines allow riders to adjust the length of the outside lines for stretch or tuning (by choosing between two knots), the bar ends are easily swapped between 46/52cm by changing to a separate knot on the bar end. The bar’s center insert has a Core logo on one side and a stop logo on the other to prevent you from grabbing the bar backward, which is a nice safety feature. One of the most noticeable aspects of this control bar is that it weighs virtually nothing yet you get all these features. The grip is a medium plush stamped grip with a fairly narrow diameter and the bar has small but sufficient bar end winders with non-retractable bungees. The purists on our testing team gave top marks for the Sensor’s streamlined lightweight feel and overall simplicity while incorporating the major features.
Visit for more info on the bar: www.corekites.com/us/bars/range
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