If you are not a young wild dog- let’s say over 30 years old- or having no problem spending around a thousand Euro’s or more for your kite equipment? Stop right here reading. The Gong Freewave is cheap but very demanding. However if you keep on wondering why an A-brand 9m kite cost 1400 Euro’s it does gets interesting. This double ripstop 9m 3-strut 2019 kite comes with all decent features. Like a big inflate and adjustable bridles included. Its main attraction? It is half the price. One question remains: how many set backs are there?
Gong
Gong is based at the west coast of France. ‘We are not low cost‘. By cutting out the distributors and shops and selling directly to the consumers they are significantly cheaper. Not unique. Brands like Switch and Best invented it long ago. 
These Frenchmen express themselves quite typically. They come up with the style ‘Freewave’ have sizes in strange numbers like 6,8m2 and adding a feminine touch by calling it a female; ‘she stands tall and doesn’t flinch’.
If we take a closer look we see that this 3-strut double ripstop Freewave 9m has a line sewed in the back of the trailing edge (is that a bad thing?) should be pumped between 8-10 (!) psi and weighs only 2.8kg’s.
Interesting is the 3 possible settings for the outer line of the bridles.
What isn’t typical French is the amount of reduction (already) that can be expected on the original price for a 2019 kite. In this case a ‘summer reduction of -30%’ is offered by Gong. Which makes you think this kite is even cheaper as the 750 Euro mentioned. But to keep it fair A-brand 2019 kites can be found at -20/-25% easily from summertime as well. Making the Gong 9m 520,- and a A-brand 1050,- Euro. So still half the price. Don’t forget that for a complete comparison we need to look at the secondhand selling prices. At this moment we guess nobody is going to pay much for a secondhand Gong kite.
Test Freewave 9m
Having a cheap kite is one thing, but having one you are really happy with is another. Yes we had fun with this kite. But there is some things you really must know. First of all it isn’t a female. It is a male. And a young one. It is the contrary of a reliable, steady sheet and go Evo or Core XR. More like a Core GTS. But with more bar pressure and far from the typical rock solid Core feeling. Depending on the bridle settings you can really feel the kite is showing its teeth. You can almost hearing it roar. In normal words it does tend to jellyfish and there is loads of feed back in the bar. But in quite a weird and direct way. Resetting the bridle -especially to the tip- make things worse.
We tested it with 23 meter lines. But the reaction is so quick they seemed much shorter. What came as a surprise is its impressive low end. Although some of it is imaginary since a lot of pressure is just the huge amount of feed back on the back lines. It does keep you making adjusting the (depower)strap for the perfect setting. It is as hard to find as the perfect moment to pop. Which is logic if it is like a GTS. If you like kites like the FX or the Dice -which are the ones with the least bar pressures for these type of kites- you will not like this kite. Although the first few minutes are really fun it just tires and stress your arms very quickly. But still the Gong can be good fun for some one who likes to be challenged. Some one young. Look at the expression on his face of the same young guy when you switch his Gong for a Dice. ‘That is too easy’. Comparable when -long ago- some one invented a harness.
List Price
Gong Freewave 2019 9m (kite only) 749,- Euro