Spreader

 SPREADERs are the horizontal spars that are used to hold the sail of a kite open. Most kites have one spreader, but f.ex. Rokkakus, Rollers, Doperos and 2-line sport kites have two spreaders. The spreader is marked with red on the images below.

Spreaders are often made from carbon-fibre, glass-fibre, bamboo or wood. They can be round, square, flat and probably any other shape you can imagine. If you choose to use wood or bamboo it is important that the sticks are as straight as possible and the weight evenly distributed. This not a problem with carbon-fibre and glass-fibre. Three other important factors are the stiffness, strength and total weight. The grade of stiffness/flexibility is very important and may determine how well a kite will fly under different conditions.