Some Recent Rides

Epic week for me. Rode Sunday, Wed. and twice on Friday at 2 different spots. jantie inspired moonshot camera.

Friday



Wednesday



Sunday

A thumb for each video.
Really great to see you out riding. We can't keep letting Jantie and Juan take all the limelight. What's it like riding that trike? I like that huge 360 doughnut you made. I think we need to see more of that. Not sure my back would last long riding something like that though. The Jantie moonshot worked out well.

Nice Randy..!!!!
You had a great week with great wheater.
Btw your Trike is cool..


A friendly tip: rotate the kitecam 90 degrees on the kite so when your kite is in the riding position the image is correct. And after a turn your can rotate the image on your Pc in Moviemaker...
and i try not to swing/sinus the kite too much to get a steady image.

Keep it up!!

Thanks guys! Tom - sorry but no donuts for me. That was there when I got there. I think it was probably a UFO landing site. Or an ancient geoglyph you can only see from above. :D Either that or some drunks driving on the beach.....

jantie - the kite mount only came in the mail late Tuesday, so I jury rigged it together the morning when I went out. I wasn't even sure it would stay together in the sky at all, but it did. I'm figuring I will need to use something different from the NASA kites which are basically 2 liners. One of my other kites should work better.

The kite trike started out a cheap drift trike. I had used it in the past with kites on pavement which was pretty fun sliding around turns and so on. I ended up with some extra buggy wheels and figured out they would work on the trike. Even though the wind at the lake is fairly clean there are still holes in the wind and rough rocky and sandy spots on the beach where I can get stuck with my buggy. You probably noticed all the rocks right next to the water. The advantage of the trike is if I need to "cheat the wind" I can just pedal through those spots generating enough apparent wind until the kite takes over again. Some runs I don't need the pedals at all, other times, I'm getting a workout. Much more consistent than my kite buggy.

Riding the trike does hurt my back - but not the usual kind of back pain. Rather it is the seat itself rubs against a spot on my spine and it gets sore after a while. It does force me to have better posture though.

I've actually been out a lot this year, and have lots of video, but wasn't putting it together that fast.

Quote: Originally posted by tomdiving

what about something like a square foot of self-stick carpet cut to size for the seat back? or rows of thick weather stripping foam? spray glue and any type of pad? or use your amazing sewing skills and make a slip over padded cover... modify a cheap stadium seat? cut the seat back down? wear your water harness, assuming that it has a stiff back with foam? etc.

I used a piece of pipe insulating foam held in place with nylon ties but that slipped too much. I'm think a swimming pool noodle might work. Another thought I had is just put some padding in the back of my shirt. Anyway, it's not all that bad.

i used a seat from a gardenchair, folded it and made a cover.
had many people riding along in the sideride and nobody complaints.
cheap solution and works great.

this is when i just made it 11 year ago, looks a bit more 'used' now hahah

Quote: Originally posted by RedSky

Love the kite pulling the trike, although someone should redesign it so that you steer with your feet. That way you can still eat snacks. :D Do I spy a Cabrinha bar?

Good idea on the snacks. Yes on the Cabrinha.

Actually, I can steer with my feet at least enough to make turns but I can't steer when I'm pedaling. Also, on a rough surface it helps to have one hand on the handlebars for stability.

What I'd want in a perfect design would be a wider back axle, a fatter tire in front and a more heavy duty build overall. Unfortunately, I'm no jantie when it come to building things.

I already have a spare back flexifoil back axle, and it might even fit into the axle holder already on the trike. Problem is - not enough room in my car.

Not having enough room in the car is a problem. I recently downsized to a smaller bug for this reason. Jantie is the man when it comes to fabricating a new bug. His Crab is on another level. I guess what you need is your PL axle to either detach completely or fold somehow and with wider forks up front to accommodate a barrow,... or simply buy a PL folding bug if you can find one. Not sure how robust they are of course. Weren't they the era of the famed Peter Thin?

Doing snacks while riding... hmmm..

Thank for the compliment Tom.

Keep them videos coming Randy, and idea's for
different creations of wind driven vehicles