I am about to get 6m Ozone Fury. I was wondering if I can upgrade from handlers to control bar in the future for kiteboarding? If so.. which cheapest and best control bar I should look for? Thanks!

I would not call going from handles to a bar an upgrade, however, for land boarding only purposes a bar is useful.
PKD makes a really nice crossover bar for 4-line fixed bridle kites at a good price. Will cost much less than an Ozone Turbo bar for basically the same kind of performance..

I have to say I am a big fan of my Ozone Turbo bar. Don't have any plans to use handles regularly again. (Although I'm also slowly making the move to Depowers).

Some people don't like them, and that's fine. But IMHO what they do, (bar for FBs) they do best. (They do work better on some kites than others. And sometimes needs a bit of tuning, but its not difficult!)

My recommendation: try and hook up with someone that has one and you can have a play on it !

Tim

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. So are you saying that I will be able to change from handler to a 4-line control bar similar to this for the ozone fury? http://www.powerkiteshop.com/accessories/ozonesamuraicontrol...
http://www.powerkiteshop.com/accessories/hqbeamercontrolbar....
or
http://www.powerkiteshop.com/accessories/flexifoiltractionli...
Thanks!

• Flexifoil Traction Lite Bar
  
  
  
  • 55cm size is suitable for kites up to about 3.5 - 4.0 sq. meters.
    
  • 65cm size is suitable for kites over 3.5 - 4.0 sq. meters.
    
  • Meant for smaller/recreational fixed bridle foils.
    
  • Wrist safety
    
  
  
  
• Flexifoil Traction Extreme Bar
  
  
  
  • Meant for larger fixed bridle kites
    
  • Designed for use with a harness
    
  • Primary safety is a tophat release just above the chicken loop.
    
  • Secondary safety is a pin release on the leash connecting the chicken loop to the bar.
    
  
  
  
• HQ Safety Control Bar (available in 50cm & 60cm)
  
  
  
  • Wrist safety with a tophat release.
  
  
  
• HQ Safety Control Bar "X-Over"
  
  
  
  • Originally designed for the HQ Scout I kite.
    
  • Cross-over linkage applies opposing brake during turn inputs to make for sharper turns.
    
  • Wrist safety
    
  
  
  
• Ozone 4-line Fixed Bridle Bar
  
  
  
  • Fixed chicken loop. Letting go of the bar will not activate the brakes unless the chicken loop is also released.
    
  • Wrist safety
    
  • Can be used with a harness, but not required.
  
  
  
• Ozone Turbo Bar
  
  
  
  • Designed for use with a harness
    
  • Cross-over linkage applies opposing brake during turn inputs to make for sharper turns.
    
  • Individual back line trimmers
    
  • Tophat primary safety
    
  • Chicken loop secondary safety
    
  • Leash attachment point on brake handle for flying unhooked
    
  
  
  
• Peter Lynn Powerkite Bar
  
  
  
  • Wrist safety
    
  • Trim via center brake strap.
    
  
  
  
• PKD Cross Over Control Bar
  
  
  
  • Cross-over linkage applies opposing brake during turn inputs to make for sharper turns.
    
  • Harness not required, but can be used with a D-Loop
    
  • Wrist safety
    

Cross over bars allow a kite to turn faster, but with the exception of the PKD Crossover bar, tend to be more expensive.

ATB,
Sam

Wow that is a lot of information, thanks Sam!

Yes, a very informative post there, thank you!

I use a flexi traction extreme bar (the long version) on my 5.6 and 6.6 and a traction lite on my 3.5 and 4.7 - you really need a long bar on bigger FB's I have a short peter lynn bar that came with my Twister but it's useless.

The biggest advantage of a bar is you can fly one handed. Toeside riding, 180's to and from toeside and heelside to toeside carves are easier to learn and more comfortable.

I also prefer the connection to the harness with a bar particularly with a chicken loop.

Having said all this I'm flying my FB's with handles most of the time these days - you have a lot more fine control - particularly in light winds.

If you really want to upgrade then get a depower set up.

Just a clarification, but you won't want to take an Ozone Fury on water since it is an open cell foil. It will instantly be sucked into the water if you touch it with any impact.

I am using it on my mountainboard tho. I will start with handlers to learn basic flying characters then move to basic control bar with chicken loop or get a depower if I am rich enough after the camp :P

And these devices are usually referred to as "handles". I thought "handlers" was a typo but it keeps showing up.

Quote: Originally posted by hellnferno

I am using it on my mountainboard tho. I will start with handlers to learn basic flying characters then move to basic control bar with chicken loop or get a depower if I am rich enough after the camp :P

If you are going to move to a bar and CL then you are going to move to using a harness.

I suggest you get the harness 1st and put a " strop " line between your handles to hook in. Getting used to being hooked in is a part of progression with handles or a bar. You will NEED the harness to take advantage of a bar and CL. Personally I prefer handles and a strop with FB kites even on ATB.

Of all the bar choices. The Turbo bar is the best for moving to depower. The crossover bars give a 2:1 input to your brakes and speed up your turns greatly. Basic bar with a simple pulley is almost a step backward. No brake control. Avoid buying one of those.

Is that pkd bar just as good as the turbo? I'm thinking of moving towards something like that...

Here's a video review on the turbo bar..

Turbo bar and crossover bar go about the job + connect up differently.

Don't confuse them as being the same.

Right, I see the differences now. Thanks

The PKD bar is designed for use with the Buster Soulfly.
The PKD Buster Soulfly was designed to fly with handles and the Buster bar. I have not used the Buster Bar on other kites but I have used it on the Busters and the trade off is so slight that it was hard to tell the difference, other than you hook in with the handles and you have to add a loop thing to hook in with the bar.
If you want a 1.5m to 4.4m trainer for the water than I would suggest the Buster Soulfly and the Buster Bar as your trainer kite, as you can use the bar or resell it with the handles and still recoup your $$ or keep it and have a killer high wind kite.