How I built my own kite surfing bar

[Regis-de-giens]

Thank you. I will try to put more pictures today.

For the bar ends (carbon powder, 9 euros) :
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dVa2oiG

If it is only for winding, the cheaper plastic one would suit : € 1,45
https://a.aliexpress.com/_d7VPLQC

[Regis-de-giens]

Flexible fairlead for depower rope , adjustable in length (on the beach) to test the freedom it will give in surfing conditions (fackie tooside ride):

Insertion of inox pin:

global view when finished:

Zoom on configuration when locked in cleat (same shape and similar slack loop zsize whatever the trim adjustment):

When pulled for adjustment (elastic is deformed at that stage, visible only at full depowered stroke , then disapears when you release your hand after locking):

I would need a bit more space between the bar and the pin for a better sliding of all "figure 8 knots" and transition to elastic to easy the disappear of the spare length when I have finished my setting; It seems that sometimes I may have to push a bit inward (but not urgent in ride, it is not really a problem, just visual and cleanlyness

[bb615]

Very good work.
Did you lock the inox pin with some epoxy glue after cutting or is it locked only by the bar ends, and if it is, did you only screw hard them or used some kind of glue or resin to lock them?
Thanks

[Regis-de-giens]

thank you for your encouragement ; no glue nowhere ; just pin inserted "tight" then blocked by bar ends which are only secrewed tight around the bar ;

[bb615]

Some other question:
which inox pins did you use?
It's not clear in the picture the system you used as ring for the central depower rope. Is it an Antal ring or something else? And how did you lock it to the centre ofthe bar?

Thank you.

[Regis-de-giens]

The pin is cutted from the part you see on the ground in this picture :

It is a stainless steel of about 3mm diametre. A friend gave me this , i do not know where it comes from.

For the depower rope, it is lighter than antal ring, far cheaper as well (0.5 euro in a shipchandler) , of this type :

[merl]

A question to Regis. I just happened to have basically the same components to make a bar - with the plastic ends rather than the "carbon" ones. I was planning back-line adjusters (see other thread) but your variant of the pichxo bar looked too simple not to try. Now I have built it I see some potential issues.

• Having the adjustment inside the bar is neat, but doesn't it make it hard to grab to adjust, especially when it is at the setting where it is under tension?
• The knots in the adjuster line can't be too close together otherwise they get caught up. 5.5cm seems a reasonable distance on my bar. But then that is a really big adjustment - keeping in mind that the adjustment is 1:1. On a regular clamcleat that would be like pulling 11cm of line as the minimum change.

I'm thinking that the external adjustment might be easier and allow more knots (anyone know how close the knots are on the pichxo bar?)

What are your experiences with the bar so far?

[Regis-de-giens]

Great !
I have not tested it yet on the water ; ok, for your questions :

- if you have the adjustment line (elastic) attached at the correct line inside (attached directly to the red line on your picture close to the other extremity), the tension of the elastic should not depend on the adjustment knot: the elastic will be released from the same length as the adjustment line will be pulled)

- In my case I will try first with knots enough spaced as you said which should fit my needs (about 6 cm) ; however you can add intermediaite knots if you want, it should not be a problem if you pull right in the axis of the bar), to be tested.

- I suggest you swap the path between each side of the black&white rope around the pin on your picture; the sliding of knots will be easier ( I started like your picture but then I swaped) : indeed it will leave more space to the knots under tension to slide (useful for light winds with low rear line tension, while if the sliding is worse on the slack part with elastic, it is not that Important during a ride, you can fix it later on in the ride if it never slides)

Here is a skematic of the principle that a friend did to understand my setting :

[merl]

Thanks for this. Very clever - the elastic is under constant degree of tension, so you can have it set so a small amount of the adjustment line always protrudes, like in your picture. That is definitely easier to use that what I did with the elastic fixed at one end.

[Regis-de-giens]

Now with 36m very extra thin lines... 300 gr total ! It feels so light in the hand ...