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Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

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FlyingRoots
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Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby FlyingRoots » Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:09 pm

Hey !

Because of lockdown and winter, I decided to give a try to kite landboard in a meadow next to my house, and it's a lot of fun, waiting for the warmer season to come back (living in the UK). The only thing is that I am still struggling to edge properly and try to do small jumps as the meadow is really bumpy/shaky/rough (mainly clumps of grass that makes you change direction, blocks you if you don't have enough speed, which makes jump tries really hard).

I was wondering if changing the board (and/or wheel size) could be usefull to progress and have smoother rides ? I am not familiar at all with mountainboard properties, was only doing water kite before.

My current setup : Flysurfer Peak 4 5m (love it) and an old Scrub Deimos board I bought secondhand to give a try to kite landboard.

Many thanks for your answers

Herman
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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby Herman » Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:53 pm

Personally I don’t think there is any ideal solution. I only landboard on good ground, if the ground is bad I just take a buggy but I am fortunate to live next to a hard sand beach, bugs have much bigger wheels.

If you check the gap between tyre and foot in various stances you may find you have room to fit a 9in tyre as opposed to the normal 8in (goes on the same hub), which would help a bit and is probably the biggest sensible diameter for MB.

When you get advanced you could take out a shed load of power for what I call pinned to the sky riding, where the kite needs minimal movement to get you airborne and you keep the board speed to a minimum but this is really only an in your dreams suggestion as it is very dangerous and is not a sensible approach to life!

PS I am not sure what you mean by edging! One of the first steps you need make is to be able to break traction and slide to be able to scrub off speed and to turn tightly. Too much traction/grip is not necessarily your friend. Playing with tyre pressure will affect grip level and ride. If you have not learned to slide it is too early to start jumping imho.
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slide
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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby slide » Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:32 pm

i wouldn't use bigger wheels , as they will be very heavy ,keeping the weight down will make the board easier to flick about ,and sliding is hard on grass ,unless its wet ,but riding on bumpy land is going to be difficult anyway

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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby Herman » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:38 pm

As far as early jumping is concerned carving hard into wind as you send the kite will kill the forward speed and help you stay in control. Be prepared to rotate the board back towards the kite for the landing. Obviously being able to jump the board without the kite will be useful on bumpy ground. Hats off to you if you are having fun on this sort of ground.

Herman
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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby Herman » Sun Nov 22, 2020 4:42 pm

Trying to think back to early stages. If you carve up hard to jump but don’t get enough power just turn it into a transition, indeed it is not a bad exercise to turn up into wind and send the kite to stop. However, to tun it into a transition, you will not be able to just redirect the kite all the way accross the window as you will not have enough time to turn the board and you will be pulled off the board backwards/heelside. When you redirect check the kite back so that it stays in front of you and then redirect again as the board picks up enough speed to turn. Eventually you will be able to turn it into a little aerial transition as it sounds like you have a good undercarriage.

If I were you I would stick with the gear you have and put money towards a descent winter wetsuit, I kitesurf all year round in UK, and for me winter is the more fun season.
Last edited by Herman on Sun Nov 22, 2020 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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edt
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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby edt » Sun Nov 22, 2020 5:04 pm

Land boarding in those conditions is pretty bad. I quit land boarding in those conditions and now just wait for an inch or two of snow so I can break out my snowboard

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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby plummet » Sun Nov 22, 2020 5:29 pm

I'm you want to do twisty spider monkey tricks then I agree with Slide. Small board with small wheels.

But if you want to blaze the rough then you need to upsize to bigger wheels/tyre combo.

Check out some of my vids from back in the day.

In Twilight cruise i'm riding a rock garden at 3 mins.



In moose meet 2011 i'm boosting off sand dunes, pretty much all landboarder will tell you soft sand is a no go.



24hr landboard V kitebike i did the worlds first landboard 24hr.




All of this done on big wheels. They happened to be mobility scooter wheels

FlyingRoots
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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby FlyingRoots » Tue Nov 24, 2020 1:19 am

Herman wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 12:53 pm
Personally I don’t think there is any ideal solution. I only landboard on good ground, if the ground is bad I just take a buggy but I am fortunate to live next to a hard sand beach, bugs have much bigger wheels.

If you check the gap between tyre and foot in various stances you may find you have room to fit a 9in tyre as opposed to the normal 8in (goes on the same hub), which would help a bit and is probably the biggest sensible diameter for MB.

When you get advanced you could take out a shed load of power for what I call pinned to the sky riding, where the kite needs minimal movement to get you airborne and you keep the board speed to a minimum but this is really only an in your dreams suggestion as it is very dangerous and is not a sensible approach to life!

PS I am not sure what you mean by edging! One of the first steps you need make is to be able to break traction and slide to be able to scrub off speed and to turn tightly. Too much traction/grip is not necessarily your friend. Playing with tyre pressure will affect grip level and ride. If you have not learned to slide it is too early to start jumping imho.
Thanks for all your answers !

So yeah, thick wetsuit is an option, but coming from the South of France to study in the UK, I am just not used yet to this winter cold :-o and also don't have a car to drive while lockdown is still in place. I was thinking of the buggy option, but again logistics is difficult as I carry my board, harness, helmet and kite on my bike across Oxford to reach the meadow so I cannot imagine how I would cycle with a buggy ! It's not ideal at all as a spot but better than no kite during these tough times :D

I was mentionning edging as, in the water, before a jump, I would carve the board aggressively upwind to generate tension and pull and I was naively trying to reproduce this with the mountainboard but as you guys said, it's hard to do so on bumpy grounds and I might also not have the right technique (really unexperienced with mountainboard).

I will try to work on my transitions and some board control/jibe downwind and maybe try a 9in tyre to see if it helps as you suggested.
Not familiar what do you mean by slide ?

Thanks plummet, I will def check out your videos !

Herman
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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby Herman » Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:38 am

Slide, carving and, edging!

The way I think about landboarding is that edging is just a "given" it happens naturally from the grip of the tyres.(That is why it is easy to go upwind on a LB.) Steering is the same as carving. Sliding is same as sliding a TT but requires more power as braking wheel grip is harder than braking out the grip of TT fins If you are on a very grippy surface with not much weight on the kite you have to reduce speed by turning up into wind and/or using the kite. If you are on sand you can brake out the back wheels and start sliding to scrub off speed.

Search YouTube for:

HOW TO - KEEPING THE POWER ON AND STOPPING - KITE LANDBOARDING
HOW TO - TOESIDE, TRANSITIONS AND FALLING - KITE LANDBOARDING

Have a great time in Oxford, I did a few decades ago. Regards Herman.

PS jumping has more or less the same technique. You can also Ollie but it requires a bit more energy. Getting on the board @ 90 ° to the wind and jumping the board round to a broad reach just before or as you dive the kite will be good practice for the hops you need when coping with bumpy ground!

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Re: Kite landboard in bumpy meadow

Postby Sceotend » Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:55 pm

I have been wondering whether a Onewheel (https://onewheel.com/) type of a board would do in bumpy meadow?


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