Power Kite Forum

Wheels for soft sand?

mogaar - 9-6-2004 at 09:42 PM

I'm new to power kite sports and I've been wanting to try landboarding so I bought a used MBS board on e-bay. I borrowed a FlexFoil Skytiger 2.6 and had bad luck getting going. The wind was good, maybe 20+ mph, but the wheels kept digging in to the sand (I was on the beach). The wind was strong enough to drag me off the board and on my face for a while. I'm thinking I need wider wheels that won't dig into the sand so easy. Any one know of a good place to get wheels, preferably here in the States and/or online. And yes, a bigger kite is on my shopping list, just don't have the $'s for it yet.

doomwheels - 10-6-2004 at 12:40 AM

I haven't heard of any solution yet for kite ATB on dunes or soft sand. Even buggies use extra large wheels in this situation.

The same issue is being discussed in another thread. I'll offer you the same advise... huge wheels on a modified board. Read more:
http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=485

mogaar - 11-6-2004 at 05:11 PM

Thanks for the info. That is a cool looking board. I don't suppose you know where he got those wheels and trucks.

doomwheels - 11-6-2004 at 11:04 PM

You can get off-road trucks at any skateboard shop and bigfoot wheels at many kite shops. If you live in North America, I suggest contacting Wind Power Sports, or Libre Powersails if in Europe. There are more shops listed in the LINKS section of this forum.

Kamikuza - 9-1-2005 at 07:46 AM

When you're starting in soft or wet sand, try un-wieghting your feet. Like, sorta hang off the kite on the down stroke & lift your feet.

If it's bad when you're moving, then you need to find a different place to fly :)

soft sand

kinny999 - 2-2-2007 at 06:05 AM

where i board the sand is great but occasionally after a high tide accompanied with no wind the beach dries out but leaves patches of dry soft sand all over, they are a nightmare for us as you cant see them and if you dont hit them fast enough you just dig in and if your too fast its just luck if you get through them , one thing i have found is if you deflate your tires a bit , not too much mind but enough so you can push the tire in quite a bit , be careful though if there is lots of soft stuff, a few mates of mine have battered their ankles knees and more importantly bindings lol when hitting the soft spots , if in doubt ask local kiters or go a bit further out if your spot allows , closer to the low tide point usually results in more packed sand.Ill try and post this next point elsewhere too cos its something i only realised after a while, if there has been strong winds with the incoming high tides then the sand will be better as the motion of the rough sea / waves seems to flatten out the sand and pack it down more , dont think this is just at my spot,(lytham st annes ) sorry if i went off on one !

Pablo - 2-2-2007 at 10:00 AM

There's a local fellow that found 3" wide slicks that fit his standard trucks, best part is they don't hit the board or require any other mods, We'll be testing them on the soft beaches here this weekend hopefully if the wind co=operates, If it works well I'll post up the details.

Cloudy - 2-2-2007 at 12:12 PM

MBS sells 9 inch wheels. They're a big improvement over the stock 8s, but will require you to purchase new rims as well as new tires.