So, after all the hype about the Ozone Turbo bar, watching the only video available on Youtube over about 2 dozen times (you know, the guy with the 3m Beamer) and being the hands-on project oriented engineer (in training) that I am, I decided to take on a Turbo Bar project myself. Since I just put a 5th line on my 4 line Fuels, I can use one bar for both of them, which left me with a 20” 4 line Slingshot bar sitting around unused. I could have sold it for a decent buck, but I wanted to keep it because it was in immaculate condition. So I decided to use it for this project.

At first the thought of making my own Turbo bar was a daunting one with figuring out what lines and pulleys I needed. I recalled someone on this forum mentioning something about Ronstan pulleys at West Marine, so I decided to take a look on their site. Man that place is an engineer’s or boater's paradise; so many different pulleys, supplies, and gadgets to look at. It is almost as good as McMaster-Carr! So I found the exact Ronstan pulleys (at roughly $10 a pop) that are used on the Ozone Turbo bar. If I was going to go through with this, might as well use what is proven effective and is the standard right now. Next I determined that I would need standard leader line for the rest of the line on the bar to ensure minimal stretching and wear. Then all I had to do was place the order, and wait patiently for my parts to arrive.

Close up of the Ronstan Pulleys and grey leader line:

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First thing I did after inspecting my newly acquired parts was lay them out in the order that they would be assembled… I also had some vinyl tubing lying around and decided to use it to cover my brake strap.

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It was surprisingly difficult to get some of the pulleys through the sewn leader line loops, a problem that I didn’t think would have occurred because all of the leader line loops that I have seen were fairly large, but I made them work. After a few mins of assembly, it was already almost over...

Close up of the half assembled Turbo bar:

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Finally the finished product:

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One significant difference that you will notice between my Turbo bar and the production Ozone one is the adjustment. Since I used my stock depower clam cleat, I have adjustment of the middle line, whereas the Ozone has brake line trim. The way I designed this bar was that to have the pulleys the same length when the bar is all the way in, the clam cleat is trimmed most of the way in. To shorten the brakes, I will let the clam cleat trim out, which will shorten the brake leader lines. With this setup, anyone can make a Turbo bar with a spare depower bar.

I really have high hopes for this bar, and I feel I did a really good job for a first shot on it. This bar setup only cost me $68, about $28 for the 3 pulleys, and $40 for all the leader line work. I would like to give props to Jeff at Prokitesurf, he did all the leader line work for me and they turned out beautifully, and shipping was very reasonable and extremely quick.

So there is my shot at a Turbo bar, now I just have to wait for some wind and time that I can actually get out and try this bad boy out. But hold on a second, did you think I was done?

I couldn’t just stop at one project, if I’m buying supplies for one, why not knock another one out right away? While purchasing pulleys at West Marine, I stumbled upon some snaps and miscellaneous fasteners, and have been trying to decide whether to purchase and handle pass system for my harness for later on down in the water, or to just wait it out. Needless to say, I got some extra supplies right away, and this is the handle pass system I constructed for my Mystic Force Shield seat harness:

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The total cost of this setup was only $27.50, $20 of it being that huge stainless steel snap, and the rest leader line. Both projects cost me just $95.50. Again, I covered the line with the vinyl tubing I had already. I’m very happy with these little projects of mine and the money was well spent. I saved a bit doing it myself with the supplies I already had, but the important thing was actually learning how to do it on my own and knowing exactly how my setups will work. Now I just need to test them. Hopefully I inspired some of you with these, and please feel free to comment and make suggestions!

Well done on the Turbo Bar, let me know how it works. I completely forgot I was supposed to measure up my bar for you.....sorry about that, you should have bothered me more about it :^D Hope this works well, all those leaders look like they turned out very nicely.


Sorry again I forgot about measuring....i feel like quite the fool.

Nah Ben, it's quite alright... I was doing quite a bit of research on my own, I just would have liked to confirm it with someone who owns an Ozone Turbo bar, but its all good. I have a quite a bit of leader to play around with after the pulleys and a lot of adjustment with the clam cleat, so I should be alright. I'm getting really anxious to try this thing out!

Man, that is sweet!! Have you tried it out yet? What are you gonna try it out on? I would love to see how this thing works on a Blade!!!

Unfortunately I have not tried it out yet, every time it has been windy I'm either at work or it's dark out. I also only have one 4 line fixed bridle kite right now (my Flow) so that's what I plan on trying it out with. I believe the original Ozone Turbo bar was designed mainly for use with the Flow as well. It would be pretty cool with a Blade or any other lifty kite, considering most of the pull is directed on the harness as opposed to solely your arms. I'm really hoping to try it out this weekend, even if it's not super windy. I haven't been out for a session in over 3 weeks, and its the longest I have been without putting a kite up in the air...

*Edit* Also does anyone know how to change the transparency of a signature pic? Mine is ok for a white background post, but on the dark grey, you can see the white box... I would like to make it the same color as the background for any post...

Well, today was the first time that I've been kiting in over a month, and it was not as exciting as it could have been, but I got a lot accomplished. The main reason I wanted to get out was to try this bar out for the first time, and make all the necessary adjustments to get the kite to fly right.

Before I begin, let me say that this turbo bar setup is amazing, and I can only assume Ozone's s a little better because it is a bar in production and not a home brew setup like mine. Winds were only at 10mph max today, most of the time it was blowing around 6 or 7 mph, just barely enough to keep the kite in the air by working it. The thing that I noticed right away about this bar setup is that you need a lot of wind to get it to fly. The more wind the better the rig works, and the faster the kite will turn. I'm assuming this is because the rig is a bit heavy with the pulleys, the cleat, and all the extra line, so it is understandable. I also had to adjust my knots for the brake leaders a bit to adjust the bar to my liking. Generally, I like to keep the bar 3/4 the length of the CL line away from my body. In order to achieve this setup, I had to tie some knots about 2 inches close to the bar on the brake leaders, and the cleat was trimmed all the way out. I was surprised by this, as I designed it to be even when it was trimmed all the way in. I guess the Flow likes a bit more brake input than I expected.

As for flying characteristics of the rig, everything performed much better than I expected, even in the little amount of wind we had. Turning on the brake is extremely easy and just as quick as with handles. Also, as with any other bar setup, you can't manipulate the kite as well as with handles because of the motion constraint, but it is pretty damn close to flying on handles. I especially like the depower flying style with all the pull focused on the center of the harness, and I like the amount of variation you can have with the depower-like bar setup. Also if I feel over powered, I have enough CL line to simply pull the bar all the way in, and stall the kite. Overall, I am very happy with this setup and can't wait to try it out in higher winds. Again, if any of you are interested in making your own turbo bar setup, feel free to shoot me a U2U or email and I can give you dimensions and specifics.

Thanks for the update!!! Sounds fun.

So I've been flying with this turbo bar setup for quite some time now (it has actually become my go to setup with the Flow) and I thought it was time for an update. The best part (IMO) of a DIY project/ setup is all the experimentation that you can do on the setup to make it that much better. After a few months of different wind conditions and settings on the bar, I have found a critical improvement that needed to be made on this design.

The improvement deals with the bar itself, specifically the area where your center line feeds through the bar. Any fixed bridle kite needs good break input when using a turbo bar (steering is directly dependent on break input), and my issue came from the difficulty of doing so. My bar was made from using a spare Slingshot depower bar (2005 model) that I wasn't using anymore. I have since upgraded to a newer (2010) Slingshot depower bar, and it has led to significant improvement. Here's why:

1. The ability to adjust the amount of break input is a crucial part to the success of this setup. The new Slingshot depower bars have aluminum inserts that have a larger hole cutout and have angled grooves cut parallel to the bar.

This is extremely important because it means that you can easily adjust the bar away/ towards you while the bar is in the turning position. The older model Slingshot bars have a plastic insert with a hole only big enough for the center line to feed through. I found that even during a simple turn, it was almost impossible to bring the bar closer or push it away from you because the line was pinched in the small hole. The aluminum insert is a little bit bigger, enough to fit a 5th line through in addition to the center line, and is therefore easier to move when turning. I am actually thankful that I didn't fly my Fuels on this bar for a long period of time, because it would have been even more difficult to turn.

2. The floaters have been eliminated. Since this bar is used on fixed bridle kites, you shouldn't be using the setup in, or near water, meaning there is no need for floaters. This small adjustment makes a huge difference. It gets rid of a lot of clutter on the bar and actually makes the setup a little bit lighter. Most importantly, it gives you a lot more line to adjust the brake strap location and you can make length adjustments on the brake leader lines.

Without the floaters you can get a nicely packed rig, especially if you are meticulous about winding your lines.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the decision I made to upgrade this bar. The $75 price tag for a new SS bar alone (without floaters) was a bit steep IMO, but it was well worth the money to make this improvement. I would highly suggest to anyone making their own turbo bar, to use a depower bar that has an aluminum insert with angled cutouts for the center line because that feature gives a huge advantage.

Yeah, the Ozone Turbo bar has a larger hole that allows for moving it in and out while turning.

Nice upgrade; I like the large cuts outs in the center even w/o a turbo bar. I find that I can't sheet well when I'm turning w/o that style of cutout. I am finally in the process of replacing my last bar with a straight thru hole!

Those pulley's look like the bearing kind rather than the all plastic with a metal axel. The all plastic ones are typically used on bridals; do they really use the bearing type on bars? My montana has bearings (and I temp put them on my 12m atom) but I find they get junked with dirt and sand.

The pulleys I used were Ronstan Series 20. I'm pretty sure they are plastic with a metal axle and no ball bearings.

Interested in some dimensions etc if you don't mind :D

Kami, I'll take it out again tomorrow and measure everything out.

Ta! I think I can get the pulleys locally and I can make kick-ass leaders now :D

WTF? I know we shouldn't believe advertising, but how can the guy in the pic be using the product ... if he's not wearing a harness?

http://downloads.flyozone.com/landkites/downloads/Turbo_Bar_...

The guy in the pic is wearing a Manta/Frenzy bag. He's probably flying one of those :D.

If you set the Turbo bar up with enough slack on the brakes, I'm pretty sure that you could fly unhooked and it would probably behave like a cross-over bar. Not sure why you'd want to, but you probably could.

I think Maven's got it. I can bring my trim strap all the way in to have it act like a crossover bar. The only real advantage of that over a regular bar is fast turning. (It would act like an HQ Scout bar)

Check out the video that I mentioned in my first post. He flies briefly unhooked and it seems to work just fine.

Wonder how much adjustment is in the brake leaders on the Ozone bar?
I got a bunch of parts and could make an identical copy :D I'm really only missing a good chicken loop - do I need the plastic cover on the chicken loop line?

I can tell you when I get home Kami. I'd actually prefer being able to tighten my back lines just a little more (so if I pull the bar all the way in the kite stalls).

Quote:

I'd actually prefer being able to tighten my back lines just a little more (so if I pull the bar all the way in the kite stalls).

That's exactly how mine works when the trim is all the way out. It also gives for good arm positioning, not too far of a stretch from and not uncomfortably close to you. It's one of the most handy features of this setup IMO. This also gives you the ability to back the kite away from the edge of the window while buggying... something that is impossible to do with a regular 4 line bar.

Quote:

Originally posted by arkey Those pulley's look like the bearing kind rather than the all plastic with a metal axel. The all plastic ones are typically used on bridals; do they really use the bearing type on bars? My montana has bearings (and I temp put them on my 12m atom) but I find they get junked with dirt and sand.

Quote:

Originally posted by Jovver The pulleys I used were Ronstan Series 20. I'm pretty sure they are plastic with a metal axle and no ball bearings.

Ronstan Series 20 use Acetal sheaves running on stainless steel ball bearings . 99.44%sure the Ozone Turbo Bar also uses ball bearing pulleys.

Ronstan Series 20 Convential Ball Bearing Pulley


The 2010 Ozone Depower kites use ball bearing pulleys in the bridle. They upped the ante by upgrading the to Ronstan Orbit Pulleys. Even if there is a catastrophic failure of the pulley axle, The attachment line for the pulley goes through the hub and will keep you from plummeting out of the air.

Ronstan Series 20 Orbit Pulley


ATB,
Sam

I'll have to double check when I get home, but I'm pretty sure that the pulleys on my 2010 Manta M3 are the conventional series 20 and not Orbit pulleys. Are you sure that's not for 2011 maybe?

This is the pulley on the 2010 Frenzy FYX



It would be weird to me that they used Orbits on the Frenzy, but not the Manta. Not unheard of, but weird.

More info here from Steve of KitePower.com.au.

The Ozone site is still rubbish for fine details.

ATB,
Sam