I have several kites that come equipped with strop lines and others that would benefit from configuring the handles to employ one. My Spiderkites Smithi, Beamer 3M, and Flexifoil 4.7, for example. I understand the purpose of a strop is to take pressure off the arms when flying. I cobbled together a very passable waist harness and hook from spares my son has from his kiteboarding days. I also have an old but fully functional chicken loop, quick release and small pulley that I can add to the hook, but it seems to me by the time I add all this safety equipment the handles would be pretty far from my body even though I have a 6' 3" arm spread. So...I have questions:

1) Can I just loop the strop under the hook and expect it to stay in place? Seems to me it would be very likely to just fall out.

2) How and when are strop lines intended to be used? Static flying? Kite boarding?

Thanks.

Frank

You are overcomplicating it by adding the chicken loop, quick release and pulley. All you need is a hook and a strop. Launch the kite, and then hook in as you see fit but know that increases the risk of injury if you can't unhook fast enough. The strop will not fall out if you have a traditional hammerhead spreader bar and the kite is powered. I don't recall using the strop much for static flying - just when I was kite landboarding and I'd use it on the straights and then unhook on my redirects and tacks.

The total length of the strop should never be more than the distance from your shoulder to your wrist so if you drop a handle, it will not be out of reach if you are hooked in.

"if you can't unhook fast enough".
Well superman is fast enough.:evil:
Some of the strops that are sold as strops are designed to be looped around the handles where there is no loop on the handles for a strop.
PKD includes the strop in the handles when sold. Depending on the size, small, medium, large the links of the strop is between 12 inches to 16 inches. But you have to remember that most European kite flyers use the brakes to turn the kite not the power lines, as with most high speed and overpowered flyers prefer. So the strop is shorter due to the extended reach of the brake end of the handles.
B-Roc is right in you don't want to long a strop as to not reach the one you can't hold onto.

about these PKD built in strops
im gonna wear this thing out in less than a yr.
thinking about just cutting it in half to tie in a sacrificial strop to avoid the inevitable
yea its fixing something thats not broke but i see this thing braking for sure

Quote: Originally posted by abkayak

about these PKD built in strops im gonna wear this thing out in less than a yr. thinking about just cutting it in half to tie in a sacrificial strop to avoid the inevitable yea its fixing something thats not broke but i see this thing braking for sure

Using the depower chicken loop spreader bar is designed for depower chicken loops, NOT fixed bridle strops. Kinda like using a butter knife to pound in a nail to hold a picture on the wall, not the right tool but it works for the moment. I've been using the same strop on my PKD handles for over 10 years with only one that is showing any wear which is on my 12m that I fly 80% of the time.

Most people do as you said and cut it in half and tie a knot close to the handle to add a longer strop or replace it due to depower hook wear.

OK. Strop line & hook it is, then. Makes my life very simple. Just wanted to be cautious and tap the collective wisdom on the subject before I went out and did the wrong thing.

Thanks to all who responded.

Frank

Quote:

im gonna wear this thing out in less than a yr. thinking about just cutting it in half to tie in a sacrificial strop to avoid the inevitable

Yup. If it snaps or wears- unusably so- too close to handle, you will have no long enough piece to tie in new piece on to.

Unless you can rethread new strop into handle... you got a problem.

I don't like the idea of built in strops, if they don't allow change out of worn strop cordage.

Quote:

All you need is a hook and a strop.

A spreader bar with a hook is not only quite unsuitable for use with a strop because of friction but also dangerous without additional QR device. A pulley spreader bar allows effortless one handed control. Unfortunately commonly available pulleys are incorrectly shaped for this application so in terms od safety they are no better than a hook. A correctly shaped pulley allows immediate, one handed release under load without the need to let go of the handle to grab something else thus eliminating the need for any additional QR. Strops do not wear out with a right kind of pulley. In 20 + years of kiting I have never wore out one and the only time I am not hooked in is when launching and landing.

Blew a strop today...none of those boujie roller spreaders here..i put down the friction

I only fly kites on a harness. Including fixed bridle kites. I never unhook unless I am just playing around static for a moment on someone else's kite and I don't have my harness on. When I fly my own stuff, even static, I am always hooked in via strop on either a captive pulley or a spreader hook. I prefer pulley because it doesn't wear on the strop. Hook is okay if you are just feeling lazy and don't want to switch out your spreader to your pulley, but it will eat your strop.

I have two spreader bars. One is a standard hook that I use for my depowers, and one is a D spreader that I shackle my pulley and quick release to for my FB stuff. I also sometimes use them interchangeably. You can use a strop with the hook spreader, and you can pop the safety on your depower chicken loop and reconnect it through the D-spreader just as well too. I have done both.

Long story short, when you hook in is your pwn personal preference. Plenty guys never hook in, plenty guys always hook in, and plenty guys hook and unhook while they ride depending on what the feel comfortable with. It is totally fine to hook your strop directly under your hook. The strop should never fall out unless you are flying in light wind or forget and pull both handles. If you want to do the strop and hook method, you don't have a quick release, so keep that in mind. Also if you use your strop in a hook, you should think about having a small roll of strop material to cut one off every few months as you start to notice the wear on your strop, because it will wear really fast without a pulley.

Quote: Originally posted by Prussik

Quote: All you need is a hook and a strop. A correctly shaped pulley allows immediate, one handed release

Prussik: Could you post a sketch of the pulley you are discussing? Sounds innovative!

Quote: Originally posted by bengineer

Quote: Originally posted by Prussik   Quote: All you need is a hook and a strop. A correctly shaped pulley allows immediate, one handed release Prussik: Could you post a sketch of the pulley you are discussing? Sounds innovative!

I know I am not Prussik, but here:

http://popeyethewelder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Snap-B...

That's a 40mm harken locking block, also known as a 40mm Allan locking block.

That is the same one you use for your AQR, isn't it bigkid?

Sorry, still the same problem with copying.

Now I discovered that the copied text has to have all ',",- removed to work. So it has to be 1 inch but not 1", etc.

There is nothing new I can add to what was already said years ago on this forum. The key element in using a pulley as a release element is the geometry of the groove. It should not be deeper than 1/4 inch, preferably a little less. The shape of it should be closer to a V rather than U (so that the sides are not excessively steep) though circular shape works well too if the groove is shallow and wide enough meaning that he pulley should be at least 1 inch thick which, in combination with a shallow groove, gives the strop the gradual slope to roll off. And finally the larger diameter, the better as much as clearance with the bar allows for comfortable hooking in, 2 inches being the minimum. The larger diameter reduces rolling friction as well as helps the release. With this kind of a pulley, and 5-6 mm strop, all is needed to release is a pull with the hand holding the handle in and down. I have not seen any off the shelf pulley that would meet those requirements so I made them myself.

It may seem that a shallow groove will cause unintended releases. This does not happen as long as the pulley is under tension. It will not be if power lines go slack or if the pull is taken by the arms holding both handles instead of relying on a harness. This never happens if steering is done with one hand. One can possibly roll the strop off unintentionally by controlling action of the hand being not in line with the pull, but little practice takes care of that. To refer to the discussion on hooking in General Chit Chat, the point is that to unhook you do not have to release the tension on the strop. I do not consider the use of a hook to be acceptable for use with a FB and disagree with suggestions advocating or even accepting its use for the reasons of both, steering and safety. To me a pulley should be a part of a FB package just like lines and handles.

If the pulley is shallow (as it should be) then some attention should be given how it lines up with the webbing slots of the spreader bar. In the absence of a sketch let just say that the line from the centre of the webbing to the bottom of the groove of the pulley should be perpendicular to the axel of the pulley. If it is not then, under tension there will be a slight tilt of the pulley which may contribute to unintentional release. Not likely but possible. To avoid this in a Reactor bar I blocked the bottom 1 inch of the slot and folded 2 inch webbing in half so it occupies only the top 1 inch of the slot. Now it lines up properly with 1 inch thick pulley.

There are several advantages in eliminating additional safety release hardware. There is no need to release the handle and grasp something else. Since the strop does not wear out it does not have to be replaceable so there are no knots limiting the useful length of the strop for steering, a problem with external QR which typically moves the roller away from the body thus reducing the range of turning effectiveness of the strop and makes hooking and unhooking inconvenient.