If you buy a foil set up with a bar can you simply buy a set of handles & lines & convert it to handles? My reason for asking is a guy I know that does a lot of backcountry exploring with his kites (kiteneering) says that he really prefers handles for pulling himself with a sled attached(gear hauling) using handles. Everything I've got so far has a bar & can't see why you'd buy completely different kites if you can convert.

I find handles give more control.Not sure of converting, but seems possible on most kites.

Well as long as both the front and back lines match I don't see a problem with it. I've seen some of the backcountry setups and most of them have a way to attach the front or top lines to the harness and using the handles in a way that is like a puppet master. I think the reason for this is the bar doesn't give you an ergonomic way of flying and trying to stay in line with you're sled. Its almost like the buggy thing. Buggying i've never tried with handles (actually quite honest never flown with handles) But looks more satisfying to your body than the bar. When skiing i can see that this maybe come awkward and more need full to use the handles. In snowboarding or any boarding the ergonomic setup is in your favor cause you're looking at the kite with your karate punches. Who knows maybe you can get some more range out of handles?

Don't know how that'd work. It would depend a lot on the kite.
Kites with handles perform and react much differently than kites with bars.
When you turn a kite with handles you're turning it off the front or rear lines as opposed to a bar where all the steering is done with the rear lines.

Actually you wide radius turn by pulling on power lines.But you can make it turn on a dime by turning with the brakes .Just like a REV SLE.

http://www.flyozone.com/snowkites/en/ne ... 8/07/7198/

This is the Setup I was thinking of. I saw a couple of guys at the rodeo on this sort of setup. The front lines are connected to the harness and the handles are there for steering. On a standard handle kite the extra range wouldn't do anything cause you don't have the depower range. I'm not sure how the safety system works looks kinda special right now. I'm sure some simple mods and you could easily do this.

lewmt wrote:If you buy a foil set up with a bar can you simply buy a set of handles & lines & convert it to handles? My reason for asking is a guy I know that does a lot of backcountry exploring with his kites (kiteneering) says that he really prefers handles for pulling himself with a sled attached(gear hauling) using handles. Everything I've got so far has a bar & can't see why you'd buy completely different kites if you can convert.

A depower (or sheetable) foil should be flown on a bar as that is what it was designed for and putting it on handles will make it fly weird and defeat the purpose of having a depowerable kite.

Fixed bridle foils will usually fly fine on either handles or bars- and it really comes down to personal preference. Handles give you the advantage of using the brakes independently to turn the kite faster and give you more refined control. Certain kites like Bego's and racekites really fly best on handles due to the brake input that they require. You can still use a harness with handles by using a strop (rope) that connects the two handles near the top. The strop line can be hooked into a pully or hook on the harness- just make sure that you are confident flying before hooking in as there is no quick release like on a depower kite- you need to either grab the brake lines or unhook to free yourself from the kite when things get hairy. A fixed bridle set up on a bar is a little different that a depower kite setup on a bar. With a fixed bridle, the main/ front lines go to the outside of the bar and the back/ brake lines go to a center line that clips to a wrist leash or a leash attached to your harness.

Hopefully this makes sense- let me know and I can dig up some pics of the various setups if you want.