Dare to show your age and tell us what this is.
it's missing the starboard leader line.
Pulley bar, used in the early days of unhooked kiting, usually with a wakeboard and boots. Fed into the birth of the term "chicken loop", because you were chicken if you used a loop. Surprisingly that one has a safety leash, which was also for chickens.
This one was made from a Wipika Freeair 2 line bar.
hence the cool safety leash. It is also sans a harness line. I used it on a 8.5 Wipika NSK kite ( 2 line school kite about 12m2).
Select to expand quotebjw said..
Out of interest, why was a pulley bar better for unhooking?
This trend was also around when the first 4 line kites came out. The idea was to have a 4 line kite, but ride it like a 2 line with no depower.
The depower was absolutely minimal compared to todays standards anyway. I tried it for a while. It pretty much sucked as much as you would imagine.
... also short bar but better steering because of the pulley.
At the time kiting was under the spell of Lou Wainman and the desperation to be seen as "legit". So, kite was to never be above 45 degrees because you're a dangler. No leash. No chicken loop. Wakeboard. Boots. Long kite pants. blah blah blah
Select to expand quotebjw said..
Out of interest, why was a pulley bar better for unhooking?
The pulley on centre lines shifted its load point when steering and effectively made the bar act longer on the side being pulled. This gave the effect of a longer bar to get quicker steering. ( in this era bars were longer because kites needed more input to turn)
having a very short bar made handle passing easier.
anyway that's one explanation.
So everyone that responded, and correctly I might add, are old school kooks? Wow. We're all not that different after all.
People who say "pulley bars sucked" never rode them back then on the kites they were intended for.
Riding a big kite that already had zero depower and terrible turning speed was a huge improvement on a pulley bar and the added bonus of a nice clear bar centre for un-hooked tricks was pretty slick. Riding 11/13/15/17/21 on a pulley bar was sick, smaller sizes were pretty out of control but many still did it since it was also a trend at the time, riding a Chicken-Loop was seen as pretty lame... just like riding straps was.
Whilst a pulley bar is far from a practical bar for most kiters these days I still think it's actually a good tool to let people learn to fly small kites and better understand positioning and power management. There's something to be said about learning to kite whilst not having the ability to just poke your ass out and dump all the power out of a kite on a whim.
It' was always about how much fun you can have - no need to Over complicate the bar... 
The beginning of the end and the start of that 4-line bull****. Can't wait for that fad to be over. #2lines4life
Select to expand quoteFroth Goth said..
hahahaha that line length cracks me up every time
they did have this insane idea that linelenght was gonna get shorter and shorter until we just carry the kite in our hands and... wait what...????
Select to expand quoteFroth Goth said..
hahahaha that line length cracks me up every time
I also realised I was riding 34m lines back in the day... it took me rolling out an old bar and thinking what the f@ck was going on when I was so far away from where I started rolling it out haha.
Select to expand quoteKit3kat said..Froth Goth said..
hahahaha that line length cracks me up every time
they did have this insane idea that linelenght was gonna get shorter and shorter until we just carry the kite in our hands and... wait what...????
really?
..
I have a commercial dive/boat friend i've known for about fifteen years who only ever has two kites...
And two bars one of them with super massive lines one with super short lines
He says that with two kite sizes if U use them with alternate lines it adds another two metres or a metre and a half on the size
And if you use the really short lined bar it takes another metre and a half of the size
I've been meaning to copy him for quite a few years now but I haven't got round to it yet........
no offense to ya mate but theres something called perceived power
what hes talking is that
10 square meters of canopy is always going to generate the same amount of lift reguardless of line length
but moving that kite thru a now larger window gives more room and time for more airflow to pass over that canopy creating more lift
so now that we understand what percievable is
i have a device i can attach to any kitebar that literally gives you 40 % more power Real Power it lets you use your back muscles rather then your wrist muscles. so if your mate for example was 40 years old then this device would make him have the strength of when he was in his late 20s
now who ya gonna believe me or ya mate
keep in mind i have 6 kites and only 1 bar and no boat because i like to ****n throw the **** down and stomp **** like the guards are comeing and i need to bronze up for the battle
Select to expand quotetimmybuddhadude said..Kit3kat said..Froth Goth said..
hahahaha that line length cracks me up every time
they did have this insane idea that linelenght was gonna get shorter and shorter until we just carry the kite in our hands and... wait what...????
really?
..
I have a commercial dive/boat friend i've known for about fifteen years who only ever has two kites...
And two bars one of them with super massive lines one with super short lines
He says that with two kite sizes if U use them with alternate lines it adds another two metres or a metre and a half on the size
And if you use the really short lined bar it takes another metre and a half of the size
I've been meaning to copy him for quite a few years now but I haven't got round to it yet........
its a quote from corey roesler for their kite documentary where he stipulated that the kite would eventually just be carried by the person rather than be on lines.
From a practical perspective using ultrashort line lenghts makes it easier to go upwind but you reduce the powerstroke proportionally...
I know some people do have bars with 10m lines but its more for cruising as you really cant do much to generate more power.
Pulleybars work well on c-kites. Adding a chicken loop to a c-kite, just makes the steering slower as you sheet out. With a pulleybar you tune it so you have full power all of the time and fast steering all of the time. Tune the V and bar length for each kite size to prevent stalling a kite in a turn. This works well for a kite at the bottom half of it's wind range. Not just for big kites, 5M-9M typically preferred. Check out tophatrules on youtube.
Another variation is the rooster ring (Felix PIvec), where a ring is attached to where you would typically find a chicken loop. You can attach your leash to the ring to have some depower when letting go of the bar, but still be in suicide mode, and the kite won't flag out on safety. Some kites fly better with the rooster ring setup. Attach a harness loop to the bar to harness full power. It is a different way to ride. Again typically ridden on the bottom half of a kite's wind range.
Personally I found 4 line kites turn faster than 2 line kites. 2005-2007 produced some c-kite gems. I preferred the flag out safety of 4 line kites too.
Select to expand quoteFroth Goth said..
no offense to ya mate but theres something called perceived power
what hes talking is that
10 square meters of canopy is always going to generate the same amount of lift reguardless of line length
but moving that kite thru a now larger window gives more room and time for more airflow to pass over that canopy creating more lift
so now that we understand what percievable is
There is also a difference in where a kite sits in the window between longer and shorter lines due to the drag that the lines create. Longer lines will sit a bit further back so the kite will 'feel' a bit more sheet and go.
Spot on about the total power being the same - its just that longer and shorter lines can make it easier to access that power without using skill.
I have a set of short (20m rather than normal 24m) lines that I use for windy days because it means my legs don't get as tired so I can kite for longer. Makes the kite sit that little further forwards which makes cruising around a little bit less fatiguing. I could buy a smaller kite but my kite skills aren't brilliant so I like something a bit slower for those windy days. You don't need to be as precise with your timing on the jumps when the water is choppy af and it makes one handed steering a lot easier if the kite isn't a buzzy wasp in the air. I ain't paid to kite so I'll take all the artifical advantages I can get
Longer lines make for longer power stroke time through the power zone. Assuming the kite hits a max velocity. If you assume the kite travels through the power zone in the same time frame, then it must travel faster. So more power.
which ever way you think about it. More power is delivered on longer lines than shorter lines all things being equal.
this only applies when kite is moving through the wind window relative to the kiter.
once going and cruising with kite parked relatively, then no real difference.
however shorter lines can close wingtips a bit change arc of leading edge and effect performance.
Select to expand quoteKit3kat said..Froth Goth said..
hahahaha that line length cracks me up every time
they did have this insane idea that linelenght was gonna get shorter and shorter until we just carry the kite in our hands and... wait what...????
Funny that :-) Wingers are just beginning to realise that a harness and lines does make life easier
I remember back in the day when harness lines appeared in the windsufing scene
Life sure is a circle !!
