hey everyone want to build my own kitebuggy as i dnt want to fork out $700 on a new one
has anyone done this before? pros cons?

Hi Mick,
I am a blokarter but I have seen a few home built kite buggies. If you have an Arc Welder and a some mechanical skill, it will be a breeze for you.

If you don't have either of those, find somebody who does and he will probably jump at the chance of doing it for you.

If you have the mechanical skill but not the welder, I highly recommend you go to your local BOC Gas and Gear Store and buy a "Smootharc MMA 130" inverter welder for about $325. I have one myself and believe they are the best value for money home workshop welder available.

However before doing any of the above, I suggest you have a ride in a blokart!

It might just blo your mind. It did to a couple of our local kiteboarders.

A pipe bender might also be a good idea. you can get them pretty cheap these days.

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mick91 said...

hey everyone want to build my own kitebuggy as i dnt want to fork out $700 on a new one
has anyone done this before? pros cons?

G'day Mick91

Cheers to Laurie for making the new section for landkiters!
You can sace a fair bit depends on how resourceful you are and your fabrication skills. I made my first buggies with a friend and to do it properly we spent a fait bit of time on the project and probaly only saved $200-300, more like $200, because we had to buy materials in quantitys larger than we needed for two buggies.
We had to buy a sewing machine too, took a while to find one that would sew webbing, old metal Singer or Husky machines are good.
We sell the wheels, tyres, tubes, bearings now, back then (15 years ago) they were harder to source, my mate had to machine a lot of parts, lucky he was good with a lathe and had one at home.
We based our design on the overall measurements of the PL Classic and just made the seats deeper and more comfy, headstock on the PL's back them was woeful, we modded that bit too.
Have fun, maybe consider just buying the bits that are harder to make, PL headstocks are very strong now, and the race seat would be hard to make at home. The rest shoudl be easy enough to make yourself.

Where are you based?

Do not cross to the dark side of the force and even look at a blokart! :-)

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

cheers guys thanks for the advice
i have one wheel from a wheelbarrow which is good to use but i need two more
lol, dnt worry i won't cross to blokarts(they do look like fun though) theres something about kites that traditional sailing doesn't have,
I am in newcaslte but the local kiteshop doesn't have any 2nd hand buggies, Kitepower do you have any 2nd hand buggies for sale at all?
cheers, mick

We use wheelbarrow wheels too, but we replace the bearings with better quality ones ($13ea). We've found them to be good for 80-100kph+ although you need to balance them to maintain that sort of speed.

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mick91 said...

cheers guys thanks for the advice
i have one wheel from a wheelbarrow which is good to use but i need two more
lol, dnt worry i won't cross to blokarts(they do look like fun though) theres something about kites that traditional sailing doesn't have,
I am in newcaslte but the local kiteshop doesn't have any 2nd hand buggies, Kitepower do you have any 2nd hand buggies for sale at all?
cheers, mick

Sorry for the delay Mick, and no I don't have any used buggies at the moment, and they are a fairly rare thing actually.
I do have all the part to build a buggy or to supplement a home builder.
We have buggy wheels in stock.

I will try a blokart one day, but I just ordered a Libre buggy that can be converted to a landyacht, and will get the sail and mast base at some time in the near future, I want to dial in the rear axle for speed and tracking with a kite first.

The Libre I ordered is an amazing piece of German engineered buggy bling!! I sold my old PL comp about a year ago and have been using op's ever since and want my own again and lashed out, this will last me until they plant me.

Just call me, I have been buggying for over 16 years, not a lot I don't know about how to do it or get into it.

Cya and

goodwinds

Steve

Sorry to compete here steve but a friend of mine has a used bug for sale. Let me know if you are interested and i will give you his contact details. It is a Peter Lynn XR in 'as new' condition. He is after $400.

mike

Last week I talked to the guys from AIRTRACK . they manufacture landyacht in france and also build wheels. Now that the European kite buggies havegone over to 26" carbon fibre rear wheels they have moved into full time production , rather than just custom building for a few class 5 landyachts.
they will set you back only 400euros each plus frieght and import duties!
apparently if you want to win youd better get serious.
PS welcome all to the forum

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schmik said...

Sorry to compete here steve but a friend of mine has a used bug for sale. Let me know if you are interested and i will give you his contact details. It is a Peter Lynn XR in 'as new' condition. He is after $400.

mike

No worries Schmik, drop a plug for your mate!
Thats a pretty fair price Mick, you could not build it for that money.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

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Kitepower Australia said...


I will try a blokart one day, but I just ordered a Libre buggy that can be converted to a landyacht, and will get the sail and mast base at some time in the near future, I want to dial in the rear axle for speed and tracking with a kite first.

The Libre I ordered is an amazing piece of German engineered buggy bling!! I sold my old PL comp about a year ago and have been using op's ever since and want my own again and lashed out, this will last me until they plant me.

Post some pics of this when it arrives, it sounds very interesting!!

www.libre.de/english/f_index.htm

Its the Protask buggy, but I just checked I have ordered a dragster, not a protask.
I will get one though, just want to try the dragster first.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

WOW!! I like the look of them!!

What sort of money do you have to spend on a land yacht?
Blokart?

The Libre range can be ordered through Kitepower.
The complete buggy range will soon be up on the website.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

I built this class V and bought and converted an old dingy trailer to carry it on for about $2.4k. This class can go over 100kph.

I think blokarts are about $3.5k

I'll check out the website, I may have to expand the fleet

Crikey kitepower , last year you asked me why anybody would want to build a hybrid buggy/landyacht, now yuve ordered one. I feel like the emporer when he recruited Skywalker. . whatch out when sailing it as a landyacht as the rig and bodyweight are way to far forward for any kind of speed. this little baby will pitchpole so fast you wont know what happened!.
Maybe I should get the Chicken wing experiment out of the Shed after Easter?
Shhhhhh Dont tell Promogirl Ive been posting over here in the kiting universe.

Yes I remember that incident, the emperor was watching over my should what else could I do?

Do you really think it will pitchpole, its pretty heavy and the seating position can be adjusted to put more weight rearwards.
Maybe it will just get a bit unstable and the rider will have to veer off?

Maybe, now that I have broken away to a location beyond the influence of Vader and his minions, I will build/buy a landyacht!

Got a list of locations suitabl for landyachts around Sydney and NSW?

My shipment of Libre buggies arrived yesterday, mmmm dragster.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve