how to carry the gear on the motorbike

in a moment of desparation whilst arriving home and realising there was no spare car to use to get to the beach, I had no other choice by to experiment with the motorbike. And it worked. And since khe kiters at the beach showed interest, i thought i'd share some tips in case anyone is found in similar situation. So assuming you have a motorbike here are the tips (suitable for sports, naked bikes or tourers):
1 - must have a rack installed (a worthwhile investment)
2 - rack case/bag is very handy for the wetsuit / harness / towel but could use kitebag
3 - few meters of rope from bunnings

So, place the board parallel to the bike in horizontal position, so that it sticks out about half a meter behind the bike, hence resting the board handle on the motorbike rack (i.e. could rest the front of the board on the pillion's peg, but this is not critical). Then tie the board handle to the rack so that it holds it down and doesn't allow it to slide away from bike. Then loop the rest of the rope around the rack on the oposite side of the bike then around the seat and then through the footstrap on the other side and then back again to make the front of the board stick to the bike.
And finally, don't forget to wear the kite bag as a backpack (pretty easy as it's not very heavy)

Advantages of this approach:
- beating the traffic while anxiously riding to the beach after work at the peak hour
- getting the board fully dry by the time you get home

Disadvantages:
- probably can't take spare kites in case the wind changes...

Here's a picture of superlizard on his way to a BBQ after his kite session.

I saw a guy in Indo once riding a motor bike like that holding a sheet of glass and looking through it!

Have been thinking of ways of doing this. I saw this pic in another kite forum




Punt Road at 7pm from St Kilda is a nightmare. The bike would be much easier.

I use my bike all the time to get my kiteboarding gear to the beach. i can take 2 kites and two boards. 2 kites fit in one bag (backpack) and the two boards can fit on the side of the bike with a rack I bought from Carver Surf Racks. The rack is made specifically for motorbikes, works very well, and the pieces that stick out can be removed when not in use.

The rack is made by Carver Surf Racks and I arrange the rack through http://www.charlespurtonimports.com.au/ who are the local importer (i think they are based in queensland) who sent it to SHM at Lonsdale Street in the city for me to collect. Cost about $150 and worth every cent. Rack took about 20 minutes to mount without any major engineering skills required (i'm technically challenged) and is covered in foam so no damage to the board. Comes with bungee's attached as well.









PM me if you want to have a look at my setup.

Just gotta remember it's there when you're lane splitting!!!

Definitely helps in peak hour. I tried a couple of times comparing the car to the bike and city to brighton shaves off about 15-20 minutes, same with city to South Melbourne.

Without the bindings its actually as narrow as the handlebars so no need to worry about the width of the bike with lane splitting but I don't tend to travel as fast as I normally do between the cars when its attached. I could probably make it narrower, guess I've been too lazy to try.

There are a couple of rules to bare in mind when carrying the board on the bike, I was pulled over by a bike cop once when I first had the rack but not fined, he simply warned me about some of the laws I could be breaking at that time, I simply made minor changes to fix them. First is nothing may extend more then 15cm from the bike width (at its widest point - handle bars) which meant bindings were probably a no no but I'm using straps on my current board. Second requirement is nothing may extend more than a 3rd of the wheelbase from behind the bike - you get around this by shifting the board forward in the rack so that minimal extends behind. There is also the issue that the number plate must be viewable from a 15 degree angle from the rear (apparently vic roads can hit you a couple of grand for this contravention but its difficult for them to bust you on this unless you are intentionally obscuring your number plate to get past cameras) but in this case, if you shift the board forward its not an issue.