When I moved from Seattle to Florida I went from mild chop and swell to major chop and waves. I had no problem in Seattle riding 3 hours straight with my fixed harness, but out here after an hour I needed to come in to rest my back. Since I've gone to a sliding bar I spent 3 hours last weekend and if it wasn't for my sore legs I could have probably gone for another 3 and no back pain or soreness at all.

Someone mentioned before it allows you the freedom to put your back, hips, knees in the optimal position to absorb the forces and shocks of kiteboarding.

The only downside I notice is that previously with a fixed harness there were certain angles (reaches) where you could kind of lock yourself into a position and take the load off. With a sliding bar you never can really "lock in" per se. Not sure if that makes sense, but either way it must not matter because "locking in" didn't work in the first place.

Also I've had to learn to balance better during jumps.

I started to use a sliding bar recently. It works better than I imagined. It didn't take any time to get used to either, in fact, I had to look at it the first few times to see if it was actually doing what it was supposed to be doing when it was supposed to be doing it. The motion of it sliding is so smooth. It allows your body to move more freely with more range of motion and carving, riding toeside, and gybes feel way more natural and fluid.

Other things I noticed. My harness is more comfy since this setup does not lift or twist the harness like a hook does. It makes walking in and out of the water or along the beach with the kite low easier. Body drags are easier too.

I wish I started using one sooner.

I ride strapped most of the time. It's more fun in my conditions. I ride with loose straps with the back strap tighter than the front. The front is loose enough that I twist my foot 45 degrees. I have been playing with the idea of trying a rotating strap on the front too.

I currently ride a 2011 5'8" North WAM and it feels pretty damn good in chop.

For a softer ride:

1. Keep the kite higher and hang more body weight from your harness.

2. Ride a softer board, like a Firewire or a polyester surfboard.

3. If you ride straps, use the thicker twin tip pads.

4. For strapless, use a softer pad or booties.

5. Learn to float your jumps and land softly.

6. Try other boards, as there is a HUGE difference.
I recently rode a beautiful new surfboard from one of the major kite companies.
In the chop, the ride was hard and twitchy. I could barely keep my feet in the straps.

Lot of good advice, but I am wondering a little about this. Every polyester board I have taken out have buckled after just a few sessions. If the glass job is heavy, then the board is as stiff as any other. I truly do not feel much different in flex between the firewire kiteboards and other brands kiteboards.

I wonder if there's a way to demo one of these sliding Dynabars? Overall experience is good, but would still like to give it a shot before committing. Anyone know if they can be demoed?

Tnx.

Try a piece of dynema and a simple shackle to see if you like it. You wont be able to unhook, but its just to get the feel. As long as your chicken loop release lets your loop slide out of the shackle your safe. Gotta have a look at your spreader bar and see if there is a spot to tie the dynema.

OK, cool, I will actually try it, Do you suggest a thickness, or any other specifics? I ride with a Dakine Pyro, I think if I get a couple of D rings and tie the rope to that, so I can still secure the rope to the harness via the D rings, should be OK. If not I have a mystic Len10 2 that I no longer use, that I can use as a guinea pig.

I've been wondering about this spreader bar ever since I first saw it last year, but why add more moving parts. But I do struggle a bit sometimes with the harness, specially when wearing a wetsuit, the harness is extra sticky, and is a pain to get it to slide around the waist a bit.

Tnx.

p.s. Oh and BTW, I know there's a wave ridding specific DynaBar, but I read a kitemag review, that the freeride actually is better for waveridding, cause the dynema make it much smoother to transition from one side to the other. Any actual experience or opinions on this?

Tnx again.

Oh yeah, no interest in messing with those crazy looking bars. Dynema just looks like it would be so much better.

Check this kids DIY version.

https://vimeo.com/43071654

1:08

Sweet! Tnx for the info, and the vid, that kid is baaaad.

I will try it this weekend.

Do I need a special knot for the dynema? or will simple bowline, double overhead, and figure 8 knots will do ?

Thanks in advance, Arturo.