Pimped my bar!

[Toby]

I got annoyed by super gluing the grip back to my bars...

And since I used the overgrip from Tennis rackets on my t-handles already, I thought this should be great for my bar too!

Plus it solves the color problems (which should be standard since many years already!):
left red, right black

[davesails7]

It stays on well in the water?

[eree]

where "right black" is coming from? is there some historic reference or something?

why do people make stuff up and expect the others to believe it?

[Bushflyr]

where "right black" is coming from? is there some historic reference or something?

why do people make stuff up and expect the others to believe it?

It's been that way since the beginning.

[NYKiter]

Strongly recommend overlaying each end of grip tape with Tear Aid...it wont uncurl....

[Peter_Frank]

where "right black" is coming from? is there some historic reference or something?

why do people make stuff up and expect the others to believe it?

It's been that way since the beginning.

Historically, red has always been on the left, yes.

But then any "de facto standard" stops...

Right could be black, it could be blue like the good old Naish bars, it could be white which many have used too.
Green which is the correct standard of course, has never or rarely been used - maybe because colorblind can confuse these ?
Or maybe because it is a difficult color to produce.

I dont care, as long as red is on the left

Peter

[JS]

Historically, red has always been on the left, yes.

But then any "de facto standard" stops...

No it doesn't. Red on the left (port) and green on the right (starboard) is an international marine navigation and aviation standard.

I dont care, as long as red is on the left...

I do care. Putting arbitrary personal preference, fashion, graphic design or inadequate material supply ahead of established standards doesn't set much of an example for safety or seamanship.

Btw, the red/black combination is particularly prone to misinterpretation. Because it isn't red/green, it obviously doesn't adhere to marine standards, so maybe "red" means "right" (which some kiteboarders evidently believe).

[Bille]

...
so maybe "red" means "right".

DANG !
I always used Red on Right because a Red buoy, is on the Right
when you Return to a harbor. The Three R's.

I was WRONG with that assumption , and one day a guy couldn't
relaunch my borrowed kite, because the color on the bar was backwards .

I hustled a young lady out of a bar a few weeks ago ; my idea of a date, is
an evening in the park with Kites. I'm teaching her to remember Red on Left
with the bar ; because that's the way everyone else does it.

Bille

[Starsky]

Historically, red has always been on the left, yes.

But then any "de facto standard" stops...

No it doesn't. Red on the left (port) and green on the right (starboard) is an international marine navigation and aviation standard.

I dont care, as long as red is on the left...

I do care. Putting arbitrary personal preference, fashion, graphic design or inadequate material supply ahead of established standards doesn't set much of an example for safety or seamanship.

Btw, the red/black combination is particularly prone to misinterpretation. Because it isn't red/green, it obviously doesn't adhere to marine standards, so maybe "red" means "right" (which some kiteboarders evidently believe).

Maybe it would make sense to cling to established marine conventions if the application was in some way remotely similar to that of the rest of the marine vessels on the planet. Its a navigation convention and as such Its a pretty arbitrary thing to carry over to kiteboarding when it has no bearing on our navigation whatsoever. Rights of way make sense, but its the lights on boats and buoys that are colour coded red and green, not their steering wheels or tillers. The bar on a kite is as arbitrary as the colour of the kite itself, or the board, or anything else. Bar colours need to be easily distinguishable one side from the other in order for the operator to always have it oriented the right way, but the use of red and green have absolutely no impact on anyone else on the water the way it serves a purpose for other water craft, particularly at night. Those lights aren't so you don't mix up what side of the boat is what, they are so others recognize what direction you are going and therefor how to better navigate you. Who here would ever look at the colour of someone else's bar to determine which way they are going and how to navigate them. Red Green, Red Black, Black white, whatever. As long as you know your equipment, it really shouldn't make a lick of difference to anyone what colour it is. Claiming it is the right way to do it because its a colour scheme used in an entirely unrelated aspect of see fairing navigation doesn't make much sense to me.

[JS]

Rights of way make sense, but its the lights on boats and buoys that are the only thing using that colour coding.

You might be missing the point I tried to make. Standardization helps commit direction to intuition, including which side is which on a kite bar. Read Bille's post (above) about unnecessary confusion, which could result in a totally unnecessary accident, among countless other possible scenarios.

I have never seen the steering wheel or tiller or any of the operating parts of any water craft colour coded for the sake of the operator.

I have, lots. Many sail and power boats have various things coded with red and green to differentiate port and starboard: electronics and switches, engine controls, rigging, hardware...instead of labeling "port" and "starboard", or inventing a new, personalized arbitrary colour code. Steering wheels and tillers aren't normally relevant (except for detachable ones on catamarans maybe) because they can't get flipped the wrong way around, like kite bars can.

As long as you know your equipment...

Exactly, and it's easier to know and remember your equipment with standardization, not least during emergencies.

Btw, imagine if cars didn't have standardized accelerator, brake and clutch pedal configurations. Nobody but the driver of each car would know, but more mistakes and accidents would happen.

One more thing: kite and leash quick-releases would be safer if standardized. Some need to be pushed, and some pulled. Releasing a kite or leash should be intuitive, which it sometimes isn't during a life-threatening kiteboarding emergency, due to brand and equipment changes. This factor may have cost life already, although we'll probably never know.