Monday, November 10, 2008

Carrying surfboards on bicycle

While much of the United States is in the throes of early winter storms, winter time is surfing season in Santa Cruz. I spent Sunday afternoon taking photos while my son surfed at Indicators in Steamer Lane.

Because traffic and parking are typically choked along the prime surfing locations and surfboards are prohibited from Santa Cruz buses, many locals ride their bikes to the beach. Most surfers just carry their short boards under arm while riding slowly.

Surfer on bicycle


Many bikes in Santa Cruz are also equipped with a surfboard side rack like this one.

Surfboard and bicycle

Surfboard rack


You might also see a handful of homebuilt trailers designed specifically to carry surfboards. The guys with longboards will use trailers like this one made from PVC pipes.

Surfer with bike trailer


Commercial surfboard bike trailers are available, but I haven't seen one yet. I also haven't seen any of the rear mount Huntington bike racks shown here.

I have more surfing and bicycling shots from the weekend in my Flickr pool.

11 comments:

  1. Don't forget the Xtracycle!

    The longloader was designed specifically for dealing with kayaks and surfboards.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was going to add Xtracycle to the list, too...but of course the crew from Xtracycle beat me to it!!

    Nice to see folks pedaling bikes with surfboards on carriers or under their arms...you just don't see that in Florida, even during the height of the surfing season here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for stopping by, Jeremy. You're absolutely right, but... I haven't actually seen one in the wild carrying a surfboard. I think the only Xtra related thing I've seen in Santa Cruz County is a Surly Big Dummy at Family Cycling Center in Capitola, and they picked that up just recently after they saw it at Interbike last September.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ghost, there's a strong cycling culture in Santa Cruz already and a lot of the locals live within easy biking distance of the beach. We still have plenty of people driving in, of course, especially anybody who lives more a couple of miles away.

    ReplyDelete
  5. love your flickr pool!! we had a nice late summer-fall, for sure. my brother is in SC and always has nice stories of his mtb tricks and trails♥

    /meli

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Mule is pretty nice because you can attach it to the bike or tote it by hand.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Paddleboy Flyer is a bike trailer that does a great job with surfboards as well as kayaks and canoes. The trailer has an adjustable length support beam which connects the wheel to the hitch arm and provides support for the weight of the surfboard or kayak. This is probably the safest and most durable setup for long distances and frequent use.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Have you check out www.bikebalance.com. They have some interesting ways to carry and pull surfboards, kayaks and stuff on a bicycle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Huntington bike racks can damage the tail of the board when riding over speed humps and gutters. They are not adjustable to suit various length boards. Speaking from experience here... that said they are easier to get past traffic

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for pointing out all of those other options, and thank you for that tip about the Huntington. Now that you mention it I can see how you can scrape the tail.

    ReplyDelete
  11. QUIVER Kaddy will be at the Surf Expo Orlando Florida we will be on stand 120 in the SUP section next to the pool
    We will be cutting deals and turning wheels get on board with the new SUP Carrier Quiver Kaddy
    WE are looking to get at least 200 stores to stock our product good combination for SUP movers in the Surf industry Surfboard trailers for bikes See www.quiverkaddy.comask yiu local surf shop for more information , or better surf than sorry have got them

    ReplyDelete