Carrying surfboards on bicycle

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Monday, November 10, 2008

By Yokota Fritz

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.

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

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.

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.

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Comments:

Don't forget the Xtracycle!

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

# posted by

Jeremy @ xtracycle : 11/10/2008 04:25:00 PM

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.

# posted by

GhostRider : 11/10/2008 04:52:00 PM

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.

# posted by

Yokota Fritz : 11/10/2008 05:00:00 PM

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.

# posted by

Yokota Fritz : 11/10/2008 05:02:00 PM

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

# posted by

m e l i g r o s a : 11/10/2008 06:09:00 PM

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

# posted by

PharmacistMike : 11/15/2008 07:25:00 PM

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.

# posted by

TourDeDan : 11/22/2008 08:10:00 AM

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

# posted by

Anonymous : 2/23/2009 11:24:00 AM

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

# posted by

Anonymous : 3/01/2009 03:55:00 AM

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.

# posted by

Yokota Fritz : 3/02/2009 11:29:00 AM