Old Land Lizard buggies!

[ctrlaltkite]

G'day all,

Have commented on quite a few posts before but havn't 'started' a post before so thought this may be a place to get going!

I have an old Land Lizard buggy made by Highly Strung kites in (Melbourne?)

(See pics over in the thread on Seats http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=10268 )

Anyway I was wondering:

• if there are any more LL's out there in Aust ?
  
• who's gottem and are they still being ridden ? AND
  
• what do you reckon compared to the number of other buggy designs out there now.?

I personally like my LL apart from the seat which I plan to replace one day...hopefully soon.

The way the forks join to the down tube is quite an interesting design using twin tierod ends...basic and off the shelf items but at around $50 for the two including high tensile bolts reasonably expensive to replace when breaking them as I found out the second time I used the buggy!

Other wHas the standard axle which I had to get welded as a crack appeared (not when i sat down! ) but where the side frames bolt to the plates on the rear axle. The engineering firm i went to was gonna charge me about $100 bucks to cut the axle ends and plates and weld them into a new thicker axle to carry my 86kg frame.

Anyhow if anyone can add to this discussion of one feel free....

Cheers,

Dave

[steve_hobart]

nice looking buggy Dave!

cheers

steve;)

[.Joel]

Andy Mac here in Victoria owns a Land Lizard, I think it was his original buggy before his PL.

Regards,

.Joel

[ctrlaltkite]

:DSwap you then Steve!

[Crooked]

That's an interesting looking buggy there Dave, but if it works that's the main thing and if you enjoy it it's perfect.

Does that bit steel sticking down under the front of the seat give you any grief, it looks like it might hit you right in the nuts, either that or head up where the sun don't shine!

cheers, Evan

[ctrlaltkite]

That's an interesting looking buggy there Dave, but if it works that's the main thing and if you enjoy it it's perfect.

Does that bit steel sticking down under the front of the seat give you any grief, it looks like it might hit you right in the nuts, either that or head up where the sun don't shine!

cheers, Evan

Evan the end of the down tube is out of the way and deflects the thistles in the paddocks! LOL

I knocked up a ripstop splash guard that helps keep a lot of wet sand out of my face when running on the wet tidal flats down here in Tassie. On my list of things to do is redesign the seat introducing a little lower back support, add some frame padding, possibly upgrade the rear axle and change the tyres - they are so smooth and they are starting to crack!

So I have a bit to do!

Have a big question mark over the introduction of a lap belt and strops on the footpegs...think I'd rather fly like superman (again!) than have it land on top of me!

And yeah I agree if it works then thats what counts!

Cheers,

Dave

[Hyaza !]

Landlizard buggies look great , who sells them and how much do they cost ?

[nigel]

Sorry Hyaza, but the're long gone.

The new mark II from PL is far better than the old Lizard.

[Hyaza !]

Thanks Nigel, have you got a landlizard ?

[nigel]

Thanks Nigel, have you got a landlizard ?

No, a PL mark 1, and a Libre Full Race.

Both buggies need a serious fix up, or replacement?

[Hyaza !]

Gee, you own two buggies, that's cool .

How hard would it be to build your own kite buggy, has anyone ever done it ?

[Steve]

G'day all,

Have commented on quite a few posts before but havn't 'started' a post before so thought this may be a place to get going!

I have an old Land Lizard buggy made by Highly Strung kites in (Melbourne?)

(See pics over in the thread on Seats http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=10268 )

Anyway I was wondering:

• if there are any more LL's out there in Aust ?
  
• who's gottem and are they still being ridden ? AND
  
• what do you reckon compared to the number of other buggy designs out there now.?

I personally like my LL apart from the seat which I plan to replace one day...hopefully soon.

The way the forks join to the down tube is quite an interesting design using twin tierod ends...basic and off the shelf items but at around $50 for the two including high tensile bolts reasonably expensive to replace when breaking them as I found out the second time I used the buggy!

Other wHas the standard axle which I had to get welded as a crack appeared (not when i sat down! ) but where the side frames bolt to the plates on the rear axle. The engineering firm i went to was gonna charge me about $100 bucks to cut the axle ends and plates and weld them into a new thicker axle to carry my 86kg frame.

Anyhow if anyone can add to this discussion of one feel free....

Cheers,

Dave

Used to own a couple of those beasties dave, until I broke the front end off one when I was doing about 60kph at Fishos beach down at Torquay. Narrowly avoided major injury ans vowed to get rid of them and so helped a mate build one with a proper headstem, and a super comfy deep seat. Ended up selling it year later and it went to Qld, never heard what happened to it. Mark Leigh from geelong was the builder and designer, he was a wizard with metal and lathes/welders, etc.

My advice is sell it and put the money towards a modern buggy. The seat on those LL was unbelievably uncomfy and had almost no side support. You can buy a PL downtube and headstem to fit straight onto that buggy, and I think the standard PL seat would fit too, maybe even the PL race seat would fit, and would transform it. However all the tube in the buggy is just too light and will continue to bend and crack.

I might be able to do a 12mm axle frame only PL so you can use those red fallshaw wheels, but maybe 20mm bearing will fit in them I just can't remember. There is a black plastic insert in the wheels, pop that out and see if a 20mm bearing will fit from a PL buggy wheel?

The front end is just too weak, the tie rod ends are not designed for that application.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

[ctrlaltkite]

Thanks Steve,

Will give those comments some thought.

I guess when it comes down to I may use the buggy approx once a month averaged over a year so I don't want to spend too much on it. May eventualy sell it as they are not bad for beginners just setting out and give reasonable bang for your buck esp if it ends up sitting in a shed somewhere in hibernation! Then I can upgrade!!

Cheers,

Dave

[mojo]

Havnt seen this one before, a far better breed than the PL one, whatever it was, that entry level monstosity back breaking piece of shit, similar yet not, I owned for a while and it pratically killed me, Too light, tho handy to pack up and put away - give it that. Bt an absolute killer on long runs.

This one looks pretty good, decent bars to hang a seat off as well.

[Andy Mac]

I have an old Land Lizard buggy made by Highly Strung kites in (Melbourne?)

(See pics over in the thread on Seats http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=10268http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=10268 )

Anyway I was wondering:

• if there are any more LL's out there in Aust ?
  
• who's gottem and are they still being ridden ? AND
  
• what do you reckon compared to the number of other buggy designs out there now.?

I personally like my LL apart from the seat which I plan to replace one day...hopefully soon.

The way the forks join to the down tube is quite an interesting design using twin tierod ends...basic and off the shelf items but at around $50 for the two including high tensile bolts reasonably expensive to replace when breaking them as I found out the second time I used the buggy!

Other wHas the standard axle which I had to get welded as a crack appeared (not when i sat down! ) but where the side frames bolt to the plates on the rear axle. The engineering firm i went to was gonna charge me about $100 bucks to cut the axle ends and plates and weld them into a new thicker axle to carry my 86kg frame.

Anyhow if anyone can add to this discussion of one feel free....

Cheers,

Dave

Howdy - sorry - bit slow to get onto this as I don't jump on as often as I used to. As Joel said I have one of the old Land Lizards. I inherited it from a cousin who bought it, presumably from Highly Strung (In Elwood I think the shop was) back in about 1992 or '93. At the time he said there were only 5 in the country (Not sure if that meant LL's or buggies in general, and whether there were Peter Lynn versions around or not....it all seemed brand new at the time though). We used to use an 8ft Flexifoil stacker to do downwind runs across (Cowpat mined) paddocks down near Warrnambool. We had two kites stacked for the 'lighter' days but often 1 was enough down there (Pretty windy paddock on a hill directly inland from Peterborough). I may also have been an early pioneer of the landboarding craze, nailing a pair of Dunlop volleys to a skateboard deck (My crosswind performance wasn't terrific)

Even in the buggy I never really learned to go across the wind until I lived in Scotland a couple of years later and ran into a number of guys in Aberdeen who flew by the beach on Sunday arvos. They loaned me kites (2 x 10ft Flexi + 2 x 8ft Flexi + 2 x 4ft Flexi's all stacked together!) and gear until I eventually bought a 2nd hand Rapid Rabbit (Basically a LL copy either homemade or made in the UK - slightly stronger headstock and rear axle attachment design) and a 4.0m Skytiger (Very up to date at the time - two line PL Peels were one of the weapons of choice kitewise then. Another quad line called a Spider or something or another that had zip in and out panels for different wind strengths had also recently come out). The Rabbit and two Skytigers (Added a 2.2m to the quiver) came back to Australia with me in 1998) where I racked up about 2.5k to 3000km on the beach between Ocean Grove and Point Lonsdale using a succession of bike speedo's to gauge my speed (50 to 55km/hr used to seem FAST with the Tigers and it took me a lot of runs to finally get a 60km/hr reading on a reach) before eventually running into members of the GKC down at Raffs Beach.

The Rabbit was sold to upgrade to a modified PL (The pressure of racing!) but I still have the original LL. It gets a run now and again as a trailer - using one of the Peter Lynn bolt and strap thingos - and it has served me well and still retains mostly original parts (Including the now not quite so fluorescent seat webbing and rather perished rubber on the original wheels!). It has been modified to include a backrest (Essential for cruising and extended runs) and also at the moment has a cantilever additional seat to allow BOTH my nephews to fit on the back (They used to be small enough to squeeze on together....)

In terms of todays buggies it really doesn't compare (In terms of strength, comfort, performance). Its simplicity and low cost make it a good entry point though. Given the hours of fun I've had over the years the 'entertainment factor' per $ is MASSIVE

[ctrlaltkite]

WOW Thanks AM the old Land Lizard is a piece of Austalian kite buggy history!

may have to get a glass case made for it! LOL

Thanks for the spiel on your LL !! I two was thinking it'd make a good trailer/dinker for a new buggy at some stage.

Cheers,

Dave:D