Pipa Strings
 

Hi all. Just reinforcing my post from the last two years. Am in Rio [Largo do Machado] now and heading up to Santana do Deserta, then Juiz de Fora and Uba for a couple of weeks. The strings are still out there. All the bikes here now have the hooks. The smooth hooks pull the kite in as you ride away, then snap it off as it contacts the hook. If you snag one, be prepared for the kite coming in. It might give you a bit of a swift bash, but ride on, do not stop for any reason, until you are clear of the area. I was told today that they are now compulsory for locally registered bikes in RJ state, as are "dog bars" otherwise known as crash/engine bars. I will be in Minas up to Jan 7th if anybody needs a hand, then back to UK.

Heya guys

We just spent nearly 5 months in Brasil and it was outstanding to say the least.

Anyone wanting current info for Brasil (current as at Dec 2014) please yell.

For us we did not need our cutter, nearly all motos have them now and mainly around Rio D J. - Säo Paulo

I talked with one guy who had two on his bike, turns out he has never needed them and the reason he had two was to look cool ..... yeah.:rofl:

Anyway, I am not sure if that fad of chasing motos has gone to boredom or not, almost none of the big bikes we saw and the guys we hung with in Rio did NOT have a cutter.

Cheers Andi

I'm in Brazil now, in the west of the country working my way north. Lots of bikes with string cutters on, but speaking to at least one local biker here his view was that it's only really a problem in the really rough areas - Sao Paulo - rather than the rural areas.

Not much help I know, but some current info from the ground nonetheless.

Ed

I don't follow; are people using these kite strings to dismount drivers from their bikes and then steal them?

Mere dismounting is for wimps

Supposed to be used in kite fighting to cut the string of the opponents kite, but then they decided that seeing how completely they could decapitate a bike rider was more fun.

Banned now, but...

One of the less gruesome images around

http://cdn.kaskus.com/images/2013/08...0830110320.jpg http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...5-923-g001.gif

Not confined to Brazil either. Also India.

Oh so it was just for a laugh :/