My rides on a bicycle sometimes include a kite. This is no ordinary kite though, as it is a quad line, SkyTiger power kite. This particular type of kite was made by the British company, Flexifoil International in the mid-90s and has become an iconic design as the first of the big traction or power kites. It is a soft foil kite, so it packs up small and is light to carry. Crucially, it is easy to set up, launch and fly by somebody on their own, and it doesn’t need two people to help launch it.

The SkyTiger kite came in a big range of sizes from 15 to 100 square feet in area, which is how they are named, so a ‘SkyTiger 40’ is 40 square feet in area. A ‘Hi40’ is the same area as a ‘40’, it’s just a slightly different rectangular shape. I bought my first SkyTiger in 1998 and I just love them. It gives me a great thrill to fly them in different places as well as just seeing them in the sky with their vibrant colours.

As this site is dedicated to cycling, this page just brings together the still photos of my SkyTigers in the different locations that I have cycled to with them, although, the occasional motorcycle’n’kite pic might be included as well. Each photo has the location, the size/model of the SkyTiger and the wind speed. I will keep adding photos to this page as I take them.

One last point. Whilst I can launch and fly a SkyTiger on my own, I obviously can’t take still images if I am flying at the same time. To get decent still images, I use an iPhone ProMax on a stand and using its ‘ProRes’ video function. This ProRes video setting, whilst creating large files, does it in a much higher quality than the standard video function, so the quality of a still screen shot is good enough to capture what I want here. The slower I can fly or hold the SkyTiger near an object or building, the better and more crisp the still image will be. On some occasions, I may even have someone on the ride that can take the still photos.

The feature photo is courtesy of Flexifoil International and here is the link to their site https://flexifoil.co.uk

That’s it really, so enjoy the SkyTiger Scenes below.

The first image captures exactly what I have articulated in my introduction above. This is my ‘haul anything’ ebike with a SkyTiger 40 in its bag, and dangling from the handlebars. Local field with 4-8mph wind.
I’m flying the largest of all SkyTigers here, the Hi100, and in a very, very light 7mph wind speed.
There is a SkyTiger in that pannier on the bike, but it was far too windy. It blew the bike over just after this shot was taken!
Two SkyTiger 18s kissing in a stubble field and in a very gusty 25mph wind.
The bicycle got ditched in favour of the electric play bike here, and of course, a Hi80.
A summer sunset image with a SkyTiger 40, and after the 38mph wind had died down.
An early morning sunrise at Filey Bay, North Yorkshire, and this SkyTiger 26 flew with virtually no wind.
Whilst this Hi80 takes a break on the ground, a stack of 5 of its Flexifoil Pro 8 cousins do a flyover.
The Penguin windsock and a Hi22 both laying shadows in the stubble.
A Hi80, the second largest SkyTiger and flying over a ready to launch stack of 5 Flexifoil Pro 8 kites. A gusty 20mph wind.
This ‘stubble-field-SkyTiger-Scene’ shows an Icarex Hi40 landing on the closest thing that we had in our North Yorkshire village to an aircraft carrier😂 …..12-22mph wind
That massive Hi100 came out of that small bike pannier.
Two SkyTigers playing in a stubble field. A 40 in the air, and a 60 taking a break on the ground. Wind speed was a light 8-15mph, so easy flying on the big SkyTiger 60.
Taken in a local stubble field with Bessie the tractor. This is a SkyTiger 40 and in a 19mph wind with up to 30mph gusts.
There are 50 things that could’ve gone wrong trying to get this shot of a Hi30 by this Castle Howard tower, from a very narrow flying window, to big trees all around, as well Storm Floris still blowing hard, but fortunately, it worked out😅
A day riding my moto-X bike in a stubble field and with a SkyTiger 26 doing a low pass. I used the small 26 because it was during Storm Floris😬
The biggest SkyTiger of them all: The Hi100. It’s so big, it will fly in just a breath of wind, but also drag me across the County in anything from a moderate wind😬. The wind speed for this picture was a mere 5MPH.
I like to check the wind speed and its consistency as it helps me assess flying conditions before actually flying.
There’s an apple on that pole between the straw bales and here, I’m trying (unsuccessfully) to knock it off the pole with a SkyTiger 40. 10mph winds.
One of these two makes very little noise and the other one seemingly can’t make enough noise..
Sometimes it just goes wrong! Trying to land this Icarex Hi40 on the trailer and missed! The wind wasn’t the right sort of wind😂
This is a SkyTiger Hi60 with me sitting in the middle to give it some scale. The wind on this day was an easy 12mph and in a local field.
This is a SkyTiger Hi40 drying on the line in the garden after me spending several hours cleaning it, as it was pretty dirty when I bought it. By the way it is just hanging, there was little to no wind.
A very, very rare Hi15 waiting patiently on a stubble field before launch. The sun was out and the wind was all over the place😎
A SkyTiger 26 drying in the sun after some beach flying
This was taken using a GoPro clipped onto a Hi30 as a bit of an experiment. It’s taken in a local field and it shows me, my bike and white bag as well as another make of Quad line kite. Wind speed was inconsistent and ranged from 5 to 12 mph.

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