Mike the Bike has just posted this in the South America Section:

A reminder following a post a couple of years ago. I'm currently in Rio and spent last week just north of Salvador, on the Lina Verde coast road, which is a near truck free and wonderful coast road from Sergipe to Bahia states. Bikers use a little antenna-like wire cutter, with a hook on the end, to catch the kite strings. Roadside kite flyers are still diving kites at bikes, attempting to catch you under the chin. The kite strings are either woven nylon or coated with powdered glass. They caught one poor chap last week, fatally I'm sorry to report, hence this post. Please, if you are riding in Brazil and see the local bikers using handlebar mounted radio antenna's, check out the hook at the top. Then watch out for kites [pipa's] until you buy and fix on a wire cutter for yourself. Most bike shops sell them.

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I lived in Brazil back in the late 90´s and it was a real problem then. A friend of mine was caught by one and although it did not harm to him it left a nasty gouge on his fairing. He put a hook on after that.
If you are riding there keep an eye out for kites.

You mean there are a not insignificant number of people trying to kill bikers? If so, why not just avoid the road instead of running the risk of serious injury or death?

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Hello everybody, speaking from Brazil here.
I always say that in Brazil the Line Cutter (Antena Corta-Pipa in Portuguese) is essential for riders. Kites with cerol lines (powdered glass glued to the line) are very common here, even then using cerol is considered a crime in most states.

There are 3 different kinds of line cutters in Brazil. The least expensive alternative are line cutters like this

They cost around $10-$15 reais each (and you should have 2 line cutters to be 100% safe) and you can find them for sale quite easily but they are ugly and not very durable (less then 6 months usually).

An other option is the one I use on my motorbike.

This one is retractable and costs around $20-$25 reais each. This is a Dual Stage and you can put it down when you need. Not pretty, but works fine.

There's a third option, this one


This one is a lot smaller that the other 2 options, but costs around $65-$70 reais each. If you have plans to ride for a long time in Brazil is the better option, but if you pretend to stay for a short period of time stay if the 2 other options.

The results of encountering a Cerol Line are very ugly, a lot of riders dies in Brazil because of this, and if they don´t die, the result could be something like this (just the link because the image is somehow disturbing).
http://i.imgur.com/NUAjh.jpg

Many thanks! What an excellent post. Very helpful stuff!!! And I hear this is happening in quite a few places in Brazil so it's an excellent warning. Cheers.

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Please excuse my ignorance but why are people in Brazil flying kites to harm motorcycle riders ? Do they not like motorcyclists or is it just cruel fun to them ? I had not ever heard of this before I saw this post

Thanks

Steve

Unfortunately some people have a somehow sadistic way to have "fun", knocking down motorcycle riders is one of these sadistic ways to have fun.

Thanks Sam, I'm glad to be able to help some fellow riders.

Hi Steve, grim isn't it. I gather from Mike that the main reason is robbery. Get a guy off his bike and he's easy meat - especially if he's injured. Dunno about cruel fun, but certainly cruel eh.

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Do't become paranoiac , most of the time it will be an accident if it does happen , the kids play on or near the road and try to cut each other line as a challenge but once in a while it does happen so having an antenna is good but don't think that all kids playing are just mugger in training. actually sometime a football will go on the road too , mayeb they are trying different way to make you fall or its just an accident . Brasil is a very welcoming country and I have been there many times (last year time was in 20120) you have more chance to get a bad morning after drinking caipirinha all night with locals than to get mug by kids .

I couldn't agree more. Paranoia is a disaster as far as travelling is concerned isn't it. I haven't been to Brazil - yet but the country is firmly on my 'To Ride' list.

I think the guys are doing the right thing by passing on the word that this does happen, and how to deal with it. I gather its been very much in the newspapers in Brazil by the way.

As with any warnings of the road, they shouldn't put people off, just make them aware. You can get into trouble anywhere eh, I fell off a bar stool recently and tore ligaments in my wrist! I was sober, honest! But I'll sit on bar stools again... perhaps I'll just take a bit more of a gentle approach with them

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I’m a Brazilian and I already had a chance to live for a while in the US (New Hampshire to be more specific), spent a month at Germany last July and traveled a little around Argentina and Uruguay and I can assure that riding in Brazil isn’t much different than riding in other countries. We have serious issues on the road quality department and you can be robbed if you don’t take care, but it isn’t much different in any other country that I have already been.
If you travel showing an ostentatious behavior you are much more likely to be robbed, if you “fly low” on the “radar screen” the chances of traveling a lot without any problems are very high. In Brazil riding a BMW 1200GS attracts A LOT of attention towards you (especially because BMW bikes in Brazil are quite expensive and many riders never saw a BMW bike before, they are much more used to the small 125cc Hondas and Yamahas) but besides that you can camp on the side of the road, camp on petrol stations for free (and even use the Wi-Fi Network that most of the truck stops have nowadays), ask people to let you camp on their gardens and all. Usually people are very welcoming to foreigners, but you need to be a little cautious and always ask about “avoid this place at all cost” zones. For example, if you are going to Rio the Janeiro with your big motorcycle and ride towards a favela (specially the favelas without police presence) you are very likely to be robbed, so don’t trust the GPS all the time, otherwise, if you act with discretion you have 99% of having a great time traveling in Brazil.
Each county has his own peculiarities, the Kite Line Cutter thing is one of the things you need to be aware while riding in Brazil. Fortunately we have great places do visit while traveling on motorcycle here, places as Chapada dos Guimarães, Chapada dos Veadeiros, Salto do Itiquira, Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, Lençóis Maranhenses, Pantanal, Amazônia, Serra do Rio do Rastro, Serra da Canastra, but you always need to be alert, foreigners are always seen as an easy target for dishonest people.

I agree about the importance of remaining calm. Though the warnings may be genuine, I rode for a month or so in Brazil without running into any kite strings--no line cutters, either. Sometimes I rode with locals who didn't use line cutters. It's a big country, mostly peaceful and almost unfailingly ridiculously friendly.

I feel similarly about the US, where I live. I've heard lots of stories of mayhem here, and a certain percentage of these are probably for real. But I've ridden, driven, walked and hitchhiked all up and down and around this country without ever getting into any serious trouble.

None of which should be taken as a stand for or against running line cutters on your bike. But whatever your conclusions, try to keep them in perspective.

Mark

I had never heard of cerol lines before, so I googled it and came across this:

Motorcyclist's worst Nightmare - Brazil's deadly Kites

thanks for sharing my post. I've been riding in Brazil for about 4 years and I put a "anteninha ridícula" on my bike after I found a kite string tangled in my front wheel. I guess it was my lucky day.

There are more than 100 accidents per year with these kite strings, but I don't believe that kite flyers willingly "dive kites at bikes". It's just kids playing. The danger starts when kites get stuck in electricity lines and that way pose a threat to passing bikers. I agree with Handikaf. There's no need for paranoia, but you certainly don't want to end up in the hospital or the cemitary.

You need to take special care in poorer areas, and certainly when you see lots of kids. Where I live (close to Rio de Janeiro), You will see far more kite flyers in the dry season (may-June to September-October).

Once outside the city, in green areas, there's usually no danger (if you don't count the careless cagers, cows, horses, potholes and speeding trucks)



Cheers
Raf