sickstilts blog!

u know what we mean…! 

here’s a deal: $50 off of all adult model Air-Trekkers and Powerisers… all Spring long!  Get the deets: http://www.sickstilts.com/faq.php?cID=1#6

happy bouncin!

-mr sickstilts

We often get asked questions like “what’s the difference between Powerisers, Air-Trekkers, or 7 League Boots? Which one is the best?”

Of course, in a perfect world, that would be an easy question to answer… in reality, several things play into what makes each one a good brand of jumping stilts.

Powerisers

Powerisers are probably the best-known brand in the United States. They’ve been sold in this country for more than 5 years, and have a very good following. Their design is very close to the original patented jumping stilts design and has not changed in any significant way since their introduction to the world in the early 2000s.  They are generally known amongst enthusiasts to be a good, solid jumping stilt that performs pretty well in the long run.

The manufacturer’s warranty covers all parts against manufacturing defects under normal usage/wear and tear for 1 year, except the springs which are only covered for 6 months.

Air-Trekkers

Air-Trekkers used to look and be very similar to Powerisers, but all that changed in early 2011 when Air-Trekkers introduced their new CZ model, an innovative design that reduces the number of stilt parts, uses carbon fiber (vs. fiberglass) springs, and is about 2 lbs lighter than their old version or the Poweriser.  According to the US distributor, the new model has sold well, and its design has received good reviews and user feedback. Now that it’s been in production for over a year, the bugs have been pretty well worked out of the new design. One of the benefits of the innovative design is that some of the “noisy” parts of the original design have been eliminated, so the stilts are very quiet when you are bouncing on them.

Air-Trekkers warranty covers all parts except the foot plates against manufacturing defects under normal usage/wear and tear for 1 year from purchase, and the foot plates are covered for 6 months.

7 League Boots

7 League Boots were just introduced to the US in late 2011, and they really are the “BMW of jumping stilts” – designed and improved in Austria since 2001 “by bockers, for bockers,” the designers themselves are also enthusiasts and have paid a lot of attention to the details of making a higher-quality, better performing stilt. They do cost more than the other brands, but the enthusiast consensus in Europe is that they are worth the price. The new GT Series springs are designed to be easy for beginners to learn on, but still high-performing for experienced users. This is accomplished through a spring design that makes the spring “soft” in the first 20% of its range, getting progressively stiffer in the middle 60% and much more resistant in the last 2o%, giving it that powerful punch for higher bounces. The new GT spring is manufactured using a unique fiberglass layering process that provides this kind of performance. That “attention to detail” also applies to the bearings used in the 7s, they are metal, silent, and according to one review “the best bearings on the market.” Where Powerisers have a tendency to make a “clacking” noise as they age, the bearings on 7s keep the stilt quiet. They also come standard with a 4mm-thick molded plastic spring protector – thicker and tougher than any other brand – which protects the springs from nicks that can reduce spring lifetime (and if the protector gets nicked, you can actually repair and smooth it with a hair dryer!).

The 7 League Boots warranty covers all parts against manufacturing defects for 1 year under normal usage/wear and tear conditions.

Hope that helps!

- mr sickstilts

Ok, yes, I admit that it took me more than a few days to start posting vids… sowwy!

hey, but the cool part is I have a bunch of em, and you can find em all on youtube on the sickstilts channel…

but i want to point out a few that are just sick & amazing:

tops has got to be Dakota Jay’s double front flip:

ok, one more from Dakota before we move on…

and here’s energizer Elena doing a front flip with extra flair:

and one more for tonight – the surprising Nick, self-described computer nerd, easily lands a backflip…

and we’ll close this post with a pic – yes, yours truly bouncin’ with my Vegas hat in front of the famous Vegas sign…

jumping stilts jumping stilts jumping stilts! ya gotta love ‘em!

until next time….

cheers!

-Jay-
aka mr sickstilts

ok, one could argue that I should have been logging on my ‘puter at the end of every day of SABO and posting results and up to the minute news…. sure… but I was having so much fun bocking that I was pretty much exhausted by the end of each day and barely had enough juice left to go see Cher on Saturday night – which, by the way was a very fun show even if  I could barely peel myself out of the chair at the end, ouch!, my body having solidified while watching her show up in a new costume for every song…

..but, I digress, this post is about SABO, not Cher…

SABO 2010 – What a cool event. And what cool hosts. Jeff Jay of Stiltwerks bankrolled this event in style and Henry “Stuntman” Holloway (plus the whole fam-damily) was an excellent organizer and host. For a first year event, even tho lightly attended, all I can say is “superexcellentawesome job!”  You gotta start somewhere, and that’s exactly what SABO 2010 did, and with lots of exciting moments to boot.

…slipping into some stream of consciousness highlights…

how about Elena Evmenchikova, coming all the way from Russia (Minsk, if memory serves) – an extreme lady for sure – this BASE jumping wildwoman with more energy than Chernobyl in its prime competed on Poweriser Classics (the only competitor without cuffs), kicked some butt with her awesome routines, spent more time on her stilts or on the trampoline than anyone, coached a bunch of newbies in their first moments of bocking, and is absolutely the happiest person I’ve ever met. I’ll have to post some links to her really cool, and seriously adrenaline invoking youtube videos when I can track them down. in-frickn’-sane! She casually mentioned that she’d spent 20 hours on her jumping stilts once, during a bocking trip where her and her friends decided to see just how long they could endure… wow!

then there’s 13 year old Max Jay, who insisted he couldn’t jump higher than about 3 feet on jumping stilts…. clears 6 feet 4 inches on his Stiltwerks Velocity bocks… seriously!  tied with his dad, Jeff, for 4th place in the high jump – and how about Jeff – ok, he told me he’s almost 50, so I’m hoping that’s not a big secret, tho he sure doesn’t look it – placing 4th in both the high jump and the obstacle course (a serious challenge, that one)… Go Jeff!  being a bit on the “older side” myself, I’m now a lifelong fan of this man!

ok, so we can’t go any further without including Dakota Jay, the 1st born of the Jay progeny, who, in addition to being a trampolinist with mad, Cirque du Soleil-level skills, set what we believe to be a new world record on the high jump, clearing 8 feet 2 inches!  Yes, I’m serious – and this is “feet below your head” – no Fosbury floppin allowed… with that kind of height, he could easily clear his dad’s Hummer, no problem. Oh, and on top of that, he totally stuck a double-front flip, earning himself first place in the best trick category. His dad thinks he’s the first person in the world to do a double-front on stilts – anyone know otherwise…?

now I gotta mention Nick Anastasia from Boston, who, as a self-identified “computer nerd,” I immediately liked, along with his buddy Derek Yu, a civil engineer who has a habit of lapsing into the persona of Data from Star Trek – Nick’s comment to me after he ran the obstacle course was “this is no place for out of shape computer nerds…”  yah, didn’t I know that!  Then Nick, on his PowerStrider Olympics, goes on to fly 14 feet in the long jump for first place, far outdistancing my almost-pathetic 9 feet (hey, I beat Data, er, Derek!) on my Poweriser Advanced stilts. Nick also had a great showing in the triple jump, coming in 3rd behind the likes of Henry “Stuntman” Holloway and Dave Hale.  not at all bad for an out of shape computer nerd… not at all!  In the end Nick also got the “most surpising” award – maybe it shoulda been the “Superman award” – looks like a mild mannered computer nerd, but…

…yah, let’s talk about Dave Hale – we dubbed him “Halestorm” for  his insane, rapidfire flipping that earned him first place in the best sequence category (several tricks linked) and second in the best trick (single trick) competition. with one of the funnest tattoos I’ve seen on an acrobat, a stick figure tumbling pass that runs from hip to hip, Dave is both an incredible acro-bocker (I think I just coined that term) and one of the mellowist, nicest guys you’ll meet. Out of Denver, he could do jaw-dropping sequences on his PowerStrider Sharks, and his back double full flip would have earned him top prize in the best trick, had Dakota Jay not stuck that incredible double front. and that cool monster head helmet of his earned him top prize in the best costume category, too – grrrr, he said, grrrrrr…

Last, but certainly not least, I gotta give Lucas Mendonca, the chillin Brazilian on Velocity stilts, some serious kudos for getting more 2nd and 3rd place spots than anyone else.  His repeated efforts to clear 8 feet in the high jump while looking seriously exhausted were inspiring in that Olympic moment kind of way.

full results posted on the Stiltwerks SABO site: here

besides the competition, the sense and vibe of community was amazing, everyone was rooting for everyone else, and it was a serious blast running down the Vegas Strip with a small gang of bockers – the looks we got… priceless!  even in a city where the extreme is normal, jumping stilts still turn heads and get the “woah, cool!” award from folks on the street.

hey, I’m probably forgetting something, but that’s why this fabulous blog invention lets you post more stuff tomorrow, or whenever… but sometime soon, for sure… yes, I do realize I didn’t include any pics or videos, but will do that as soon as I get a chance to sort thru mine and beg a few off of Lucas, who has the “fun” job of sorting thu something like 5000 photos and who knows how many videos captured by Beth Holloway and Mrs Jay.  For now, I’m off to sleep, perchance to dream of bouncing like a kangaroo thru surreal, graffiti-laden, Dali-esque landscapes… 

yours truely,

-jay-
aka mr sickstilts