The Flybar

Manufacturer: SBI Enterprises
Model: Flybar 1200
Price: about $300
Availability: Pre-sale only at Amazon.com
Release date: September 15, 2004

Product Description, Product Review, Recommendations, Pictures, Flybar Vs. Gravity Games

Product Description

Here’s the latest from the world’s largest and most trusted pogo stick manufacturer. SBI Enterprises has been building pogo sticks since 1919. They’ve put out some of the best and most popular stick including the Maverick, the Master and the Gravity Games Super Pogo Stick. The Flybar is taking a wonderful tradition not just a step forward, but a large running jump forward and upward.
The past few years have brought pogo sticking back into the public eye. Various companies have tossed out the classic design to try numerous different ways of making the pogo bounce including several with air compression chambers, some with expansion springs instead of compression springs, and even giant fiberglass bows. The Flybar went a different direction. The Flybar is powered by 12 thick rubber tubes. Each rubber “thruster” is capable of storing up to 100 lbs of thrust when expanded to its full 300% length.
Here’s where things start getting interesting. The Flybar was built with all shapes and sizes of people in mind. If you don’t want to (or aren’t able to) push 1,200 pounds of pressure down you don’t have to. With an easy to use tool that comes with the Flybar you can reduce the number of thrusters you have engaged. The manufacturer encourages at least four engage minimum. Also the main shaft can be extended or shortened depending on the height and skill of the jumper. All of this can be done in under a minute from the access holes around the case with the included tool.

Product Review

It is impossible to argue that the Flybar is capable of amazing heights. It gives you a lot of time to seriously meditate on your mortality while you fly through the air. When I say high, I mean high. Four or five feet in the air is completely normal. To summarize, the Flybar can bounce very high. While this sounds like a good thing, please keep in mind that five feet plus the additional foot and a half of the length of the shaft puts you over six feet in the air. Failure to land correctly from this height can and probably will break you. Recognize the potential for serious injury and wear protective gear.
The next thing you instantly notice when you jump on the stick is the quality of the bounce. Air chambers offer stiff unwieldy bounces, springs are still a little bit harsh, but the Flybar offers an almost trampoline-like feel to the bounce. The big rubber thrusters absorb the shock of landing very comfortably and then launch you with ease back into the air. It’s a feeling that has to be tried to be fully understood.
As a freestyle stunt pogo sticker there are many things that I demand in a pogo stick. The Flybar does very well in many categories but as a freestyle stick, it definitely has is setbacks. The height it offers is unarguably better than any other stick. The Flybar is also the strongest and best built stick. But for a freestyle jumper the weight and somewhat awkward shape of the Flybar makes many tricks nearly impossible. Most of the low ground spins, stalls, and reverses just aren’t worth the effort. Even the big air tricks where you would expect the Flybar to perform well are much harder. Although it may get twice the height of any current stick, it’s also twice as heavy, and it takes twice as much time and effort to move the stick into position for tricks. You can still do most air tricks, but they seem to be in slow motion.
Current pogo sticks are light enough that they almost seem to be an extension of your body. They can be spun and moved around quite freely. With the Flybar you get more of the feeling that you’re just riding it. It feels very independent of you. This makes many tricks more intimidating.
It feels like the difference between riding a bike and riding a motorcycle. The Flybar is a different kind of pogo stick than anything currently on the market. You can’t use it like a regular pogo stick. Evil Knivel couldn’t have jumped the Grand Canyon on a bicycle, but Matt Hoffman couldn’t do a tail-whip on a motorbike. The way you jump, the tricks you do, and the way you think about pogo sticking, will all be different on the Flybar.
To summarize, is the Flybar an extreme pogo stick? Yes, definitely. It is the most extreme pogo stick ever built without a doubt. Is the Flybar a freestyle stunt pogo? Probably not.

Recommendations

I would recommend the Flybar to anyone. If you’ve never pogo sticked in your life, I’d encourage you to pick up a Flybar. The fully adjustable setting can accommodate anyone who is willing to give it a try. If you pogo, but haven’t really tried stunt pogo I’d encourage you to pick up a Flybar. It has amazing potential and is sturdy enough to put up with almost any amount of abuse. If you’re an experienced stunt pogo sticker I’d encourage you to pick up a Flybar. It will not, can not, replace your current stick, but it adds a large, and mostly unexplored dimension to the sport. But don’t buy it expecting it to do everything that your old stick could do and more. Just expect it to do more.
“Enjoy the View.”

Dave S. Armstrong
Xpogo.com

Pictures

Click on thumbnails to view full sized pictures

Comparison between the Gravity Games Stick and the Flybar.

WEIGHT
WEIGHT 20 lbs 10 lbs
DIMENSIONS
TOTAL HEIGHT 46-57 inches 48 inches
BODY HEIGHT 36 inches 39 inches
SHAFT LENGTH 9 1/2-10 1/2 inches 9 inches
WIDTH 4 inches 4 inches
DEPTH 6 inches 2 inches
HANDLES WIDTH 17 1/4 inches 14 1/2 inches
PEG WIDTH 15 inches 14 1/2 inches
PEG DIMENSIONS 5 X 3 1/4 inches 5 X 3 1/2 inches
STOPPER DIAMETER 2 1/2 inches 2 inches