Pimp My Ride

• WRAPPING THE SPRINGS (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
  It is important to wrap the springs.  The springs will tend to start getting nicked as soon as you start to use them because they are occasionally going to bang into each or hit the ground.  The springs are made of a fiberglass composit and any nicks are going to affect how long they last.   Picture flexing a bundle of uncooked spagetti.  As the spagetti strands get nicked and broken, the bundle gets weaker which causes more starnds to break.   Wrapping tape around the spring helps prevent nicks.  The following are a few locations you can pick up tape:

  • Sporting Goods Stores  -  Hockey stick tape is a nice material tape that will protect your springs well and comes in a number of colors.

  • Major Hardware Stores  -  Electrical tape is now sold these days in a rainbow of colors.  This thin tape does not protect the springs as well as hockey tape, but may be applied over hockey tape for a special color scheme.  An added layer of tape protection on the springs never hurts.

  • Identi-Tape Website  -  Internet source for more kinds of tape than you probably ever knew existed.   Carries reflective, flourescent, camouflage, decorative, etc.

  WRAPPING THE SPRINGS - ALTERNATIVE
  A great alternative to wrapping the spring in tape is to slip a bicycle inner-tube over the spring.  The inner-tube provides the spring with a durable rubber covering that will protect it from nicks.  The only downside is that you need to unbolt the spring in order to slip it on.  The bolts that attach the spring ends to the frame have nylon lock nuts, Which lose their effectiveness once they are removed.  You should replace them with new nylon lock nuts when you reassemble the spring. (Photo and idea from Ray - New York City)

• BOLT COVERS
  It is common for the springs to get nicked as a result of accidently being knocked into the protruding nuts and bolts of the opposite riser.   Eliminate these sharp impact points by cutting a 1/2-inch diameter rubber hose into 1/2-inch lengths and applying them around the protruding frame nuts and bolts. (See Photo 1 and Photo 2.)  You can use a short length of 3/8-inch diameter rubber tubing to cover the stabilizer cable threads.  (See photo 3.)

• TIRE SOCKS (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
  New rubber foot pads look tough but you will be shocked to find out how quickly they wear down, especially if you do your bocking on asphalt or pavement.  Factory replacement foot pads will cost you approximately $23 each and they are often out of stock.  You can protect your new foot pads from wear by putting Tire Socks over them.  The tire socks will wear instead of the foot pad, and they can be replaced as needed.  Cost of easily obtained materials is only about $8 a pair.
  
  A very good instructional video on how to install tiresocks can be found here.

• ADDITIONAL KNEE LOOP PADDING
  Buy some pipe insulation foam at your local hardware store (Ace Hardware carries it.)  It comes in a variety of diameters.  Place it over your metal knee loop tubing and wrap with colored electrical tape or colored duct tape.  Too much padding can make it difficult to put your foot through the loop.  You may wish to put some additional foam padding in place after your leg is through the loop.   Using the knee wrap technique will keep it in place nicely.

Another method of adding some additional padding to the knee loop, especially if you have thin legs, is to use a swimming noodle.  Noodles are great for padding and come in a multitude of very nice colors.  (Credit PoweriserPages.com member "Hooterz"   [a.k.a. Luke B] - Colorado, USA for idea and tutorial)

Taking this one bounce further, you can replace your entire torn or worn out knee loop padding with a swimming noodle.  Just remove the old padding and slip a length of noodle over the metal tubing end without cutting the noodle and wiggle it into position.   Noodles come in great colors!

• ADDING A QUICK RELEASE CLIP TO FACTORY BACK-OF-THE-KNEE STRAP
  It is easy to add a plastic quick release clip to the factory back-of-the-knee strap.  All you need is a plastic clip and two nylon zip-ties.  Nore: You will want to use a fairly wide clip for comfort.  Attach the metal return loop of the factory strap to one side of the plastic clip using the two nylon zip-ties.  Then feed the Velcro end of the factory strap through the other side of the plastic clip and adjust the length to fit.  Here is a photo of the setup.  (Credit Meilenstiefel.de forum member "Jogger" for the idea and photo.)

• MATT J. KNEE BINDING MOD
  If you upgrade your foot straps to better snowboard bindings, what do you do with your old factory foot straps?  You can turn those large upper original foot straps into ratchet knee bindings.  Check out the easy tutorial on how it's done.   (Credit Matt J., Centereach, NY USA)

• KNEE WRAP TECHNIQUE
  A better option than using the original back of the knee velcro strap is to wrap your knee directly to the knee loop.  Check out Max's Poweriser Page for a good way to wrap your knee in nice and tight.  To bind your knee to the knee loop, start the middle of an 8 foot length of webbing at the back of your knee.   Bring both ends around to the front, below the knee loop, and criss-cross them over the front of the knee loop.  Bring the two ends over the top of the knee loop and around to the back of your knee, criss-crossing them again.  Bring the two ends forward again, over the top of the knee loop and criss-cross them over the front of the knee loop again.  Keep repeating this pattern untill you have just enough to tie it off in front of or in back of your knee.  A lot of people use this system instead of the velcro strap.
  
  J Caroline Creative sells cotten webbing by the yard in a variety of colors on-line.   You will need approximately two 9 foot lengths (order 6 yards) of 1-1/4 inch or 1-1/2 inch webbing and then trim to the length you like.
  
  Another type of webbing you can use to bind your knee to the loop is the type of webbing that is used in the sport of boxing to wrap a fighter's hands.  You can pick up a pair of cotton hand wraps at any good sporting goods store.  They come in a variety of colors.

• TIGHTER FOOT STRAPS
  If you have a small foot, you may find that you reach the maximum amount of strap adjustment before the strap is tight enough for your foot. (see photo 1)   If this is the case, purchase some pipe instulation foam and cut a small piece in half (see photo 2).  Position this piece on your instep (see photo 3) and tighten your strap over it.  This technique will provide you more strap to tighten (see photo 4).  (Photos and idea from François  - Germany)

• PUTTING POWERISER-TYPE FOOT PLATE ONTO POWERSKIPS
  If you prefer poweriser-type foot straps on your Powerskips, here is a tutorial that will show you what you need to do to make a poweriser-type foot plate fit onto your Powerskips.  (Tutorial by Emil and Dan - Sweden)

• NIGHT BOCKING
  Aside from watching where you are going, the important thing here is to be seen by others as you jump and flip through the darkness.

  • EL Wire
    
         VibeLights sells EL Wire that operates with a small battery pack.   Rap your risers with these wires for a real neon look.  You will need to also purchase their small, battery operated power inverter (power source) that you must attached to each riser.

  • Flashing LED Reflectors
    
         Fun Source L.L.C. sells many different types of flashing and strobing reflectors.  They work great and can be attached to the upper spring bracket with velcro.  They may be found in the bicycles section of sporting goods stores like Sports Authority.