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Razor RIPSTIK in-line caster board. Easier to ride than a skateboard. Plastic end platforms with metal torsion beam. 86A Inline-type wheels on precision ABEC-5-sealed bearing casters. Spiked traction pads and kick tail and raised nose with concave design for tricks and improved footing. Ages 8+, weight limit 220lbs.
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Technical Details
- Groundbreaking caster board that acts like a skateboard/snowboard hybrid- Pivoting deck and 360-degree caster trucks enable snowboard-like carving
- Spiked traction pads, kick tail and nose, and concave deck design
- 76mm polyurethane wheels and precision ABEC-5 bearing casters
- Designed for children 8 years and up; supports up to 220 pounds
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By David T. Farrar (Guyton Ga)
My daughter was very surprised over getting the hot pink rip stick! We Love this product and can't believe how easy it is to use, highly recommend this product.
By David Root (Houston, TX USA)
My family has been building up a collection of skateboards and casterboards (Ripstik, Bladeboard, Xglider, WhipTide, and Wave Board), and this review will compare them based on the impressions of a 48yo dad, my 15yo son, and my 9yo daughter.
Skateboard - As a teenager I built my own skateboards with the best trucks, wheels, etc., that I could afford, and I built my own ramps and did some of the tricks that you see at skateparks, so I've got a lot of experience with skateboards. One thing about skateboards is that if you're not careful, they can shoot out from under you when you put a foot on them, which can cause injuries. There are a lot of fun tricks that can be done with skateboards, but for just skateboarding on a level street they can be quite dull compared to casterboards.
Ripstik - It feels awkward getting on a Ripstik for the first time, but we quickly got the hang of it. In my opinion it's safer than a skateboard in the sense that it doesn't shoot out from under you very easily (it simply flops onto its side since it only has two wheels). On the level street in front of our house, the Ripstik is WAY more fun than a skateboard, and my kids and I frequently trade casterboards because we all want to have a turn on the Ripstik. The only downside is that the Ripstik wheels wear down quickly (see "A note about the wheels" below).
Bladeboard - Since we loved the Ripstik so much, we wanted to try another casterboard. The Bladeboard videos made it look better than a Ripstik because you can swap ends as you ride, but we had a hard time finding a place to buy one. I bought one off of eBay, and it has been a real disappointment. We took apart the casters and cleaned them and lubricated them, and put new bearings in the wheels, but it still feels sluggish and awkward to ride (plus the casters are noisy). The decks were surprisingly slippery, so we covered the decks with griptape. That helped a lot, but not enough to make the Bladeboard fun.
Xglider - Next we bought an Xglider (AKA Xlider) for my son's birthday, which glides more smoothly than our Ripstik. The Xglider is actually two separate decks which are not connected, so it's tricky getting the hang of it. For that reason, it's more dangerous than the other casterboards because it is very easy to lose your balance. However, the challenge of mastering it keeps bringing me back to it. The two decks move independently of each other, which allows for different tricks and tighter spins than the Ripstik allows. But this greater freedom of movement also means that I am constantly aware of maintaining my balance so that I don't do the splits or do a face-plant onto the asphalt. I'm not able to "let go" and enjoy the ride like I can with the Ripstik and WhipTide and Wave, but it's a fun challenge which keeps calling me back. A disadvantage of the Xglider is that you can't just set it down on the street and then step on and go, like you can with the other casterboards. Instead, you have to set the two decks onto the ground so that they are facing the right way and lined up the way you want them, then you have to carefully step onto the decks one at a time, then you can go.
WhipTide - Since all three of us want a turn on the Ripstik, my kids pooled their money and bought a WhipTide, and we all fell in love with it immediately. It combines the fun of a Ripstik with some of the features of an Xglider. It glides smoothly like an Xglider (more so than our Ripstik), and the wheels seem to last longer than the Ripstik wheels (see "A note about the wheels" below). The crossbar can bend up-down and side-to-side (unlike the Ripstik and Wave crossbars which are rigid and unbending), which has some advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that it lets you do tighter turns and slaloms and spins than a Ripstik can do (more like an Xglider), and another advantage is that different tricks are possible due to the bendiness of the crossbar (see some of the WhipTide videos out there). One disadvantage of the bendy crossbar is that you can't do any tricks which require lifting one wheel off of the ground, such as going up onto a curb. Another disadvantage of the bendy crossbar is that as your speed increases there's a "wiggle" or "snake-like" motion that you can feel in your feet, which I find a bit disconcerting because it feels like I'm not in full control. In other words, I can be much more aggressive on the Ripstik because I know where the wheels are going to go as I push it into a hard carve or spin, but the "wiggle" in the WhipTide makes me less comfortable "pushing it to the limit." Another disadvantage of the bendy crossbar is that it's easier to lose your balance and fall than on a Ripstik or Wave because you can bend the WhipTide into a tight spin which throws you off balance. I guess this is more of a "caution" than a "disadvantage," because tight spins are part of the fun of the WhipTide.
PumpRockr - Next we had a chance to try out a PumpRockr, which is a skateboard where the front two wheels are replaced with a single caster wheel. It has the advantage of a casterboard in the sense that you can propel it without putting a foot on the ground (or you can propel it in the traditional skateboard way), but we found that it takes a lot more effort than a casterboard. It feels sluggish, and it can't make tight turns like a casterboard can. It has the advantages of a skateboard in the sense that you can do most skateboard tricks with it (based on the online videos), but it has all of the disadvantages of a skateboard as well (described above). The front caster wheel makes it less stable than a four-wheeled skateboard, meaning that the front of the PumpRockr easily tips over when you apply pressure to one side or the other at the front wheel (I would guess that this is not a problem for experienced riders). It's an interesting idea, but it turns out to be just as sluggish as a traditional skateboard when ridden on a level street.
Wave - Since the Ripstik and the WhipTide are our "fun" casterboards, and since there are three of us who want to use them, my kids split the cost of a Wave. The Wave looks almost identical to our Ripstik, but the decks are slightly wider and the crossbar is shorter. The ride feels essentially the same as our Ripstik, although the Wave has a bit of a "clatter" noise which gives the impression that it's not as well-made as the Ripstik. But as far as I can tell, everything about the Wave is as sturdy as the Ripstik. Overall, I would have to say that if the Ripstik is a 10, for example, then the Wave is a 9.5. They're almost identical in look and feel, but there's a certain "something" which gives the Ripstik a bit of an edge over the Wave, in our opinion. This is based on a brand-new Wave compared against a year-old Ripstik with worn wheels and dirty casters.
The bottom line: The Ripstik and the Wave are virtually identical. The Ripstik and the Wave and the WhipTide are our "fun" boards that we use almost exclusively, and we frequently switch boards so that we all have a chance to ride each board. The Xglider is fun as well, but the fun is in the challenge of trying to master it. The Bladeboard was a big disappointment, because it looked fun in the videos but it turned out to be awkward and difficult to ride. The PumpRockr is just as sluggish as a skateboard when ridden on a level street. My kids and I play a game that we call "Caster Soccer," in which we try to knock a beachball down the street and up onto our driveway, circling around and around each other and darting in and out like an aerial dogfight. It's loads of fun, and you can't do that with a PumpRockr or any other type of skateboard!
A note about the wheels:
Since our Xglider wheels hardly have any wear, I took the two wheels off of one Xglider deck and put them onto our Ripstik, and put the worn Ripstik wheels onto the Xglider. The Xglider worked fine with the worn-down Ripstik wheels, and the ride wasn't impaired at all. The Ripstik seemed to feel a little better, but maybe it was just my imagination. If I didn't know that the wheels had been swapped then I might not have noticed any difference in the Ripstik or the Xglider. After about 20 minutes on the Ripstik using the Xglider wheels, the rear wheel was worn flat! So it's something about the way that the Ripstik and the Wave are ridden which wears down the wheels. We use the WhipTide just as much as the Ripstik, although not as aggressively due to the "wiggle" motion, and the WhipTide wheels are not showing much wear at all.
Update 8/29/2009:
I took apart the casters on our Ripstik with a crescent wrench, and cleaned and lubricated them. Then I discovered that you can't easily take apart the casters on a Wave Board. This is a significant advantage of the Ripstik over the Wave.
Also, here are some videos of my kids and me playing Caster Soccer. We noticed that the rear wheel on our Ripstik (the red casterboard in the videos) is worn flat almost down to the rim, and you can hear the "scraping" noise that it makes on the videos. It was a bit stiffer than usual until I replaced the wheel, but still fun!
Caster Soccer 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw57J5YKnJ0
Caster Soccer 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcLb2VcGXRw
Caster Soccer 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=376T0p-H2Lg
Caster Soccer 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqGHYJPfvYc
By
I've had the ripstik for 1 year now and i havent had to change the wheels yet, im 12 and im 5'4 at 91 lbs and i cant do tricks (except the wheelie) i ride it around the driveway, i have complete control over it, if your a skateboarder its pretty easy. i recommend it highly.
By Suzanne R. Fox (Northport, NY United States)
My kids love their new Ripstiks. Every free moment is taken up with them using their new boards.
By Julie Pozza (North Little Rock, AR)
My oldest granddaughter, Cara, loves her Rip Stick...she has some good moves....good construction on this products. Has held up well
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