The Difference Between High & Low Flybars

Flybar History

• The first pogo stick was invented in 1918, a vertical post with handgrips, foot stands and a coiled steel-spring piston that allowed the pogo stick rider to stand on the foot stands and bounce along. In 2000, skateboard and pogo enthusiast Andy MacDonald teamed with SBI Enterprises to design the Flybar, a high-performance pogo stick for people who wanted to explore the athletic limits of pogo sticking. The Flybar has evolved into several models around three basic designs -- a low-jumping design, a medium-jumping design and a high-jumping design.

Flybar Models

• The Flybar designs are called the Flybar 400, the Flybar 800 and the Flybar 1200. The Flybar 400 will be available in 2012. The numbers represent the maximum number of pounds of thrust that each design is capable of achieving. The elastometric spring system, which Bruce Middleton developed, is said to give the rider the sensation of jumping on a trampoline. The low, medium and high Flybars are all lightweight, and the spring is adjustable.

Specification Differences

• The Flybar 400 is for beginners and kids, and, at the time of publication, specifications have not been published. The Flybar 800 is designed to support riders not heavier than 180 lb.; the maximum elevation potential is listed as a tad more than 4 feet. That is why some refer to this as the low Flybar now. The high Flybar is the 1200, which will achieve elevation of more than 5 feet and support riders who are up to 250 lb. The 1200 model weighs 21 lb. The 800 model weighs 12 lb.

Adjustments

• Flybars adjust to the rider's leg length and thrust. Thrust can be adjusted in two ways. The thrust is achieved by a set of thrusters enclosed inside the piston. The rider can remove some of the thrusters and make the stick jump lower, or add thrusters to increase elevation. The rider can also adjust the piston length. The longer the piston length, the more-potential elevation the rider can achieve.