then we'll just have to work out how to attach pinhead's straps to them
There would be absolutely no need at all for Pinhead's Straps (Sorry!)
I now have time to write a review so here we go:tundraH dropped mine over at about 5ish, along with all the new bolts and parts. I grabbed my risers and laid them out on the concrete in my garden, and got my dad to help me take off the old kneebars. We sat and puzzled for about 2 minutes over how the bindings actually went round your legs. I went upstairs and watched Martin's video and figured it out... we then had to fit them!
With 2 people it is very easy, the one who is having them fitted sits on something like a seat, and sets up the velcro straps (leg diameter wise) BEFORE you even start bolting them on. this involves taking the main detatchable foam bit off and finding the midpoint. You then put this at the back of your leg (at the height you want the calf cuffs to be), and wrap it round so it fits firmly to your leg. Then what I did was put my foot onto the footplate, and got the bars that go on either side. These have velcro attatched which grips onto the detatchable foam piece, so I lined this up with the foam part on my leg, and tested that the velcro all did up correctly. I then lined them up with the slots on the frame, made sure everything was still tight and comfortable, and my dad started tightening the bolts up. My dad went a bit mad with the powerdrill and did them up too tight and warped the metal holders, which he said was "supposed to happen" but I don't believe him!
We repeated this on the other riser, it took about 30 minutes to fit them in total, which I don't think is too bad considering they came with no instructions at all (apart from Martin's video showing how the velcro should do up).
So now onto the real test. Once they were fitted I gave them a walk around the garden (no bouncing/running as I didn't have any pads on). The experience was bizarre, it pulled all my weight back onto my heels as I was walking, rather then pushing it onto your toes like the old knee bars did. This made me feel as though I was going to fall over backwards, It's very much like the first time you transfer from any brand across onto 7's... I was an hour late for a friend's party at this point, so thought I really ought to leave them for the time being!
The next day was the Portsmouth meet, where I ran into a few snags using them. First (this is probably caused by the warped metal), my risers were making an unusual clanking noise that very much put me off running or jumping (I thought the bushings had gone or something). It appears that where the metal had warped, parts of it that aren't fixed down were moving slightly, bashing against the frame and making the noise.
Some of Locky's bright orange hockey tape soon fixed that problem, and it was all go. It took some time getting used the bouncing on them, I found I was leaning forwards more due to my weight being pulled up, which forced more forward momentum and less upward. This meant I could kanga-bounce along quite quickly, but with very little height. Running was also a lot easier and gave me a lot more speed. They held up over the day, and I was satisfied with how they were working.
We went to portsmouth a weekend later and I was still struggling with my height, altho kangabouncing down a hill I built up some insane speed and distance. I loved the feeling of that!
So yeah, that's my first days with using them. So here's a breif summary as I've waffled on quite a lot...
AdvantagesFairly easy to fit.
A more comfortable and tight fit (Especially for people with thin little legs like me), making it feel more "natural".
With kneepads they are just as safe as the kneebars.
Make running and building up speed a lot easier.
Lighter than the kneebars, so reduced weight of the stilts a little.
DisadvantagesWhole new centre of balance to get used to.
Harder to jump higher until you get used to the weighting.
The calfpad has to be removed or else the bolts won't fit. However, there is no real need for the calfpad with them, unless you have HUGE calfs.
That's all I can think of to write, I hope the others agree with what I have said
