The design of the footplate for the Powerizers Upwing makes it challenging to replace the default foot straps with quick release snowboard bindings.

The footplate has a slit where the webbing passes through the side of the footplate. This webbing is then secured by a plastic lock.

This method avoids having to drill holes through the footplate.

1.   Cut the webbing.
2.   Get new webbing and double it up. Sew it with nylon thread.
3.   Secure the plastic lock through the new webbing.
4.   Run the new webbing pieces through the slit on the side of the footplate.
5.   Punch holes through the webbing.
6.   Grommet the holes to prevent fraying
7.   Attach the bindings to the webbing through the grommet.
8.   Repeat for the other stilt.
9.   Ready to bock.

The other method I can think of is to drill a hole in the diameter of the screw you will use to secure the bindings to the footplate, omitting the use of the webbing entirely.


Keep On Bocking!

The very best first thing to do when when first on Powerisers?

Make sure you have knee pads, wrist guards, elbow pads and helmet. Then learn how to fall. Once you learn how to fall and protect yourself, you learn very quickly once the fear is removed. Go on some grass, get a thick exercise mat, and just fall forward. If you need a confidence booster, practice falling from just your feet. Then get a ladder or something that you can increase the height as your confidence grows. Practice falling with your back turned to the mat. This will help you learn to rotate your body around so that you can control the fall. Later as you move into the height jumping and flips, body control in the air is critical and you will have learned a little about it.

I'm a fire staff spinner so I had 2 staffs to walk with me when first starting. About 30 minutes, I was walking fine. Aslo when I fell, I had something to use to help me get up. The next thing you will be learning with all this falling practice is how to stand up.

Keep On Bocking

If you will be primarily jogging/running/hoping, then Upwings will be the best. They are about 8lbs (not sure in metric), where other ris(z)ers are around 11lbs. The locking tilt plate feature on the Upwings are the best in the tilting foot plate models. The upwings allow you to either lock the foot plate with a simple wrench or adjust the degree of tilt. This allows you to find the most natural feeling angle.


Review.
http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/powerizer_upwing_aka_speedjumper_redoxx_aka_projump_elite-t2501.135.html

I'm not an upwing fan boy. But from the 3 models I have tried powerisers, powerizers pro, and upwings, for your needs, the upwings are ideal.

For now, trying using a 1/2" hard flip flop. You don't want to go any thicker as it will use all the heel plate and your foot will slide back. Or get a good pair of trail runner shoes, they tend to have much thicker soles to give you added height.

With end of summer, I'm sure you can find flip flops really cheap. Even in summer we have a clearance wharehouse and I bought mine for 50 cents. But make sure its the hard kind.

I have added snowboard bindings to mine. I will post pictures soon, just need to find my camera. (Got back from burning man.) I can get in and out of upwings in about 2 minutes.
http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/modifying_powerisers/powerizers_upwing_snowboard_binding_mod-t3113.0.html;new

I also have a review of these I did in July. http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/powerizer_upwing_aka_speedjumper_redoxx_aka_projump_elite-t2501.135.html

If you see #10, adjusting the calf cuff can be done while they are mounted. But, yes I did raise them before I put them on.

I just took the picture after I got done with the Tire, Tube, and Taping mods.

Yes, on initial day of use, it seemed like that was just right. Stiff enough that my weight alone is not compressing the springs, and bouncing me around, but not so stiff that I can't get any air.

It seems like they are soft on the top end, meaning that for walking, it compresses just enough without much effort to give you a comfortable walking stride.

When you jump, as it goes through the compression, they get much stiffer in the mid range requiring more leg strength.

I'm still fairly new to bocking, only serious for about 2 months now. My experience on evaluating springs is very limited.

Up-Wings. CZ90 181-200 (82kg-91kg)

I am 150 lbs (68kgs) and I was told to get at least 2 weight classes above me due to the softness of the springs.

First Impressions.

What I like:

1.   Lighter. Each one weights about 8lbs.
2.   Great looking design, black metal and chrome. The orange footpad looks good.
3.   Better (more durable, it’s a harder compound) and bigger rubber feet.
4.   They provide a carrying case. Although cheap and very snug. And you have to dissemble the stilts for transport.
5.   Less bulkier. They look good on girls with long legs. o.0 My friend came over to try to them out. No pics though.
6.   The instruction booklet has much better English grammar.
7.   The springs seem to require less effort to walk in. They provide a nice spring, when walking with very minimal effort. Feels very natural. I am not sure if this is due to the springs, my weight to springs, or my strength in my legs.  I was told to get 2 weight classes up on the springs due to the new springs being softer.
8.   Tilting footplate with locking mechanism for fixed plate or reduce the degree of tilt.
9.   Calf Cuffs. The Velcro is very secure.
10.  Adjusting the height of the calf cuff requires loosening one bolt. You can do this while on them.
11.   The back padding for the calf is good.
12.   No noise when jumping, so far. Unable to test thoroughly until a few issues resolved. Read below in what I don’t like.
13.  All the bolts are rounded and with sunken hex heads. No nuts. So no sharp points and only need a set of 3 allen wrenches.

What I don’t like:
 
1.   Some assembly required.
a.   You have to attach the foot support bar to the spring
b.   You have to put in the footplate tilting pin
It looks like this was done to compact the stilts for shipping purposes. The machined parts are very exacting so putting in the pins requires use of a softheaded hammer. I am a bit worried when/if I have to replace the springs. Getting that pin out will be a pain.

2.   Bindings. Man they suck and a pain in the butt to tighten. Also, adding snowboard binding will require additional work as they made slots instead of drill holes for the webbing. So most likely you will need to sew double layer webbing with good nylon thread double stitched and then holes punched through to attach snowboard bindings.

3.   Calf Cuffs lack of lateral support stiffness. Front to back support is excellent. However, the lateral support is shockingly skimpy. The back plastic that is the calf cuff is way too thin. You can manually bend it in and this needs to be very rigid. It gives an unpleasant feeling of wobbliness.

UpDate: I made a webbing belt with quick clips that I use to wrap around the entire calf cuff. This has helped the lateral stiffness and I feel much more secure.

4.   The Velcro system needs to have a slight change. Instead of the current system of crossover with one side stitched with stretch webbing. It should not have stretch webbing. That’s the last thing you want your straps to be doing. Also, on the first layer, the Velcro should first go across the shin, then looped through and come back across the shin and then Velcro. This will provide optimal leverage in tightening the straps across the leg.

5.   For shorter people, like myself – I’m 5’6”, with the loss of the footplate side support bars adding height risers will be a challenge. In the old styles, the side footplate support bars helped secure the heel of your shoe. In the Up-Wings, this is removed so that once you put in those flip-flops, the heel catch is used and nothing is available to secure the heel. The tendency is the foot to slide back and the toe to come dangerously close to not being held tight by the toe straps. The positive is that the top of the spring is much wider and rounded then the other models, so that it won’t be digging into your hamstrings when doing tucks or standing up if you decide not to use risers for safety purposes.


Not sure if good or bad:

1.   The exposed spring by the feet. This was done to minimize weight. But the loss of protection to the lower spring might be an issue. I have wrapped with inner tube and also extended the bike tire to cover the backside of the spring up to the bolts that secure the footplate support bar.

Final analysis

The up-wings could be for you. If the two major issues can be addressed either through the manufacturer or the power stilt community, the lateral support of calf cuff, and the bindings, then yes, I would recommend these compared to the only 2 other models I have tried, the Powerizer Classic and Pro.

The design, weight and ease of getting in and out should be very positive. If you are a performer, and need to make changes from being in stilts and out of stilts, the Up-Wings would be a huge time saver once the bindings have been replaced.

For acrobatic performers, the lighter weight should be a welcome to doing flips and other tricks.

For walking / running purposes, Up-wings are perfect with the tilting footplate and lightness. For the cost and features, they are exceptional jumping stilts for these activities.

Durability is still to be determined as these are just out. I have not had a good spring test as the bindings and calf cuffs need to be fixed first.

Update: I was able to use them for 2+ hrs yesterday, and I am really starting to like them. I have locked the footplate for now. The heal tilting is different from the Powerizers Pro and so feel ackward. I am sure with more time, it will be very natural.

I will be doing mods to the bindings and the calf cuffs soon, and I will post them when completed. (3-4 weeks, as I will be out at burning man for 10 days)

Hope this helps.

Who is attending burning man this year?

I will be camped at 5:30 and Esplanade with the Fire Muse / WoW camp. We will have a stage for fire performers. I plan on spinning fire with my double swords and double staffs with my stilts. I am also part of the Utah Fire Enclave that peforms in front of the Man right before the burn in the great circle of the Fire Conclave.

The critical stilts parade is planned for Thursday, not sure what time and where to meet up. It should be published in the who/what/where/when. We should all group up.

If you don't know what burning man is, then www.burningman.com and see what you have been missing.

In the second set of pictures, it looks like you left your high heels out and about for anyone to see. Or was that just a freudian slip? LoL

Great job on the cuffs. Nice to see a third alternative to the cuff mods. I can not wait for your buddy to make a professional pair.

Spring loading the rotating (tilting) footplate for the Powerizer Pro.

I wanted to make a separate topic for this great mod that mountainman created awhile back. I had accidentally found it, but forgot to bookmark it, and I had a hell of a time trying to find it again under the title Powerizers Pro=/=Powerizer No topic.

Here is the link to the original post:  http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/empty-t1362.0.html;msg33104#msg33104

I have included my interpretations of the pictures mountainman posted, and how I did the mod. And then I will include the message that I received from mountainman after I was done. I am sure either method is fine. I just wanted to make sure my holes were vertical. The main difference between my way and mountainman is that I used a drill press and he used a hand drill.

In order to use the drill press you need to detach the footplate bar so it can be drilled. (I apologize for those in the metric system, since the Powerizers are in metric, but the new parts are American and so you will need to find equivalent dimensions.)

1.   Remove the bolts using 13mm socket wrenches from the footplate bar to detach it from the foot plate support bar
2.   Remove the bolts from the footplate bar to detach it from the vertical bar
3.   Remove the nuts from the footplate support rods
4.   Use a ¼" bit to drill the hole from the bottom side of the footplate.
5.   The screws that I will be using are ¼" #20 x 1-1/2” flat head
6.   The screws have a 7/16" head
7.   I then drill a countersink on the topside of the footplate with a 7/16" bit. (The plate is only 4 mm thick so you need to set it carefully on your drill press.)
8.   I pre-drilled a ¼" hole in a 3/4" x 9/16" rubber stopper.
9.   Put the screw through the hole, put the rubber stopper on the screw with the widest part on the plate, and then use ¼" washer and nut to secure.
10.   You can tighten the nut, as you need, to reduce the amount of tilt your plate will move.
11.   Reassemble in the reverse order to reattach the footplate. Also, you can use lubricant on the bolts and nuts of the joints on the footplate.

This stopper is perfect for providing a tension that is based upon your compression weight, and smoothly distributed over the tilting movement. It also limits the amount of tilt, and this does feel much more natural. Before, it would just instantly tilt at the slightest weight shift causing unsettling forward movement and loss of balance. Overtime, the rubber stopper will be need to be replaced as it will soften from use.

Also, if you decide the tilting footplate is not for you, remove the rubber stopper and then just tighten from underneath with the washer and nut. The plate will no longer move. This is a slight alternative to this post: http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/empty-t1538.0.html (pros with still footplate), as you would have created a countersink for the screw head.

From Mountainman

I used a hand drill with a 1/4 inch drill. I drilled a smaller pilot hole before using the 1/4 bit. After, I used a countersunk bit and was careful to not go to deep. I don't remember the length of the bolt but I might have listed it on my posting.

The important thing is what to use as a spring. I had something like a half-inch rubber pad in my tool chest. I had bought it from MSC. MSC has a ton of stuff on line and you can look at their website for something appropriate.

Thanks again mountainman for your mod.

Although my method is more elaborate and time consuming, I feel I gained a tremendous amount of confidence in the knowledge of how my Powerizer is put together.

KeepOn Bocking

I can't run it inside. Since I have shorter legs, I had to put some hard flip flops to raise my foot so I no longer get banged by the top of the spring attachement on my hamstrings when I tuck on my jumps. This has caused my shoe to be higher up on the support rods, and thus no room for the binding straps. My shoe almost touches the bars.

I would think drilling through nylon is a lot easier then drilling through aluminum and why would I want to go buy a normal plate? My solution does not cost any more money.

I'm not sure what you don't get.

The straps and clips on the Pro model bites, and I wanted to put on Snowboard bindings. However, since they now attache at the back of the heel on a vertical plate, the titlting action causes the bindings to rub on the footplate support bar. This will cause the bindings to wear out faster and eventually break.

To prevent the bindings from being rubbed against the support bar, I resized the original straps to the size in the picture and attached the bindings. This gives the additional length for the rubbing to occur on the webbing and not on the binding. Replacing webbing is a lot cheaper then replacing bindings.

And the heel binding is now attached to the original heel strap that came with the Pro.

With the new Powerizer Pro series, they have removed most of the footplate and welded a vertical heel plate where the back heel straps are secured.

Initially, I removed the default foot straps that come with the Powerizer Pro series and attached snowboard bindings. Although the default buckles look cool, they are a pain to pinch open and the straps are not very comfortable.

After testing the new bindings, I found that the tilting of the footplate caused the heel bindings to rub along the footplate support bar. This looked like it would cause the binding strap to wear out faster.

So I cut the original strap webbing to these lengths, punched holes through it, and then reattached them. I then screwed in the heel binding to it.

I found this mod sensible. However, when I put the 1/2" rubber hose on the nuts, it tended to pop off. I cut small strips of hockey tape and wrapped the nut first. Then I slipped the 1/2" hose. This helps prevent the hose from popping off. For the hex bolts the 1/2" hose stays just fine, but I put tape on them anyway.

I found these rubber screw protectors at the hardware store. Cut the length and they stay on great.

The last picture is of the Pro heel strap attachment nuts cover with rubber screw protectors cut to length.