List Price: $99.99
Sale Price: $59.87
Today's Bonus: 40% Off
I am 44 years old. I bike, I ski, I in-line skate. When I first saw a college student riding one of these, I asked him about it. He said "try it!" I almost did, but I didn't, for fear I would fall and die. I mean, only two wheels? And I didn't have my helmet with me.
I finally broke down and bought one after seeing some cool videos on the internet. After putting on my helmet, and my knee and elbow pads and my wrist guards, I took it out into the parking lot today.
The first ride is very scary, like riding a buttered block of ice, and lasts only about 1 second. After about five rides I'm up to five seconds and smiling my butt off.
For the next half hour I can't stop smiling, even when I fall off (once). After this time, I'm able to make left turns, and I can even go uphill by doing a sort of manic twist to gain momentum. My longest ride is about 30 seconds.
If you consider yourself coordinated, well-balanced, and reasonably athletic, I recommend this product to you, regardless of your age. It works perfectly, and presents a new athletic challenge that is well worth mastering. The independent steering of the front and back wheels adds a whole new dimension to the fun. The challenge of staying on the board will get you sweating without even realizing you are exercising.
The Ripstik Caster Board is a revolutionary product, just as significant, I think, as the in-line skate. Buy one before you get too old for it.
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This is a description of most types of boards based on the experiences of my son (15), my daughter (9), and me (48):Skateboards Fun for jumping tricks (grinds, board flips, etc.). Casterboards are more maneuverable and fun than skateboards on a street, but less fun at skateparks. Soularc Skateboards have one curved deck on top of another for a springy carving feel. Flowboards have 7 wheels in a semicircle in front and 7 wheels in a semicircle in back for a snowboard feel. Sole Skates are small, three-wheeled skateboards. Longboards are longer and wider skateboards.
RipStiks Like skateboards but with two small decks connected by a crossbar, and two inline casterwheels which swivel 360 degrees. Seems safer than skateboards because RipStiks don't easily shoot out from under you (they just flop onto their sides). The wheels might show some wear fairly quickly, but even with flattened wheels they're way more fun than skateboards for zipping around on the street. We're able to take apart our RipStik casters and clean them, but not our Wave Board casters, giving RipStiks an advantage over Waves. RipStik Gs have metal crossbars for doing grinds. RipStik Airs are molded into a single piece of plastic, and feel stiffer than RipStiks. Ripsters are smaller to fit younger kids.
Wave Boards Like RipStiks, but with shorter crossbars. Makes more of a "clatter" noise than our RipStik. Wave Ripples are smaller to fit younger kids. ExBoards, X-Boards, EssBoards, VigorBoards, Cudas, Freeriders, and eXtreme boards are similar to RipStiks/Waves.
WhipTides Like RipStiks, but with four inline casterwheels. The crossbar bends up-down and side-to-side, unlike RipStiks. Can do tighter turns and slaloms than RipStiks. Can't do jumps or lift one wheel off of the ground. There's a slight "wiggle" motion as you go faster. I'm more aggressive on RipStiks since they don't wiggle, but my daughter prefers the wiggle because it helps her get moving. Shred Sleds and Alive Boards are similar to WhipTides. Hurricane Boards and Cycle Force Swingboards appear to be WhipTides with only two inline casterwheels.
Xgliders (Xliders) Have two separate (unattached) casterboard decks, so they're a bit tricky to learn and easy to lose your balance or do the splits. Can do different tricks and tighter turns and slaloms than RipStiks/Waves/WhipTides. You can't just step on and go, like with RipStiks. Instead, you place the two decks onto the ground, carefully step on one at a time, then go. RipSkates are like Xgliders, but with a removable crossbar. I made a RipSkate clone by bolting a crossbar between our Xglider decks, and it's very fun because it allows you to do tight turns (even better than a WhipTide) without the danger of your feet going in different directions. RipSkates provide two different riding experiences for the price of one. Freeline Skates are similar to Xgliders, but the wheels don't spin 360 degrees. OrbitWheels have separate decks as well, but your feet are *inside* the wheels.
PowerWings Have safer features than RipStiks (two casterwheels in back plus a wheel in front for stability, and handlebars with brakes). You face forward and move your hips side-to-side, but on casterboards you face sideways and use a twisting movement with your hips. It's easy to lean too far back and flip over, but with practice this allows doing wheelies. Some PowerWings have safety bars at the back to prevent flipping over. Rip Rider 360s are similar, but they have a big plastic wheel in front with pedals, and kids ride them sitting down. Trikkes and "Slider The Unscooter" are also three-wheeled, but with unique methods of propulsion.
Bladeboards Like RipStiks, but the casters are designed differently. We cleaned and lubricated the casters, and put in new bearings, but it still feels sluggish and noisy compared to RipStiks. Bladeboards don't appear to be sold anymore.
PumpRockrs Skateboards with one casterwheel in front. Can't make tight turns like casterboards can. T-Boards are skateboards with two casterwheels, but don't appear to be as maneuverable as RipStiks. OBoards appear to be PumpRockrs.
TimberWolf XtreeMs Similar to RipStiks, but the casters are designed differently. My kids and I are experienced riders, but we felt cautious at first because the TimberWolf is quite a bit faster and more maneuverable than RipStiks/Waves/WhipTides. The casters can go forward or backward, so you can swap ends as you ride, and do 360s. RollerSurfers have different casters, but they also allow you to swap ends and do 360s.
Streetboards Like skateboards, but the decks are in three sections. Your feet rotate the outer sections to propel the board, and you can strap into bindings on the footplates (optional). Good for jumping tricks (grinds, etc.), but not as maneuverable and fun as casterboards on the street. Snakeboards are shorter versions of Streetboards. It took us several days to figure out how to ride our Snakeboard because the movement is different than with casterboards. Our RipSkate clone is everything that I had hoped the Snakeboard would be. Alterskates had a similar rotating mechanism to propel the board, but no-one at their website responds to emails. LandSharks are kneeboards which you propel similar to Streetboards (using a handlebar).
Bottom line:
We own a skateboard, RipStik, Wave, WhipTide, Xglider, RipSkate clone, Bladeboard, TimberWolf, and Snakeboard, and we've ridden a RipStik G, RipStik Air, PowerWing, PumpRockr, Flowboard, and LandShark. Our favorite boards are: RipSkate, TimberWolf, WhipTide, RipStik, and Wave (in that order). To do carving/twisting/turning/spinning around the street, casterboards are best. To do jumping tricks, skateboards and Streetboards are best. At skateparks, skateboards are best.
About the wheels:
We replaced our worn-down RipStik wheels with two good wheels from our Xglider, and put the flattened RipStik wheels onto our Xglider. Strangely, we didn't notice much of a difference in the feel of the RipStik or the Xglider. After 20 minutes, the rear wheel on the RipStik had worn down a bit, but RipStiks/Waves are fun even when the wheels are flattened (until it becomes excessive). The wheels on our other boards don't seem to wear down very quickly.
For some videos of my kids and me playing a casterboard game that we invented, search for "Caster Soccer" at YouTube. Another fun game is playing "tag" on casterboards. We wear protective gear when trying new boards or tricks. Skate safely!
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I am 13, i am 5 6 and 130 pounds. i have always had good balance and, extra money. i was looking at this on amazon and the first time i saw it i was like "what?" and then i went over to my friends house and he had one and was like sweet. i was looking a waveboards but he had a ripstick, which i like a lot better.he has a sort of steep driveway, but not really, so i just stepped on and let the speed keep me balanced. so i guess i am different because he thought i had definatley ridden on one before. i hadnt. then i started ging around his driveway when he told me how to move, so it was a lot of fun. i picked it up you could say in 5 minutes, and then i went out and bought one and mastered it in the first 2 days. now i just do tricks as it gets boring just riding around. i can go up massive hills, but not back down them. i tried that once, picked up a ton more spped than i thought, i jumped off and somersaulted into the pavement and into a telephone pole. there is absolutely no way to stop, you have to carve to slow down!
for me it is a great way to get around, and since not a lot of people have them everyone thinks its really cool when i show them. not really for kids, but my brother is 10 and he learned on mine in about a week. he then went on to buy his own and has mastered it as well. i havnt had any wheel problems like people say they do, and mine are perfectly in tact after having it for 3 months of HEAVY HEAVY riding. mine is all squeaky and stuff, and is very loud down hills, but thats because i trash mine from messing up tricks. its not too bad, but is definatly different than my brother's whose is really silent. he doesnt like to do tricks or anything so i guess that explains why.
very heavy duty, worth the money absolutely. great toy, makes you want to go outside. know your limits and know if you would actually use one of these. id say get one, these things are sick.
*they are higher off the ground than they look in the picture*
Honest reviews on Ripstik Caster Board
I bought this thing about 3 weeks ago after I saw a kid riding it around a college campus. After maybe 5 minutes of me holding onto my car to stay balanced, I was riding around nervously. A few days later, I was riding around parking lots, no problem! Much easier than a skateboard.Now onto durability--3 weeks later, I was carving down a hill just like I'd snowboard. Wicked fun, right? ...Not so much. After only 3 trips down the hill, the back wheel wore ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE PLASTIC. It's completely smoked. 3 weeks, man!
The good news is, you don't have to buy the replacement "ripstik" wheels. They're identical to rollerblade wheels. If you have an old junk pair of rollerblades somewhere, you have 8 spare back wheels. With just an allen wrench, I was able to swap in the ripstik bearing (the inner diameter a little bigger than my rollerblade bearings) into the rollerblade wheel, and I was good to go! The front wheel doesn't wear out (with my style anyway), so I'm good for another 3*8=24 weeks. I'll get back on craigslist to get a new set of junk rollerblades when I need more!
