Balance board opinions?

[dr. sandman]

I saw a couple past threads that mentioned balance boards, but no comparisons:

Does anyone have any experience with more than one type of board and thus have a preference of one over another?
I'm looking at the Indo, Vew Do and Bongo boards.
Any feedback?

Also, looks like one could laminate and turn a roller on a wood lathe and maybe affix a track to a regular skateboard deck to emulate the Vew Do type of board? Anyone tried fabricating one?

[bobble]

i have a vew-doo. its okay to stand on top of it while watching tv but thats about it.

i think an indo board would be more practical because you can place the board any which way you want. not so with the vew-doo.

i had a 4-inch piece of PVC laying around and a wide board. i placed the board on top of the PVC almost along the axis of the PVC. i put my feet perpendicular to the axis of the PVC. the movement was almost like snowboarding... like i was rolling from edge to edge. i didn't have any friction take so the board kept slipping out.

there's alot of websites on how to make your own balance board.

[Jim]

I use the Indo Pro for walking to transition from shortboarding to longboarding. It's longer than the standard Indo board and will hold more weight if you weigh more than 200#. Haven't been dumped hard yet.

[SWriverstone]

I have a Vew-Do board and love it. It lives in my kitchen, where I have a hard, thin carpet which is perfect to do it on. The Vew-Do has a rail running the length of the underside of the board that fits into a groove in the wooden "stone."

It's not too difficult to just balance and slide back and forth, though it's harder to hold balance at the very ends of the board. But Vew-Do gets a LOT harder if you start tilting it (the stone has conical ends) and trying to spin.

It's the perfect time-killer while I'm waiting the 5 minutes for the water to boil or my tea to steep!

Scott

[Randy S.]

I found that balance boards got a bit boring after a while. I really like the Bosu ball thing. Its like half a n exercise ball with a deck on it. You can use it like a balance board, but you can also do lots of other exercises on it. Its great for balance, plus you can get a good abs workout. I like to stand on the deck side (bubble side down) and do squats and hold a skier tuck.

Bosu Ball (http://www.bosu.com)

http://www.bosu.com/images/bendreach.jpg

[Hugh]

Another vote for the Indo board. Go with the Original if you want to let other people ride. Beginners will fly off the Pro.

In response to Randy's reply: In my opinion...the Indo Board never gets boring. But then again, I snowboard, water ski, skateboard, surf and Indo already.

Standing on a BALL? The **** stinks!

Go Pro :)

Hugh

[BobD]

"It's the perfect time-killer while I'm waiting the 5 minutes for the water to boil or my tea to steep!"

One of the biggest frustrations for a tea drinking Brit moving to the States, is the puny electric kettles. In the end I wired a 240v outlet in my kitchen and shipped a 3kw kettle over. Boils a US pint in the time it takes to get a cup and tea bag out. Guess thats why I've never felt the need to get a balance board.

BobD

[FTA2R]

from a co worker who's going to surfing camp. far as I know though, she's not into board sports, just FYI, so probably didn't have the balance most of us have already.

so would I be OK on a pro? I don't care about letting other people play with it, I want what i'll get the most out of.


===
Barry

[eddie]

Balance yourself on a yoga ball. They're cheap, easy to find, and mucho hardo to stay on top of. But, if you find that you want a bongo board you can get one at hardbooter.com.

eddie

[Randy S.]

Originally posted by eddie
Balance yourself on a yoga ball.

I saw a pic of a US Ski Team person doing this (with something in their hands, no less). I was impressed. Maybe when my ankle is all healed I'll try this. For now the Bosu is hard enough.

Edit: Check this out: http://www.gordbrownskiing.com/Movies/AJ%20Bear-Roll%20Around.WMV
How about one-legged: http://www.gordbrownskiing.com/Movies/AJ%20Bear-1%20leg%20Swiss%20Ball.WMV

Dang! I gotta try that sometime.

Here's a cool skiing mag article on the Bosu:
Link Here (http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/be_strong/article/0,12910,384502,00.html)

[johann]

I say go for the indo.
The yoga/swiss whatever they are call balls are really fun to play on, but they tend to need a little more room for storage and to even just play on.

I know several trainers that stand on them and do sqauts, great for working on all those stbilizers that us board people like to work on. I've also seen bikers that hop on the thing on a bmx(trials?) frame and hop around on the thing to work on their bike balance.

I think the indo is more fun though.

[eddie]

Have some fun, get a tierney ride.

[dr. sandman]

So at this point, the most hands point to the Indo. With great arguments for the VewDoo and Bosu.

Bobble:

there's alot of websites on how to make your own balance board. Do you have any links to said websites? I wasn't able to locate any?

Eddie:

Have some fun, get a tierney ride. GREAT point - that looks like a great ride as does the Carveboard ( http://www.carveboard.com ), but I was looking for a more indoor type ride.

I know my daughter used a Bosu in a preseason conditioning class and really enjoyed it.

So, once again the dilemma: So many toys....so many choices.....but only so many dollars in the wallet and hours in the day:D

[bobble]

here's one place.

http://www.xshelton.com/users/kathy/balance_board/

i guess i over estimated the number of websites showing how to make your own.

[RJ-PS]

Semi-OT
A guy stopped by a garage sale looking for used bowling balls and he didn't care what condition they were in. I thought that was interesting so I inquired. It turns out that he takes them to a place near his house has them cut them in half. Then he mounts a round wooden unfinished small table top to it and he's done.
Sounds simple and cheap.

[lonerider]

Originally posted by RJ-PS
Semi-OT
A guy stopped by a garage sale looking for used bowling balls and he didn't care what condition they were in. I thought that was interesting so I inquired. It turns out that he takes them to a place near his house has them cut them in half. Then he mounts a round wooden unfinished small table top to it and he's done.
Sounds simple and cheap.

When I was building my rocker board (http://www.livejournal.com/users/atchang/2004/10/18/) (which I'm very pleased actually came out since I don't build thing that often) I noticed that they sold spherical wooden banister tops (or maybe for a fence post) either way I figre you could buy it (for $5) and screw it onto a tabletop as well. Easier to obtain and would make the whole assemblage a bit lighter.

[Gecko]

I have had a Rolo board for 4 years now. I like it because it's useable either end to end or side to side. The Rolo is more of a PT tool that an toy but I have found it to be good for practice

[Skully]

Here's thier website:

Tierney Rides (http://www.tierneyrides.com)

Some of their dealers have demos if you want to try one out. They're definetely fun.

On another note, I tried the balance on the yoga ball thing - dang that's hard!

[dr. sandman]

WAAYYY OT:

Semi-OT
A guy stopped by a garage sale looking for used bowling balls and he didn't care what condition they were in. I thought that was interesting so I inquired. It turns out that he takes them to a place near his house has them cut them in half. Then he mounts a round wooden unfinished small table top to it and he's done.
Sounds simple and cheap.
Reminds me of a line from J. Giles Band No Anchovies Please "That bowling ball, it's my wife!"

Thanks for the link Bobble - good stuff.

Lonerider - NICE Build!!

And Skully - would ya quit teasin' me!!:D