I have a question about rola-bolas.

Marlon - 2012-05-13 21:27:57 UTC - Parent #

Assuming you mean something that stops the board from rolling of the pipe, no they aren't necessary if your board is long enough.
I use a very long board (90cm) and I never even come close to leaving the pipe.
I have no experience with shorter boards so maybe it is a good idea to add them if your board is a lot shorter.

What are the 'normal' sizes for rola bolas?
In my case pipe diameter(16.5cm) and board length(90cm) are determined by what I had laying around.

Little Paul - 2012-05-14 09:29:03 UTC - Parent #

The stoppers are a handy safety measure if you're learning, but they're not essential. They're there to stop the pipe from going outside your footprint (which can be the cause of some pretty spectacular wipe outs!)

A fairly reasonable rule of thumb is to make the board a little wider than your natural "feet about shoulder width apart" stance.

With pipe diameters, the larger the diameter the easier it is to ride but the more impressive it looks. I think most commercially manufactured rolabolas I've seen have been 6" pipe (about 16cm) although my preferred rolabola is 15" mains gas pipe (about 38cm) diameter.

I used to have two made from that pipe, but I lent one to swamp circus a long time ago and am unlikely to ever see it again (not that I'm in any rush to)

If anyone wants it, I've got about 1.5m of 5" gas pipe which is probably enough to make 4 rolas. I can bring it to #bbu13 or you can pick it up from Bristol (UK) some time reasonably soonish.

If I've still got it by the time I get back from #bbu13 it'll go to the tip.

henriloik - 2012-05-14 21:38:23 UTC - Parent #

thanks. Rola bola is not as hard as I thought it was. I have heard some people say that non jugglers aren't that impressed by them if you only have one roller. IS that true?
Anyways rola bola is a lot of fun.

Little Paul - 2012-05-15 06:09:51 UTC - Parent #

Impressiveness to non-jugglers almost entirely depends on how "hard" (or dangerous) you make it look.

For example, my rolabola skills are sufficient that I can stand on a single tube without moving at all. That's not the slightest bit impressive to an audience.

Yet if I "drive" the balance so I'm wobbling all over the place making it look like I'm having a hard time staying up there it increases the feeling of jeopardy which is much more "impressive".

Using a small platform such as a suitcase isn't significantly more difficult than doing it on the ground, but that extra bit of height makes an audience more worried about your safety - which increases their reaction.

If your board is shorter than your inside leg measurement, go for a jump mount, but only land with one foot. The board will swing up and slap the inside of your leg. It's a bit "slapstick" but it's never failed to get an "oooh! that was close" reaction for me.

If you want an example of how to sell a single tube to great effect, Phil Blackmore springs to mind:
https://youtu.be/1DMs9xBDnIc

All that said, learn a 2 roller stack, or use a bowling ball instead of the pipe. It's much harder than any of the above and you sound like the sort of person who would enjoy the challenge anyway!

Marlon - 2012-05-15 21:57:08 UTC - Parent #

That's the video I watched before deciding I should try rola bola.

I especially loved the 'what? Is that not impressive enough?' since I'd watched gladiator only a few hours earlier.