The Juggling Edge - Rolla Bolla sliding forward

rainbowalice - 2020-07-03 16:22:34 UTC #

Rolla Bolla sliding forward

Hello,

I've recently started the rolla bolla and have a problem: as I balance and roll left and right, the cylinder slowly slides forward under the board.

I take care to align the cylinder and the board properly. What would cause it to slide forward? Am I putting too much of my weight towards the back or the front? Are my feet somehow not in the right place?

I'm using a play juggling rolla bolla (so it has rubber bands on the cylinder) and I'm practicing on carpet.

Any thoughts appreciated, thanks :-)

Mini - 2020-07-03 20:14:55 UTC - Parent #

The best advice i can give for RolaBola is this

its all in the shoulders.

if you focus on keeping those level and static you can forget about whats going on further down.

7b_wizard - 2020-07-03 21:11:19 UTC - Parent #

does the carpet have thicker and thinner areas maybe so that your roller boller isnt level, else i dont know.

Daniel Simu - 2020-07-04 14:45:37 UTC - Parent #

It would be the easiest to help you if you provide a video, but my guess would be that you rotate the board a bit when you move, and that way walk the board backwards.
If you check to see if the alignment remains correct while you're balancing, maybe you find out what's going on?

Also, carpet is great when you're just starting out, but as soon as you don't feel like the rola bola is dangerous any more, I'd recommend to move to a harder floor. For example you could put a wooden board under the roll, so you can keep training on the same place in the room.

Good luck!

rainbowalice - 2020-07-04 20:08:22 UTC - Parent #

Ok, thanks for your input everyone :-)

I think I'll start by getting a board to put on the floor so I can practice on a hard surface (presumably it doesn't need to be bigger than the balancing board itself?) and if that doesn't help, I'll film myself to see if I'm somehow moving the board on top of the cylinder when I balance.

I will post updates here :-)

rainbowalice - 2020-07-11 20:10:19 UTC - Parent #

I've solved the issue!

It took more than a week of frustration, trying to change how I moved, ensuring my hips were not twisting, checking how I put my weight on the board and so on until it turned out the problem was the Rolla Bolla.

The Play Bolla has small ridges inside which a thick rubber band is fitted. This provides better grip with the board. I've not yet determined which components was wrong (the ridge, the band or the fitting) but it turned out the rubber bands caused a small asymmetry in the cylinder, which in turn caused the board to slide one way or the other.

I have proven this theory by simply removing the rubber bands - the problem was solved instantly.

I've not tried to put them back yet (which is why I don't know if the issue was the fitting or one of the parts) as I like it more this way anyway, it feels more responsive.

I will write to Play and ask them their thoughts on this. If this is common they should put a note with the product.

Thanks everyone who chipped in some suggestions!