How much would you pay for a pair of stilts...

[webmaster]

The situation is this, Lothar has made a precision engineered frame, and in my opinion, just looking at the parts that make up the frame you can tell without a doubt that they are extremely high quality - he is also a perfectionist so I know everything will work superbly.

Lothar is willing to come to England to set up a meet so something that Locky is suggesting is a possibility. A very telling test is if the same springs are used in both frames too to see how much difference the SpeedJumper frame would make to performance as I think there probably would just be minimal height difference.

I'm all behind bringing these stilts to the UK but my issue simply is that at the moment I know of only 4 people who will be willing to pay that sort of money of these stilts and if Powerskip sales are anything to go by then not many more will be sold. I know these can sideline Powerskips without a doubt and take their market share but in the UK that share is not that great anyway - the propose of this thread is to identify if there is more UK users willing to put their hands in their pockets so if there is come out the woodworks please

[K-rock]

I see mention of the Exos and these having the same hooves. Though looking at the pictures from your shop, and of the SJ themselves they look very different to me.

Now looking at that. It's a solid thick piece of aluminum. The exos pictured in the shop use just rubber hooves.

There were two models of hooves tested on the Exos, the all rubber Mk.3 AND the similar to SJs Mk.2

I'm sure you'll see pictures, but the Mk.3's came out on top for everyone I think, and lasted for longer than 20 hours for me. I'll try and find the pictures on what hapened to my Mk.2 hoof.

[Locky]

This is really heresay but suppose Naz, such a test took place and the results of the 2 brands being directly compared were not that overwhelming...what would be the selling point of the speedjumpers :/

[webmaster]

Ok its like this and I hate saying this...

But take the PowerSkip and compare it to the Original Pro-Jump, at the time we started selling them the unique selling point for customers was the spring, but over the last two years the spring height you would get from both is similar and the durability of the Pro-Jump spring  is better than the Powerskip, but for me the PowerSkip frame quality has always been its USP, you can just see the better quality aluminium and the better finish and I would say the same about the SpeedJumper frame - its about how much you appreciate the part quality but that comes with a price its whether you think that is worth paying 4 times more for yourself. 

[dark-castles2]

Surely it would be easier just to buy them straight from Lothar then Naz? instead of going through PJ, means you don't loose money and LOthar gets all the profit :S
DC

[webmaster]

At the moment, its probably better for Lothar to sell to the UK through Pro-Jump due to the way the patent contract and royalties work. There is not much profit in selling these stilts for me and Lothar can confirm this, that is the reason why I am trying to see if there is a market for them as after administration costs I probably will not be making anything on them - the only reason I am doing this or even considering it is to give a greater choice to the UK consumers as I don't want them missing out or having to travel to Germany to buy them. This post is to see if its better to get them in so we can delivery next day or simply order them in for customers as and when they want them.

[Speedjumper]

;-)

[dark-castles2]

Although it would be nice to say next day, I think it would be more viable to have them sent from Germany
DC

[aidanh1]

I see what you mean Naz with profits and things so you could like get a few put them on a limited time only offer see how well they sell, if its amazingly well then you take them on if they don't sell because conservative are raising tax and making everyone poor then don't take them on

Easy peasy  

Not jason

(don't ask why I thought it would be funny )

[XDvandalDJ]

Next day would be ideal.

But how long would an order take to get to the customer if it's made by the order?

A week? 4?

If it's a speedy time frame doing it by the order would be your safest bet. But if it'll take a month then I'm sure that would make most people change their mind and order something they can get quicker. When getting stilts people want to start using them like right away.

[webmaster]

Naz, I agree with Locky about warranty.
I was told by Lothar that Germany has a 2 year warranty system, which sound amazing, if this is available in the UK I would be more willing to pay out more for a decent set
DC

I'm not sure whether the spring or parts such as bushings etc is covered by that? I would have thought that the 2 years covers the frame only.

[Jason]

I disagree with the next day bit

If you are spending £1000+ on something next day delivery is not the most important thing I mean how many people don't buy Skips because it takes a couple of weeks to get them

Quality and a good warranty are far more important

The sort of person buying them will already have at least one pair and probably more and is not gonna change their mind and buy PJ's just because they can get them quicker

When it boils down to it they seem to be the only top range stilt on the market that has a reliable higher weight spring so you can't just buy something different as there isn't a direct competitor

So it's like buying a Rolls/Morgan/Nobel you order and wait because it is the best

Jason 

By the way the wife read this over my shoulder and said "How Much !!"  It has just taken me 10 mins to calm her down and assure her that I won't be buying some unless we win the lottery 

[lynch]

ok my 2 pence worth 

naz i think they will be alot like the skips with only a verry small market also look at how many skips and skips pro's you sold i think it was the same with them if people was going to get skips they saved up that little bit more to get the pro as i know paul self got the skips then wanted to sell them for a long time as the pro came out as they dont have the foot plate and the skips do which was its main usp and the main usp for these is just the frams i think that for projump to import them and sell them would prob be a wast and if people do want them just wait for them with the longer order

i feel that projump is are the best stilts out there for everyone and vaule for money and i have bought most of the new modles as projump have brought them out from v5,v6 and the exo pro and cuff and bindings and all that jazz    so i will only stick with projump and i cant afford that much i got away with getting exo pro but that was a whole months wage but had to have them so that my 2 pence worth 

[Paul-Self]

The thing that is really exciting for me and many others I'm sure is a high end pair of stilts with cheap replacement parts as I posted earlier 325 pounds is silly money for a pair of skip springs their is always gonna be people who want high end priced stilts however small that Market is their is a Market and I think it would be a huge shame for these stilts not to hit the uk

As I said before people really need to try these stilts to feel the difference

[Speedjumper]

There are 2 points to balance:

If Naz would stock them, delivery would be as fast as now with the Exo etc. Even if it would be better for me too get larger orders at a time to plan and produce there is a pitfall. Naz cannot stock so much that she could take care for the best fitting springs for an order. If she would stock 10 or 20 Speedjumper Professional....which size?? 60th, 80th? Nobody will  know, which orders will come in.

On the other hand....if we produce and customize after an order the Stilts will be perfect as possible for the Customer, but it could happen, that the charge in Germany is sold out, and a customer have to wait.

I don't know the answer, i just want to show the things and how they depend on each other.

Ok, many customer have also wait on the Exos for weeks or month, and when the stilts of the right size is sold out, we have the same problems also with cheap stilts.

Here for our Speedjumper customers, we re-assamble the stilts (also the cheap ones) to fit the best spring size, but that is much work.

A solution for Naz could be, to stock the base SJ Stilts and re-assemble the right Springs accourding to incoming orders. But that's not the way it works in UK, if you will get the best low prices. Than you cannot put a hand on each jumper.

So I think the most realistic way would be....not to stock it, wait like you must do for a customized car (hu hu Jason ;-) ) but you will get the most perfect fitting Speedjumper for your weight and skill. The fact that we deliver two different Types of Stilt makes the facts above not easier.

About the warranty for the Speedjumper:

We gave 2 years for the whole frame including bearings. We can, because you will not need to change the bearings, because the precision. The frames are out of doubt. You can give them to the kids of your kids, if you are to old to use them some day. ;-)  

The rubbers for the Speedjumper hooves are not under warranty ;-) but as I showed earlier, it's a cheap part, and you can make it more longlasting if you bring it to your coupler.

With the springs....same problem for Naz. If the springs are ok, they will also in the SJ Stilts. And because the torsion power of Speedjumper Stilts is less than the Exos Frame, they will have less problems if any.

[aidanh1]

I like the idea of making them customized for the person it gives it a more personal and meaningful style to the Speedjumpers.
I really wish I had the money for these beautiful stilts the precision that is used in making them must be the best quality

So... Christmas is coming up who's getting me these?

Brother Aidan

[XDvandalDJ]

Alright I retract my statement about next day being the best option.

If I was able to get stilts customized to me. Like with the adjusting footplate, ect. I'd wait for them.

But that warranty is outstanding. 2 years for bearings? Awesome.

[Speedjumper]

[aidanh1]

You should edit your photos size in photo shop before posting to give the viewers an easier image to see

But is that the adjustable foot plate?

[Speedjumper]

Second Pic is perfect for Size 42. Last Adjust is good for Size 48. The Position is adjustable in a range of 6cm total.

[XDvandalDJ]

I wear size 16 us. So anything that can get bigger is a huge improvement in my opinion.

[Speedjumper]

I had a customer with 110kg and huge feet. We customize him a special pair of footplates, which are more width for a small additional fee ;-)

That's what I mean by...we can customize individually. Itm US 13 is the standard lenght which is "build in". Each US Number is 1cm more. 16 is very huge but I thing 2 cm more are possible without problems.



For some people it will be important to notice, that the SJ Models have a shorter vertical bar, too. Because we know people how have problems to bend the legs 90degree with the "normal" models. ;-)

[XDvandalDJ]

How much shorter is it?

[Speedjumper]

3 Centimeter!

[XDvandalDJ]

That's about all the distance I've put padding on stilts for the shorter members of my club. Sounds awesome to me. It won't matter for my legs but I'm sure all the short folks out there will greatly enjoy it.