Mike “Thrasher” Traster was part of the original hydro jetpack riding crew. Mike defined what was possible and inspired many others to jump on a hydro jetpack and define their own limits. Mike has continued to push the limits and develop a unique style that resonates confidence, style and creativity. Backwards slaloms are the smoothest in the biz, rodeo flips from the top, and all of the element linked together into the most action packed two minutes in the biz. An amazing run brought a re-energized Traster back to the top of the podium in the JABA Aquaboard Championship in Nishikinohama Park, Osaka, Japan. Mike Traster is the man, in black. Continue reading
X·Jets builds the world’s best selling and best built, serious hydroflight jetpack. The years we have been building, we have continually improved the X·Jetpack with feedback from the first time users and the pros that use our products.
Ran Xiao Qiang, in Xi’an China, knocking out the previously mythical front flip with casual ease. The elusive Frontflip had been documented once or twice before in blurry cell phone video segments and many times in verbal legend, this proves what is possible. Frontflip followed by Backflip just to show the control. Riding the X-Jets Jetblade, Ran shows that limits are only in your mind and redefines the relationship of East to West progression.
X-Jets, Stratospheric Industries, is now the proud sponsor of the China National Team for Hydroflight jetboards and jetpacks! The team selected X-Jets Jetblades and X-Jetpacks based on the superior quality of the gear, superior performance, and ease of maintenance. The China team situation is an amazing one, unlike anything else in the world. Designed to develop and foster the growth of the next generation of hydro athletes, a marine sports school on the shore of a beautiful lake in eastern China. Forty lucky young athletes live in a dormitory, eat, sleep, and live marine sports. Jetskis, stand up jet skis, jetboards and now jetpacks. The training is for shows and competitions, building the talent pool and ability levels in advance of the needs for competition. Athletes eat a healthy diet, run 5 kilometers in the morning, and then start to practice on the best marine equipment, SeaDoo, Yamaha, Rickter stand ups, etc. Jetblades are naturally the best hydro jetboards available, and the team is fully stocked. X-Jetpacks are new to the mix and the team caught on to flying quick!
Dual 180 from X-Jets, the most technically advanced, beautifully finished, carefully engineered 180 U redirect in all of hydrosport. X backs up the superior engineering with careful attention to fit and finish. X anticipates high stress areas and goes and extra step to insure longevity and quality. The CNC lathe finished 316 stainless steel inolet port on the Dual 180. Higer stresses are on the mounting side and non-linear torques. We decided to up the ante and make it stainless. All this computer flow shaped goodness wrapped inside high temp powder coating inside and out with hard wearing thick epoxy graphics.
The proof is in the putting. Hydro-Fest top podium winner Ben Merrell. This is the power that hydro has been waiting for.
$250 upgrade from standard X-Jets silicone U.
#superiority #xjets #trustx #
Ball bearings are what make things spin and in X-Jets hose swivels and thrust nozzles, the life of the friction free hydroflight party. Hard round balls that ride in precision machined channels, taking up all the stresses and force and letting you steer and fly with precision. The balls have to resist salt water corrosion, metals are out of the question, so the first choice is Acetal, POM Copolymer (Delrin®) (Celcon®) (Acetron®) engineering plastic with great wear resistance. What if you want to spring for the next level of friction resistance to alleviate the occasional sticking of the action of your board or jetpack when you have grit in?
Ceramic ball bearings are a step up in performance, they are hard, harder than almost any other materials. They are twice as hard as stainless steel and an in an entirely different class of hardness than conventional Acetal bearings, incomparable. Hard means they roll easier, grind up sand granules and never need lubrication, completely resistant to absorbing water and will never corrode, will never wear out.
Ceramic bearings are performance items and are expensive, for the rider looking for every advantage, they are unbeatable. Ceramic, M8 (actual 7.93mm), G5, 128 pieces in a set, for the Jetblade by X-Jets. $620, free shipping.
We came across a new term the other day the “high heel effect”, discussing the relative height of the base of the foot over the centerline of the nozzles. Flydive positions its one key tech, that the lower foot mounting points reduced the “torque” that can overpower a rider’s ankles. This is the same erroneous basis as the now infamous spontaneous death spiral meme spawned by our esteemed competitor. Jet forces “overpowering” the rider and leading to a dramatic crash. Let’s review the claim in it’s stated form.
DRS Tech™ stands for Dynamic Response & Stability Technology, it’s unique to FlyDive and solves two very important performance challenges. In other boards, foot positioning higher above the bearing rotational axis creates stronger torque on the ankles, a feeling we call the “high heel effect”. Balance corrections from a higher platform feel heavier on the ankles for both beginners and pros alike, and can overpower the rider, causing a crash. Additionally, a higher foot platform raises the center of gravity of the rider, and contributes to over-committed body lean and stability challenges for beginners. With FlyDive’s proprietary DRS Tech™ design, the feet are placed lower and closer to the rotational axis than any other board on the market (half as high). This empowers beginners to make small balance corrections easily and gain stability naturally, while advanced flyers enjoy better response for quick directional changes during tricks. DRS Tech™ endows the X-Board with the widest performance range available, making it the one board the entire family can learn on quickly, and progress all the way up through advanced skill levels.
*courtesy Jetpack America website.
Let’s talk about the myth of the HiHE, high heel effect and it’s evil big brother, the SDS, spontaneous death spiral. The terminology is the same, although downplayed from the hysteria of the full blown death spiral mythology. The technical term for flexing at the ankle is dorsiflexion and plantar flexion. Lifting your toes and pointing your toes down. the key movement in walking, standing and naturally, hydroflight jetboards.
Limited Series Founder’s edition July 2016, Steath Black, Dual 180 “Shotgun” U
Stratospheric is always looking for more power and less cavitation in hydroflight power channels. Strato looked at the options and listened to the discussions and inputs from all sources and research through the historical records. Applying the theories to jet ski powered water jetpacks and modelling them in three dimensional computer software and then running high powered water flow simulations to optimize the results. X’s being able iterate, modeling new geometry and re-run simulations in a cycle resulted in a tuning of the channel shape, split and the structure of the chambers for an optimized flow. Two channels, one result, a more streamlined water flow with less mixing, turbulence. Cleaner power. X’s new 2016 Dual 180 splits the water flow coming out of the pump into two streams around the U bend, minimizes power robbing intermixing, guiding through the 180 degree turn toward the front of the ski, and seamlessly recombining the flow into a blast directed at your ongoing conflict with gravity. Look at the sculpted geometry, this is what sets apart X from the rest. Design is what we do, design is our strength and experience, combined with decades of CAD experience in surface modeling. The ability to sculpt 3D surfaces into smooth water flowing channels. Look at the smooth geometry inside and out, this is what water loves to slide against!
To prove the theory in practice, we took some big blocks of billet aluminum alloy, had our CNC machinist honed out the first of the new dual channels for real world testing, welding the two shells together and attaching CNC milled flanges with our marine grade 316 alloy hardware. We gave sent the Dual 180 to Ben Merrell for testing at the Hydro Jam in Austin Texas. Boom! Ben got out of the water shaking with adrenalin. Power in spades.
Once again we saw the commitment and dedication of hydroflight athletes involved in the recent Hydro Fest competition in Nevada. People traveled from across the US (and beyond) to compete and show their stuff. We know we are lucky to be able to create hydrosport gear and be able to participate in such an exciting, fun growing sport. However, we seem to be using use the word “serious” a lot these days when we talk about the way we do the business. Hydro sport is maturing, opening up and we are finally getting the chance to openly compare different products, company approaches and gear. We treat our product development seriously and know that all of the people that purchase and ride hydroflight sport gear feel the same. We value your choosing X-Jets and want to support you in your pursuits and businesses.
With respect, that we feel is equal to what all our customers put into our hydroflight gear, X is to raising its commitment bar with our new X+ lifetime warranty on Y tubes and Nozzles of Jetblades and X-Jetpacks, two of the key structural elements that keep your gear flying. By lifetime, we mean the lifetime of the product, which we consider to be 8 years for personal use, four years for rental use. For the lifetime of the Jetblade or Jetpack, we will repair or replace any Y-tube or nozzle that fails to perform due to materials, workmanship or regular wear and tear. This includes rental and professional use, including riders like Ben and Hunter and working pros like Jake (yes, we know there are not many riders like Ben and Hunter and Jake… )
(Jetpack nozzle assemblies consist of the nozzle, arm flex link and upper arm telescoping tube. The nozzle section with the bearing, sealing and torsion bar containment tube is covered by the X+ warranty.)
X-Jets premiers the hydro splat logo. 3D to the core, splat to the action. Hydroflight sport gets the continuation of the real revolution. Chrome seriousness and hydronomic frenetic extremity. Stickers available. Don’t get it tattooed. X design born in the USA. Hydroflight for life.
