# How to do tow-ins and urban drop-ins



## bubbachubba340 (Feb 10, 2009)

I know you can use a ladder for a drop in sometimes. Not sure how you set your self up at the top though.


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

yeah in videos it looks like a triangle with ladders on each side and a platform on top, i could probably get away with just one ladder and a platform but im not sure how high id need that platform to be and how to make it


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## bubbachubba340 (Feb 10, 2009)

Just use a ladder and put it at a 30 degree angle or whatever you want and put a little transition at the bottom.


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2009)

That'll work for the drop in, they're super simple to make. Also car drop ins its better to buy a wakeboard rope as its used to that pull. Also if you got some cash to spend.. they do have new - pretty pricey - winch systems with wakeboard handles specifically for this purpose and my mates who use them swear by them. I think its called banshee or urban bungee of the top of my head.

Stoked for starting rail riding. Best time for not getting busted is at the crack of dawn, can usually get 2-3 hrs riding depending on location before people show up and call the cops.


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## Suburban Blend (Feb 23, 2008)

Banshee Bungee Urban Assault 10


Banshee Bungee Outlaw 20


Picasa Web Albums - Suburban Blend - Banshee Bunge...


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## Ruskiski (Sep 18, 2009)

There was a discussion on here before about the Banshee Bungee and while I do take off my hat for these people for a really great idea, I just don't like the fact that you have to spend $150 minimum on something that doesn't come with a warranty and has a tendency to break early into use. Even on their website it says that one bungee will last one season for one rider.

BA said to take a few bungees (or shock cords) like 3 of em and braid them together, secure at both ends, whip up a cheap handle out of some nylon rope and a PVC pipe and viola, you have your own banshee bungee that is repairable should it snap. I got more into this idea, did some research and I found this website:

The Original Bungee Co - Wholesale Bungee Cords, Tie Downs, Slings and More!

I weigh 205lb and about 225 fully geared and strapped in, I figured I'd need the 9mm or 3/8ths diameter cords. So, I'm going to get 2 spools of that stuff which will come out to 100' cut them into lengths of 25' each, so I'll have 3 cords of 25 and one as a spare, then learn to braid, I found a link:

YouTube - how to make braided bread

If that's not enough, I'll spend a little more money and do the 5 braid as illustrated here:

YouTube - How To Braid a 5-Strand in Bread

The only thing I'm not sure of is how will the 5 or 4 braids will behave under constant stretching/retracting but I guess trial and error.

Another thing I'm thinking of is if I'll start off with 25 feet, it will probably yield something that's maybe 18' long taken off the top of my head, so stretching it will be a length of 40' (pulling approximate numbers again) so I can even get away with one spool of 50' by separating it into 3 lengths of 16 feet and going up in diameter to compensate.

All in all I believe that doing the DIY version makes more sense not only for the money, but if this works, I'll make a really long bungee to use for skim-boarding, and I won't have to drop another $450 on a longer bungee.


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## xxfinnellxx (Aug 30, 2009)

How to build a Drop-in Ramp - Snowboarder Community

Thats a fold it up drop in ramp, your able to flat pack it into the bed of your truck or on the roof of your ride.

for towins, go to boatersworld.com (if its still up) and order a ski bungee cord and handle from them for 80% off, if their still on their liquidation


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

Thanks so much for the replies, im going to build a drop in sometime this week because i have a 4 day weekend. Ruskiski as far as making your own bungee i tried it. I posted in that thread that you mentioned i bought 42 feet of bungee chord (1/4 inch) from nrsweb.com for $0.35 a foot and triple braided it. i weight 120 so probably 150 geared up max and when i tried it with my friends who are about the same size as me i didnt get any pull at all from it. Here are some pictures of the bungee i made and two handles i made out of pvc pipe that seemed to work fine and were very cheap. I estimate that i would need to triple the amount of bungee chord that i am using in order to get a significant pull which would cost me another 40-ish dollars (still no where near the speed they get off of the bungee banshee). If your going to try and make your own i probably recommend cutting the bungee chord into 9 sections, then triple braid three groups of three and then triple braid those three groups. just a little fyi, the bungee chord, at least 1/4 inch, stretches almost double its length but loses some, not much, when you braid it. If you do try and make your own bungee tell me how it works and how much bungee you used and how you braided it. I might be chopping my chord up tonight to see if i can double it since it stretched a lot longer then i expected.


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## Halborr (Oct 5, 2009)

> Also if you got some cash to spend.. they do have new - pretty pricey - winch systems with wakeboard handles specifically for this purpose and my mates who use them swear by them.


It's actually cheaper and you get more what you want if you build it yourself. Search around the internet for wakeboarding and wakeskating winch how-to's. Traditionally you need like an 8 hp engine for a minimum for deepwater starts, but you could probably get away with a lot less power on snow. One of the other main components is the CVT torq-a-verter transmission.


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

where should i look/ what do i need for the components to make winch system and about how much money are we talkin here


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## Ruskiski (Sep 18, 2009)

By the looks of it, the bungee you made is really thin, looking at the Banshee Bungee, that cord is way thicker:



I guess I'll size up to 1/2 inch, thanks for the heads up.


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

no problem man, im here to help ya out. send me a pm or post on here again if/when you make your bungee and try it out. I was planning on my bungee to work well so i could hit up all those sweet rails that require a man made drop in or tow in with a lot less hassle. and just as another heads up make sure that the bungee is staked into the ground really well because when i first tried it out we kept adjusting the position of it (all which failed) and i forgot to hammer down the stake and just as i stretched the bungee to full length it ripped out of the ground and flew right into my stomach, im just lucky that the stake didnt come along with the bungee or id have a huge hole in my stomach right now.


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## Ruskiski (Sep 18, 2009)

Yeah that does sound pretty bad. There are accidents when people use the bungee for skimboarding and they have to use a special boat anchor, and dig it into the sand past or right at the wave breaking point. If I can remember correctly the anchor must be rated for a boat 30' and weighing no less than 18 pounds, or other way, boat 18' and minimum of 30 pounds I forgot, but still, people said the the anchors came loose and limbs got broken.

I'm not going to make this bungee until I get back to the states, and it should be sometime in January... unless I can convince one of my friends to take on the project.

As far as jibbing, I was never planning on putting stakes into the ground, using other immovable objects is the way to go IMO.

Oh and no holes in my stomach


FTW


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

haha thats one hardcore suit. and at the moment i am untying my bungee and am going to cut it into 6 pieces and braid them to see how that works i figure if its 1/4 inch bungee and the bungee banshee is 1/2 then 2x 1/4 = 1/2 haha. ill tell you how it works this weekend. and as for the stakes in the ground the reason i use a stake is because i was jibbing in my wide open flat backyard and didnt wanna get the parents mad and drive/park my suv on the grass and ruin it. after the stake ripped out we used a few that look like the things used in croquet and bashed them all the way into the ground. With 4 of those that bungee would never rip out.


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## Halborr (Oct 5, 2009)

From a quick look at ebay it looks like for roughly $500 you can get a 8hp honda go-kart engine. Looks like around $250 will get you a torq-a-verter. Like I said previously, do some good searching on the internet for information. wakeskating and wakeboarding winching and winches stuff like that. Off the top of my head WakeWorld Online Wakeboarding Magazine probably has some information under wakeskating discussion, wakeboarder.com should too.

EDIT: probably $1000 total for the project depending on where you get various components and materials.


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## Ruskiski (Sep 18, 2009)

WARNING Off Topic!!

I was originally going to get the Fox Launch Suit because it offers great kidney/lower spine protection, but its just so bulky and apparently it doesn't offer great ventilation.

 

Ok back on topic.

I was going to suggest just cutting your current bungee in half and rigging it up like that, but if you can accomplish a 6-braid then go for it, and yeah I'm waiting on them results because I weigh a lot more and I'd have to size up to get similar (if successful) results.


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## bubbachubba340 (Feb 10, 2009)

Im a wakeboarder as well and you could use a grinch winch or a distortion winch. just google it. They're about a thousand dollars.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2009)

if you only have a little bit of cash id build a drop in ramp for like 60 bucks.
if you're rich....check out the grinch winch...
distortionboarding.com


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## X1n54n3x (Sep 28, 2007)

are you guys fucking serious, a grand to hit a street rail? I built a drop in last weekend with a bench, some wooden box (that i found at the rail) and some...SNOW. throw a shitload of snow in the back of the truck, scrape it up from around town, ask the local ice skating rink. if you spend over a hunded on a drop in project you're either rich as shit (a winch, really?) or you're retarded and have no concept of the value of money.
i had thought that banshee was a sweeet idea, but after reading the ruskiski's post on how they're basically only good for one season, i would opt out of that route.


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## jaaxnikols (Nov 17, 2009)

*.*

What they used to film a lot of Mack Dawg shots:

Heine Snow Tools - Snowboarding winch, rake, shovel, rail funboxes and mailboxes including snowboarding rack for snowmobile snowboard rack with drop in ramps and skidoo xp vents

Prety expensive for personal use, but a great idea for sure.

There is no reason you can't construct something like this for under $100


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

jaaxnikols said:


> What they used to film a lot of Mack Dawg shots:
> 
> Heine Snow Tools - Snowboarding winch, rake, shovel, rail funboxes and mailboxes including snowboarding rack for snowmobile snowboard rack with drop in ramps and skidoo xp vents
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for this! that picture is exactly what i am looking for to construct my drop in. Hoping to make something almost exactly like that. Do you know how much that costs or where to get it from?


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## jaaxnikols (Nov 17, 2009)

*.*

I think last season they were selling them for around $1500 usd or something like that.

Prety expensive, but a great design if your traveling, or want something professionaly built that is compact.

You could always e-mail them through the website and ask questions.


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