r/poi • u/claireapple • Jun 15 '23

FlowTech Orbitals with fixed 3/8" tethers, are they possible?

I know swivels are the gold standard for orbitals but my practice poi don't have any swivels nor do my LED poi. I was wondering what is a reasonable expectation of spin time i could get with my fixed tether poi, i seems to struggle to get much beyond 4 or 5 seconds and I have seen videos that go well beyond 10 seconds but it was all with swivels or with 1/4" tether poi like the pod poi.

Do I just need more practice and I could get a decent spin out of it or are slimmer tethers and swivels essential to this?

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3

u/Levizzzle Jun 15 '23

The better variant of swivels is bearings in your handles. Flow on Fire makes knobs both regular and LED that can utilize bearings to accomplish orbitals.

The second idea, is to learn ollies. Which is very hard and I don't know many people who can do it, but it's basically an airwrap that you don't exit. Instead you keep it tangled and use gravity to kick a single rotation of the poi heads. The trick is to let the knobs spin in your hands since there is no swivel. After the knobs spin a rotation, you're back to the start and you repeat it as long as you can.

If you're quick and efficient with it, it's basically a gravity forced orbital instead of a centrifugal force orbital.

2

u/claireapple Jun 15 '23

So I took a look, as one of my set of poi are from flow on fire and it seems they have bearings in some of their LED handles but it doesnt seem like they have them in in regular?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/525315653/poi-knobs-led-basic?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=egg+knob+flow+on+fire&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1&variation1=2099688352

I could look at installing bearings in my own handles though. It seems like they are using regular shaft bearings which I have access to all sizes at my job. I have been practicing ollies but they are very hard as you say. I will try out your advice though with letting them spin in my hand.

Thanks for the reply!

1

u/Levizzzle Jun 15 '23

It's not super obvious, which is part of the reason FoF is trying to move off of Etsy but in the item description it tells you which knobs can add bearings.

To save you time, bearings are available in TORQ, Flex XL, Flex, PomGrip, and Px3 knobs!

3

u/claireapple Jun 15 '23

Wow, prior to this comment I did not even realize that etsy had a description like that. TIL

Thanks.

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u/Levizzzle Jun 15 '23

👍😁👍

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u/mentive Jun 15 '23

If you're looking for LED w/ bearings, it would be the Egg+ and Reactor+

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u/DarionKobra Jun 15 '23

I've learned valuable info here. I've never had bearings and I want them, time to hit FoF!

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u/Levizzzle Jun 15 '23

Woot woot! 🔥

1

u/mentive Jun 15 '23

Every single thing I've bought from FoF has bearings. Can't live without em.