Slackline Express Blog

Website Upgrades

We went live with a new ecommerce platform today. This is in just in time to celebrate our 10,000th order!

The New Ecommerce Site is a lot slicker, and offers new features like product comparison charts, discount codes and much better search options. Please check it out and tell us what you think.

If you have a current order on file and need to pull order statuses and things like that, the Old Ecommerce Site is still up and running, it just won’t be accepting new orders.

By the way, free stickers are up for grabs. Just visit the new site and any order over $10 qualifies.

Joe Kuster
Slackline Express

Credit Card Processing Issues Resolved

Due to a programming glitch, we experienced some credit card processing problems this week. It’s been resolved and all orders should go through as expected. If are still having any problems, please contact us and we’ll continue debugging.

Sorry for the inconvenience,

Joe Kuster

Holiday Orders

All I can say is Wow! My production crew and I just pulled 3 days of 16-20 hour shifts over the entire weekend. At this point nearly all of the orders that we said we could ship by Christmas have been shipped. There are a small number that are going out tonight and can still make it, but unfortunately there will be a few that simply cannot get there in time, which were mostly international orders as we simply can’t get items through customs fast enough no matter what we do.

Huge props go out to Justin, who just pulled the longest graveyard shift we’ve never done. The sewing machines stayed busy from 6am until 6am, our first 24 hour day in the history of the company. Justin, if you’re reading this, name the place, I’m buying because you totally deserve some recognition bro.

I’m now at my day job after having only a few hours sleep, so I appologize if my post is spacey, but I wanted to take the time out to let our customer’s know that we understand and appreciate how much thought and effort goes into making a great holiday for your loved ones and we especially appreciate that you guys gave us a chance to be part of making your holiday special. We’ll continue to do our best to keep everyone happy and I’ll be back to whipping the elves as soon as I catch another short nap after work.

In the mean time, from all of us at Slackline Express, Happy Holidays!

Joe Kuster
Slackline Express

Update from SlacklineJoe

Hi all,

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted much on our Slackline Express blog. Some astute people may have noticed that our order delays went up quite a bit over the last month or two and I figure that it’s only fair to say why. The short story is, I got another job. The long story is well, a bit longer.

You see, we managed to move to a larger facility and makes some big investments in growing our little eco-friendly, made in the USA sewing shop right before the economy decided to fall in the crapper. This isn’t an unusual story and I know we weren’t the only ones who saw a lot of pressure from the recession. Frankly, I should be happy our doors are still open judging from the evening news. Small business loans and lines of credit are nearly impossible for emerging companies right now, so it left us in a bit of a lurch (understatement of the year). Trouble is, when all of our funding dried up, that meant no inventory unless it was in very small batches, and often only once the orders were placed.

Adding insult to injury, all of our shipping carriers raised rates a substantial amount, same with several of our materials providers. We had offers from Chinese manufacturing companies to produce our slacklines at what I can only assume is slave level labor prices, but having seen the quality control as well as the ethical dilemmas involved, we had to take a different route than some of the other slackline companies out there are currently doing.

Since I refused to lower our quality on slacklines, we had to make a few price adjustments (yes, I can hear the moans now) and push back our response time (again, more moans). We won’t be doing super-duper-absolutely-insane sales this holiday either (but there will be some good deals). I picked up a technology job here at University of Colorado Boulder and handed off the company’s reins to our longtime production manager, Teale Niemeyer. I’m still around for design and long term planning, but as an owner’s role rather than a general manager’s role. This wasn’t my long term plan to say the least, however, by doing so, it moved us from shaky ground where I honestly thought we were going to have to sell off the company to a more stable situation to ride out the economic downturn.

I’m also currently looking for another investment partner to help us continue to grow as we’re on the cusp of a very large opportunity that will continue to be delayed until a better foundation for our company’s future can be laid. We’ve looked at some options, but taking on someone who is willing to have an active role in the company is by far the ideal solution.

Hopefully, these problems will be continue to be improved and we’ve already had response times lowered significantly. We expect to be back to more reasonable time from order to ship within the next three weeks, just in time for the holidays.

Best Wishes,

Joe Kuster

Slackline Express

October is a Pink Month

Happy October, blog readers! It’s time to smell the crisp air and appreciate the changing colors. Think about your Halloween costume and then… Put on your pink. Why wear pink? Well, as some of you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Thousands of people are teaming up for Lee National Denim Day and Race for the Cure. If that isn’t something you would like to get involved in, you should bid for a slackline. No, I haven’t gone crazy (although some would argue that there is no going crazy for me). We have specially made two Pink Series slacklines, one Intro 30 and one Primo 50, for this October. We’d like you to bid on one of these two lines to help us raise money for a donation at the end of the month. 100% of the profits from this auction will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

To bid on a Pink Series slackline, we will be putting both kits up on ebay. The auction will open tomorrow and go until October 31.

We are also making ribbons out of pink webbing, up for donations of $2, $5, and $10. These will be up for sale on our website with our regular products sometime tomorrow, October 2.

Cheers,

Teale

Drunk Drivers

Last night at 9pm, my wife’s car was hit by a drunk driver while she was coming home from work. A car turned against the light and T-boned into the engine compartment. We spent all of last night in the ER, but we think things are going to be OK. She was released this morning, but still has some injuries to deal with (mostly an extreme case of whiplash and blunt force stuff from the seatbelt and airbags). Luckily, the Catscans didn’t show any internal damage and no broken bones.

As such, we’ll be closed this week. I’ll try to do my best to get what orders I can out, but I’ll need to stay close at hand for the next several days. No word yet on how this will effect our upcoming competitions. Bare with me while I get things situated.

Joe Kuster

Owner – Slackline Express

Always Use Protection

note: this post contains reference to dinosaur violence and barely contained dirty jokes. May not be suitable for all.

Did you ever see some weirdo in the park wrapping cardboard around a tree and wonder just what the hell they were doing and why? Well, in their own cheap kind of way, they’re taking care of the trees.

Did you know that a tree and a slackline can be as damaging to one another as a zombie raptor and a dude with a shotgun? Take a moment and visualize this. While the slackline is rubbing some of the bark off the tree, the tree’s abrasiveness is ripping at the weave of the webbing and the stitching if there is any. Unless there’s padding.

Believe it or not, cardboard is one of the more popular options for padding a slackline. There are many other ways as well: carpet scraps, old towels, old t-shirts, fun noodles, and probably a lot more that we’ve never even heard of. But my young grasshoppers, there is another way.

We, Slackline Express, sell several different kinds of padding to protect your wood. They are specially made to work with a slackline, unlike those options mentioned above. Oh, and we are the ONLY slackline company that designs padding for trees. Maybe it’s because we actually care rather than just providing lip service to the masses. Not that I’m bitter. *mumble mumble eaten mumble velociraptors mumble grrrr*

Our longest running padding type is the webbing sleeves. These are one foot long segments threaded on your tree slings. They basically act as a barrier between the bark and your webbing. Instead of sliding down the tree, the webbing sleeves allow the slings to roll. 

Some months ago, the boss-man came up with a new option: foam. It isn’t exactly suitable for hard-barked trees, but it does marvelously with the softer varieties.

On Monday, 24 August 2009, we will release the Simply Marvelous padding. It’s a more dense variety of foam, very sturdy. From LOTS of experience, it’s the best protection available. Words can’t even describe how amazing it is. If needed, it could probably save you from a T-rex. Well, maybe not, but it’s pretty badass in spite of that.

So what I’d like you to do is protect your wood. And eat your veggies. Or the dinosaurs will eat you.

RAWR!

Teale

How to Unstick an Overfilled Ratchet

Usually, you pull the release tab, open the handle all of the way and are greeted with a small “pop” as the webbing begins unspooling. Sometimes though, things go wrong. Sometimes it’s a lubrication issue, but much more likely, the ratchet has been overfilled or unevenly filled so that the webbing is jammed against places that prevent it coming free. Here’s how to fix it.

What to try first:

1. Ensure that the release tab has been opened and that the ratchet handle has been opened fully. (see photos below)
2. Pull on the slack coming from the ratchet from the excess mainline webbing – this is the normal release method.
3. If step 2 doesn’t work, sit or stand on the mainline to apply force to cause it to unwind.
4. If 2 or 3 didn’t work, try the same as 3 but bounce on the line.
5. Last resort if you REALLY screwed up and really overfilled it. Dismantle the line using the cam buckles to disengage the line and unwind the webbing as shown below.

The photo below shows a 2” ratchet that has been overfilled.

The first step is to ensure that it is opened all of the way. You’ll need to pull the release tab to open the kit all of the way so that it can release the webbing. Refer to your manual if you don’t know what the release tab is.

This shows the underside of the ratchet, notice how the webbing is jammed hard against the frame of the ratchet.

If the slackline is still mounted to the tree, the quickest way is to simply sit or stand on the mainline to force it to unroll. If you’ve already removed it from the tree, you’ll need to unwind the webbing. We use a few various tools to do that, below is a 1/4” drive bar for a socket that fits neatly into the take up spools slot. Alternatively, you can slide a flat bladed screw driver or other tools into the slot. You can then rotate it so that the spool forces the webbing to unwind.

Once the webbing has been loosened up, you can pry on the webbing itself to pull it free. Be careful on this step to avoid damaging the webbing.

Well, I hope that helps!

Balance In Life,

Joe Kuster

Got an awesome setup you want to share? Get free gear!

Slackers are a creative group. Currently we’re trying our best to support nearly two dozen different types of slackline rigging systems and are currently the only slackline company that is friendly for the do it yourself crowd. We already offer pre-made packages for the most common carabiner-tensioned systems with the Primitive Basic and Primitive Plus, but we know there are a lot of other techniques out there. Currently, we’re seeing the emergence of static rope style tree slings and threaded lines on the west coast, meanwhile you east coasters are jumping on 2” wide lines. Australia wants ratchets, Germany wants pulleys and the south wants come-alongs. I get a lot of calls from confused folks at retail stores saying they’d love to have a package together but have no idea what’s going on in the rigging in their area. I want to simplify life by making affordable packages of these do-it-yourself kits to provide to retailers in your area that are consistent with what your local gurus are teaching. To do that, I need your help. If you learned from a system that seems prevalent in your area, but isn’t already available, submit your photos of your do-it-yourself rig at: support@slacklineexpress.com and we’ll do our best to build a money saving bundle to make it easier for your friends to get the necessary parts. The Kickback Anyone who submits a system that turns into a commercial package will receive a $25 coupon good for any in store purchase. Keep in mind, only the first person to submit will receive the coupon so get your photos together and hurry up! Balance in Life, Joe Kuster

Competitions

Summer is in full swing and that means slackline competitions. Right now, we’re gearing up for our second annual International Climbers Festival Slackline Competition in Lander Wyoming. We’ll have both a kids and adult competition and will have workshops/clinics most of Friday and Saturday. If you’ll be in the area, make sure and drop by. You can get more information at: www.climbersfestival.com

For a bit more information on how we set up our competitions, take a look at: Slackline Competition Information & Scoring

Balance In Life,

Joe Kuster

Photos from last year at the International Climbers Festival:

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