aliceBheartless
Forum Replies Created
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Wow, that was a really cool video!
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Also, thank you everyone for your input! By some incredibly lucky stroke, a friend of a friend was able to get that pole back together! Thank god for handymen. 😉 I feel so fortunate. However, I am still in the market for my very own pole so that I wont have to borrow the company pole, since my boyfriend is getting me one for Christmas! YAY!
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oooo fancy, sensual! Copper is probably waaaay too soft to be anything but plated, right? Also, where are you from in Oregon?
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I guess my biggest issue isnt that I worry about joint stability in a pole where the joints are working properly. I had an 8' pole where I couldnt beg my way into getting extensions with joints to screw together properly because they werent machine threaded in such a way that the joint screwed together evenly. And I received a lot of different extensions. PS never denied my requests for new extensions in an effort to make it work. I am afraid to buy a pole that is fatally flawed from the get go, I guess. My current height for a pole here would be 9.5' ceilings. I was thinking to get the 45mm Xpert in chrome (I havent heard good things about the stainless) and getting the extra suggested extension for that height to keep the extender screw from being very exposed, since I am not a small girl. and 9.5' is higher than any ceiling I have ever had.
Oops I wasnt explaining well in that last post. The PS extreme superpole plates can be switched from top to bottom. The new style of pole maintained the same size in the top and bottom couplers. But their old style chrome and metal plates cannot be switched because the couplers in the old poles were not the same size. The dome fit the screwpin in the old style, which has about a 1 inch diameter, and the foot plate fit the coupler with the pin mechanism, which was the diameter of the pole: 2". So I just cannot use the old metal plates that I already have with my other pole, though I could just turn the superpole upside down, assuming the joints actually screwed together.
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Thanks for your advice Empyrean! I know that multipiece poles can be inherently unstable at the joints. But because I have owned two different ones that have not had joint problems, it really seems silly that now I can't buy a newer better designed pole without joint problems. I have never had a problem with the stainless steel being slippery in their multipieces once they are broken in after being bought new. Initially, they are slippery, but stainless steel is my metal of choice. I totally agree on that plastic chrome garbage that they keep adding to the pole, first the plates, then the sleeve, etc. complete junk. I have never had a problem with the locking pin in my home or at any studio, but I have had trouble with the xpole screws at the studio. I wish Xpole was made with that same stainless as the PS poles. Because their chrome is definitely a turn off to me.
Amy, in theory, I suppose a pole could just be used upside down, but the PS top and bottom plates do not have the same coupler, so they can only be used at their specifically designed locations. Which would mean the bigger plate would have to be on the floor and the smaller plate with the pin locking system would have to be on the ceiling. I am pretty sure that the pin would work itself loose in that situation. Additionally, I cannot use the old style metal plates with the newer coupling devices of the extreme superpole right side up or upside down. The plates will not fit on the ends of the newer pole.
Sensual… I know! Sometimes I wish I had the know-how to just machine a pole myself. I am pretty sure I could come up with something that would make me happy. 🙂
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Yep! I think her handle is… poisonedballerina. Very dance-y. We started class at the same time and have been at it for the whole time.
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Hmmm. I suppose it could be that easy.
I know Aimee, she was my very first pole teacher and totally inspired me to stick with pole! I don’t know Ozzy personally but I know of her. I still go back to brassy everytime I get the chance. I love dancing there. It’s so great!!! I am usually there with Webstwe, luckygirl1220, and poisoned ballerina.
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Haha… it took me until now to figure it out! You're jnybeth! 🙂 I am subscribed to you on youtube!
Anyways, I have horrible luck calling PS, I might be blacklisted in fact, because Kevin ignores me like it's his job. Maybe it is, and if so, well done Kevin. I think the new style top loaders are really just the same pole, machined so that the threads are inverted? Can anyone back that up? It can't possibly be as simple as the couplers inverted on the pole, can it?
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O nice. I did email but havent heard back yet, though its still only Monday. I have noted in the past that they offer the extensions to the old style poles, but the last time I was searching their website they were no longer listing them in the store. I figured that they may have sold out on that since it appeared that they were trying to move ahead exclusively into the extreme superpole models. Sometimes though I have trouble navigating their site. So I may have just missed it.
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Thanks Jenn! I didnt realize that I could go ahead and still get a top loader… I am guessing that they are all still with the newer interior threading specs though, which was the main issue. Do the new toploaders still have the chrome plastic sleeve to cover up the screw pin at the top, or is it just exposed?
Also, thanks all for putting up with my ridiculously long posts. 🙂
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Amy thanks a lot for your input. Plenty of questions that I did not even know that I had were answered in your post. Though I am really sad to hear that Xpole and PS are potentially my only options for multi-piece poles because I have no faith in either brand.
A PS pole in working order is my favorite pole. I have owned one single-piece from them, and 2 different multi-pieces, both have been the older top loading model. I have not owned other brands, but I have taken classes on plenty of different poles, most of which have never been multi-piece poles. My life is currently taking a shape that indicates I will be on the constant move for the foreseeable future. I like that PS offers the stainless finish, that its so easy to go from static to spinning, and generally feels like a simple set up. There aren't that many parts of the pole to just fall apart. What I don't like is the new-ish bottom loading design with the sleeve and the chintzy plastic parts that are getting more and more numerous with each redesign that pole goes through, as well as the apparent complete lack of quality control. Almost all of the extensions that were sent to me to correct the faulty one I already had were visibly uneven. I tried them all no matter what, but was dumfounded that they were sending me obviously faulty parts to correct the problem. For 2 years straight.
Xpole seems like a needlessly complex product to me. While theoretically I love the idea of the new Xjoints, it worries me that they can just rotate within the pole. I have also heard a lot about the pole flaring at the extension pieces and I wasn't sure if it was possible to overtighten an Xpole by hand? Is that how they are flaring? And some rust problems? I have used multipiece Xpoles and they seemed fine, but I have never set one up or struck one either. I dont know if these issues are the noisy minority or if these are common problems.
I guess what I mostly can't figure out is whether my expectations of what can be had in a multipiece pole are just really much too high?
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Ah I see Empyrean. Thanks for the info. Is it visibly obvious when the joints are turning? I have never used a version of the Xpole with the new xjoints so I dont have a really good idea of what is going on there. How regularly would you say you have to check the pole for the turning of the joints? Is this something that is a pain to do? Shouldn't the joints stabilized by the design of the pole? To me, that really seems like a mechanical failure in the design of the pole, but again, I don't really know much about the Xpole and you said something about a trick to setting the joints, which makes me feel better about potentially purchasing one.
Hey Tarah! I dont really know why they made that change, if the lower sliding cover were the same diameter as the pole, it wouldnt be nearly as big an issue for me because the entire pole would be workable. I am pretty sure the redesign was done because its easier to set up a pole from the bottom especially if its higher than 8' and in theory provides a workable pole from the floor to the ceiling without having the screwpin exposed. In a typical 8' extreme super pole the cover takes about 1' of workable pole space, and the plates+couplers together take about 6-8", leaving only about 6.5' of workable pole. (hehe loving that phrase) I am tall enough that only 6.5' isnt nearly enough pole. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif 10' pole! I am so jealous!
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Thanks so much for the input! Xpole is probably my best bet, since I need a professional grade pole in the multipiece. But I have been seeing some issues with them on the forums… never know what to think, I guess. But would definitely love to know more about Australian poles because I do have a connection by which I could get one.
Tarah, the bottom loading extreme superpole I had was just wrong. I worked with their customer service for 2 years, shipping pieces back and getting new pieces and I never had a truly functional pole that entire time. The basic problem was with the joints. They were poorly threaded and always had movement and gapping in them, which is kind of scary and also makes the pole spin incorrectly. To correct this problem, I had received 2 full extreme poles, 3 more 3' extensions, and 1 more 4' extension. None of these combinations resulted in a pole that didn't gap or have movement in the joints. I put up with the joint problems because I wanted a pole until it dawned on me that I paid full price for a product that wasn't working.
Overall, I didnt like that new design on the pole in general, which made it a lot easier to just walk away as well. I really dont like that sliding sleeve because it takes up too much usable space and for me was completely ungrippable. On an 8' pole, I use that bottom half for handsprings/split grip work so much more than I ever used the top 4" of the top loading pole. What I DO have to say… the PS customer service was excellent as long as I was contacting Kim or Janice. Both were immensely helpful and timely responders. The new product just wasnt worth it.
I love the PS stainless steel static spinners. On the mainland, I still have one of the poles that I first learned to dance on, the PS Stainless static/spinner toploading 50 mm pole back from when there wasnt a single plastic part in the entire product, including the plates. I love that pole and will never let it go because its exactly how I like it. But its a single piece and 9' so its not easily carted around and I have moved 4 times in the last two years, and that pole would not have fit any of my living situations. I guess I am just trying to figure out if any of the multipiece poles are a solid investment because it seems that the joints for the extensions can be problematic on any brand.
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Flexibility should definitely be pursued in an informed manner for sure, plus there are definitely ways to "fake" back flexibility. I definitely have been reading up on flexibility to get information on how to be safe and effective because I dont want to waste my time or get hurt. I have a hypermobile shoulders, which make me look like I have more back flexibility than I actually do, and unfortunately also a pretty bendy lower back. Definitely be careful with the back flexibility because if you are stretching out your back ligaments its going to give you future back problems. One visual that I have come across that I really liked and for some reason, specifically provided a better mental picture for myself than simply saying "elongate" though its really the same thing, was the following…
"wrap your spine around an imaginary ball, don't just bend back" this will allow you to articulate the entire length of the spine instead of just a few hinge points in your lower back. —Relax Into Stretch by Pavel Tsatsouline.
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Hehehe Islandgirl, Thats awesome. Now, how to work that same magic on my guy so that I can get a new pole, too? 🙂
