Jetblades were introduced with independent control of the thrust nozzles. A concept introduced to thrust vector propulsion in the 1950’s by Thomas Moore. Adapted into hydro by Raymond Li, adapted in 2013 into jetboards by the Russian four jet Adrenaline board. When we saw the movement on that board, we saw the future. Flatboards liked the status quo. Flatboarders said it could not be done, that your feet needed to have a “spring return to center”. The leader of the Family howled, “danger danger people, only a professional like Ben Merrell can control the wildness of independent feet.” The enforcer crew argued “your ankles will get locked into position!”. Pfft, right…. Anyone can ride with independent feet, it is what we are born with. The people that have the toughest time for the first few minutes are the pro Flatboarders. They are used to having to swing around their upper bodies in order to get the board to turn. It is surprising when the board reacts quickly and naturally and just follows you. After five ten minutes they get into the groove and start to explore, after a few hours, no one wants to go back.
To be at parity with Flatboards “out of the box”, all Jetblades currently ship with two full width torsion bars installed. These torsion bars link the two feet together and allow a limited amount of opposing deflection with an automatic return to center. Due to the stiffness of the bars, this deflection is very limited. When we tested the torsion concept we found no advantage to automatic return to center. The link is supplied so that users of old school flatboards will have a familiar feeling before they make the short jump to our Indy Jets. After all, motorcycles, mountain bikes, F1 cars don’t have springs in the steering, they return to center by natural forces. The same thing goes for X-Jets Indy Jets. Your feet find the center naturally and steer you where you want to go without have any resistance. Why make it more complicated?