DIY: How I made a 20ft Urban Bungee for under $75

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AndrewGregg

Member
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Im a huge fan of diy projects, especially in my photography work, if I can make it just as good as the original product then making it can be pretty fun and I save some money in the process. At first I was thinking of buying a banshee bungee off here used, but that can be kind of sketchy. So I decided I'd make one, and if it breaks or something I have no one to blame but myself. (It hasnt broken.) I'll give you a quick run down of how I made mine.

(Note, op shall not be held liable for any injury during the construction or use of any bungee that branches from this guide. This is not meant to be professional instruction, and any user/users of this guide are doing so at their own risk. Just coving my own ass here.)[/i]

Things you'll need:

1 foot of 1.5 inch dia. pvc pipe (which I had lying around the house)

60 feet of rubber latex tubing, which I bought off of amazon.com for $53.

10 ft of high strength poly rope. (boating ropes are best, but climbing rope works too)

climbing grade carabiner or c-clip (which I had from some older not-in-use climbing gear)

know how to tie yosemite bowline/bowline, figure 8 on a bite, and square knot

1) I first divided the latex tubing into thirds which came to almost exactly 20 ft each. Then I tied off one end of the pieces and braided the 3 sections into one continuous rope of rubber latex. [/i]

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2) With each end of the latex knotted with a simple overhand knot.

3) cut the poly rope into two 5 foot sections and melt the ends off to prevent fraying of your rope.

one section of rope will be used to tie a bowline/yosemite bowline on one end and a figure 8 on a bite on the other end.

the other section will be a bowline on one end and the other end will be threaded through the handle and tied into another bowline. These knots are of climbing quality and do not degrade the integrity of the line you are using. I do not recommend using any other knots other than the ones already mentioned.

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4) to join the sections i tie the bowline to each end of the latex braid using a square knot loop knot, similar to beckets hitch for all you knot privy folk. I use zip ties to keep everything snug together.View attachment 689826

5) to finish it off I attach a c clip so rigging to the feature/surrounding is super easy and quick, once again using zip ties to keep everything snug and copacetic.

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let me know what you think!

 
That's so sick dude! I'm for sure going to use this within the next couple months. Just curious where you bought everything, I'm assuming a stop at Home Depot can get it all done?
 
Everything excluding the latex tubing was bought at home depot. any kinda hardware store would do im sure they'd have rope, c clips and a pvc pipe. let me know how it works for you and let me know if you have any questions!
 
Any footage of you using the bungee? would like to see how well it works in comparison to the banshee bungee, really awesome job!
 
I dont have any footage yet. Planning on filming some tomorrow and using it. (east coast finally getting some snow) If I get any good test video of it ill post it. It has worked really well so far. Uses the same elastic material so it will pretty much perform the same too.
 
Always inspect the attachment points between the rubber and the rope. We did a similar thing for our river board and because the elastic stretches it also gets smaller at the knot from use and eventualy untied itself in a violent form. Just a heads up.
 
I took every precaution possible with this part of it. There is no stress on the overhand knots at all and if the square knot should slip, the zip tie should still keep everything together long enough for it to be noticed. I rock climb all the time and have pretty good trust for the stuff I rig, experience is helpful in this area I guess. Being careful never hurt though.
 
thanks i've been wanting to do something like this for a while, may just order 3 or 4 20 foot sections, would that work?
 
yeah, a four braid should theoretically give you a 33% increase in speed. just a quick note that I forgot to make: the braid reduces the length of the rope by about 15%. so in actuality, my latex braid was 17 feet and an inch or so long. 4 rope braid would increase the reduction in length, if that makes sense.
 
the tubing used for banshee bungees isnt hollow...

We tried making one of of 6 strands of surgical tubing braided together quite a few years ago and it blew.

Looks sick and if it works then thats tight but its defs not the same strands of tubing as a banshee bungee.
 
I'm pretty sure Banshee reccommends that you maintain the rubber by covering it with baby powder to help reduce friction/ increase life as the different strands of rubber in the braid rub against each other.

Probably worth considering.
 
i feel like that handle would fray the rope rather quickly. i guess if worst comes to worst and it does break, nothing too bad will come of it
 
this is legit.on a side note a few years ago i found a bunch of super heavy duty 1/2" bungee like material at an old construction site that was about 20 foot long and with a few of them put together you could get so much speed but you had to have 2-3 people to stretch it for you
 
i would try finding somthing else to use as a handle, like an old ski rope, one hit to a tree trunk, or metal post in the cold, and the pvc will probably break
 
You can buy 100 feet of surgical tubing for about $40 bucks. Cut it into thirds, braid it, and fashion some kind of handle to your now 33-foot bungie. Not going to be as durable/powerful as a banshee bungee, but it will get you enough speed to do a lot of urban stuff that would otherwise be impossible.
 
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