So as im sure most of you know, I have a very large collection of pogo sticks. Maybe even the biggest in existence (definitely so in regards to pogo sticks with significance in the sport of extreme pogo), but the Hop Rod has always been at the top of my list of pogo sticks that I wanted for my collection.
I have been pogo sticking since 2002 (23 years now… wow) and I have a very vivid memory of first discovering the Hop Rod on the internet in probably 2004 or so. I remember downloading videos of people using them and of course the original ads, and if you were surfing the web on dial-up internet back then, you’d know it would take hours to download a 2 minute video. I have been searching regularly on ebay, from back them up until today, to either find them in horrible shape or mint condition with the original box for thousands of dollars (there is one on ebay right now and they are asking $4,250, and that one doesn’t even have the box!) Of course I wanted one in nearly mint condition but am not willing to spend that kinda dough on a pogo stick.
I stumbled across one on ebay while out camping with a buddy, and the guy wasn’t asking a ridiculous amount for it. I sent him a direct message explaining who I am and how his Hop Rod could have quite literally the best home on the planet with me. We got to talking, and it originally belonged to a man that had recently passed away and the seller got it from an estate sale. Apparently this Hop Rod was the mans pride and joy, and wouldn’t even let his kids near it (this is coming from his daughters who were there at the estate sale). We agreed on a price that was fair for both of us, and it is now in my possession. It is quite literally in pristine condition and a good example of what a brand new Hop Rod would have looked like from the factory. Something unique about mine is it has cast aluminum handlebars, which they never came with (they came with plastic handlebars that were prone to cracking), so someone put in alot of work to get cast aluminum ones made.
So now for the fun part: jumping on it. First step was to figure out what kind of fuel this thing takes. When they came out in the 70’s, there was a fuel specifically made for it called “Pogo Go.” Obviously, I don’t have any of that, and even if I did it would be too old to use now. I tried searching online for what was actually in it and only came across guesses on forums years ago. I ended up calling Chance Manufacturing, the original maker of the Hop Rod (they make amusement park rides now!) and got into contact with someone there who knows a bit about the Hop Rod. He suggested getting white gas (Coleman camping fuel) so I got some of that and mixed it with some SAE 30 oil to make a 100:1 2-stroke fuel mix (per the original manual, see manual below).
Unfortunately, after adding fuel and 8 C batteries, it would only fire once every 20 or so bounces, so the time came to dig into it and figure out how to get it running right. First step was to make sure it was getting fuel. I had a friend record while I bounced on it to make sure the fuel jet in the carburetor was spraying fuel every time I bounced. Luckily, it was.
After confirming the stick is getting fuel, I now know with 90% certainty (unless something internal in the combustion chamber is screwing up, which I rightfully doubted) that the problem is a lack of spark, or intermittent spark. Below where the batteries go is a coil that sends power to the spark plug. I took out the coil which was an absolute nightmare. What should have been a 2 minute job turned into several hours, as the coil is nearly the exact same outer diameter as the inner diameter of the tube, and unfortunately the inside of the tube was pitted and rusty. in order to make the inside of the tube smoothe, I ended up drilling and tapping a bolt hole into an aluminum rod and gorilla taping 60 grit sandpaper to the end, and driving that in and out with an impact over and over for hours before it was finally clean enough for the coil to slide out.
After removing the coil, I immediately saw what could have been the culprit. the wire that comes from the coil and powers the spark plug was cooked. What I assume was happening was it was getting a short to ground, due to the wire getting chafed in the hole, which led to the coil getting screaming hot (which i felt through the tube) and caused it to “misfire”.
So now to fix it. the guy at Chance sent me the original drawing of the coil. I used that drawing to get everything I needed; 16 gage wire, a new ring terminal, and some paper to use as an insulator. I cut the wire to correct length via the drawing, soldered the ends together, did a continuity test with a multimeter, installed the paper insulator and epoxy and it was good as new. Note: I had to solder a new wire on the coil twice. the first time I put it in, the wire from the coil broke because it was bouncing around in the tube too much with the batteries, which I fixed by making the wood spacer under the coil longer (see below). The coil now has a red wire coming from it.
After fixing the coil, the next step was to put a new spacer in the tube. I had to tear apart the original spacer through the spark plug wire hole to get it out (I heard little pieces rattling around under it so couldn’t leave it in). The spacer sits below the coil and places it at the correct height for both the spark plug wire to exit the hole as well as to place the batteries where they need to be in the tube to make contact with the spring in the handlebars and not bounce around. I once again reached out to Chance and they sent me the original drawing for the spacer. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the wood piece that I made, but it’s pretty self-explanatory per the drawing below. Note: due to the custom cast aluminum handlebars, I needed to make the wood spacer considerably longer than a stock handlebar Hop Rod, due to I believe the spring being higher up in the handlebar.
Now that everything is fixed, the stick was ready for reassembly. I tied some safety wire to the ring terminal of the coil and pulled it through the hole in the bottom and reattached it to the spark plug. Added the 8 C batteries and put fuel in it, now it runs like new!
