The craze of land paddling has sprung up in many cities around the world, leading confused pedestrians standing idly in confusion. A common issue with a lot of land paddles centers on stiffness, lack of contact and lack of portability, making it hard to truly incorporate the activity into everyday life.
The Braap Stik’s small design cues are big on solving these issues. It uses a bouncy, fiberglass arm to not only maintain contact with the ground but also provide riders with more balance, power and distance with every stroke — all with less effort. In its closed, retracted position, the Braap Stik measures 30 inches long while it reaches 6 feet when fully extended.
It also sports the ability to be attached to the bottom of a skateboard or longboard, with its fiberglass arm converting to a handle for easier carry. Each Braap Stik is available for $100 and is slated to ship in April 2016. Its Kickstarter campaign is looking for $10,000 by March 18th, 2016 to see success.
The market for an improved land paddle isn’t a small one. Many products like Sk8Pole all claim to have solved the frustrations of other, less capable land paddles using slightly different design cues for the same problems. At the end of the day, though, it all comes down to a rider’s own individual level of comfort with each product — something that needs to be done in person.