 Ian Crumpet gets some air on the Flybar 1200 |
And so, he recalls, "along comes Bruce Middleton," an MIT-trained physicist who designed an "adjustable elastometric spring system" with champion skateboarder Andy MacDonald. After a mere five years of development, it became the Flybar 1200. The pogo action of the Flybar 1200 is created by a series of thick rubber bands. There are 12 bands in each Flybar, which can each accommodate up to 20 pounds of weight. These are arranged around a center shaft. As the bands are stretched down, they gather the force and energy necessary to then bounce in the opposite direction, essentially springing the rider into the air.
Unlike classic pogo sticks, which rely on a large metal spring in order to bounce, the Flybar operates similarly to a trampoline. According to Arginsky, the control factors for operating the device are a person's weight, leg strength, and the piston setting (which adjusts the level of stretch). Used to its full potential, the Flybar 1200 can bounce someone more than five feet in the air.
 Irwin Arginsky holds a Flybar 1200 at the SBI Enterprises warehouse in Ellenville |
The response since its unveiling in September 2004 has been explosive, according to Arginsky. "I feel as if I'm in a batting cage and six machines are sending me balls simultaneously, because of the interest in the Flybar," he says. In addition to the Flybar's inclusion in Sobe Beverage's 2004 summer promotion, SBI has received calls from Coca-Cola and Campbell Soup, as well as from other companies worldwide. The "pogo on steroids," as Arginsky calls it, was also featured on the Discovery Channel. "We've gotten $15 million worth of free publicity from every type of media," he points out.
Given the price of $350 and a limited market (the 1200 is geared for those 14 years old and up who weigh more than 120 pounds), the item's success bodes well for the next two versions—the Flybar 800, designed for ages 12 and up and 100 pounds, and the Flybar 400, for those 10 and up—which are expected to be sold at $250 and $150 respectively. There is also a line of protective gear and apparel in the works.
There is one sore spot for Arginsky. Unlike the other pogo sticks SBI Enterprises produces, the Flybar is being made completely overseas. "It kills me, because I know it could bring 75 or 100 jobs to Ellenville, but when I cost it out, I would pay $72 or $73 an hour domestically, when I'm paying five dollars in China," Arginsky says. Still, he says, he's working with both the village and the state to devise a system to use outsourcing for the more intricate work and then assemble, warehouse, and ship the products locally, which is what he currently does for the other toys. "I could still have my cake and eat it," he says. "It's who we are, it's where we live," he adds. "I have a lifelong attachment to Ellenville. I'm determined to do it. I'm not giving up on it."
A "Penney" Saved
Recently, however, things have changed. During the toy show at the Javits Center in New York City in February, many heads, including that of the buyer from J.C. Penney, were turned upwards at the sight of the Flybar demonstration, in which a six-foot-tall man was bouncing seven feet off the ground. "He saw our demonstrator's head 13 feet in the air and his jaw dropped," Arginsky says of the buyer. "He came to me and said, 'We love the Flybar. We want to feature the Flybar in our catalogue.'" Arginsky countered with: "'You want the Flybar. I want the pogo stick business.' He knew what I was saying." The renewed relationship, pogos included, will soon be finalized, making Arginsky very happy. "You know the saying 'Every dog has its day,' or 'Good things come to those who wait?'" he says. "Every cliché you can think of, that's how I feel." |
For Irwin Arginsky, bringing SBI Enter-prises back into the commercial forefront with the unveiling of the Flybar 1200 has had its own rewards. The company, which at one time was selling 500,000 pogo sticks annually and still is the largest producer of the toys, was dropped by the J.C. Penney department stores in 1986 when it moved its corporate headquarters from Manhattan to Dallas. "In an effort to streamline the company, each sales representative was told to stop buying a single product from a single company," Arginsky recalls. "And so a 35-year relationship, a perfect relationship, went out the window. I could not get it back."SBI Enterprises currently employs 85 people. When Arginsky and his partners, the Jargowsky family, first purchased SBI Enterprises, it was housed in a chicken coop in Walker Valley, and the pogo sticks it produced were stored in ice houses throughout the area. "This lawyer I knew said there was a pogo stick business for sale. I said, 'Pogo sticks, what the hell's a pogo stick?'" Arginsky, who grew up as an Orthodox Jew in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, recalls. "He said it's a very good business. The only thing is, he [owner Hansburg] will not allow you to see the books and you can't even see the factory. So I bought a company sight unseen that was making a product I hadn't heard of until then."
A few years later, SBI relocated to the old Sun Ray building in Ellenville, which was built in 1906. Its main offices remain there still, though the factory was relocated to another site on Route 209 to make room for JM Originals, a clothing company started by Arginsky's wife, Martha, and Myrna Jargowsky, one of his partners, in their home. "They needed 500 square feet 30 years ago," Arginsky adds. "They threw me out in 1985. Out of the kitchen came a very nice design company."
With the Flybar's impending success, Arginsky is hoping to parlay those profits back into both SBI and the community as well. "Goal number one is to bring jobs to Ellenville. You can't be philanthropic unless you have the money to give. That's going to come with the success of the Flybar," he notes. "We want to take an 87-year-old pogo stick company and build a company that's going to work to do good things and to feel good about what it does."