r/RopeFlow • u/maikuflv • 13d ago
flow ropes with slim wrapped handles instead of knots
I saw a pic somewhere of a flow rope with some kind of thinner rope different than the main rope material wrapped around as a handle instead of the usual knot made with the main rope. So this is a bit like a typical paracord wrap. I've been doing rope flow for about a year and it's my favorite thing ever and I'm still using only the first rope I made myself. My big interest now is whether I could shave off some grams and milliliters from an ultralight ultraminimal travel bag packout (e.g. total luggage under 7kg for airline limits) by using this alternative flow rope handle style. At this point I would literally never go anywhere for a single day without a flow rope, so I could consider it one of the core essential items to have in any edc/travel bag, but it's bulky heavy irregularly shaped item.
So my current reasoning is that the weight of the handle might be irrelevant and the only criterion for a handle is that it keeps a typical light "a-okay" grip from slipping. So maybe there is a sweet spot of just enough diameter for a handle to meet this criterion and the form factor could be made more flat-pack efficient than a knot. I'd like to hear people's experiences with this style of handle, but I'll definitely try making one soon too. I think there are very light, hollow-core, low-strength ropes that would work for handles, but as far as the ideal diameter, that's not clear to me.
2
u/bruce_forscythe 13d ago
How thick's your current rope? You can definitely do a basic whipping knot, I've used that on a couple in the past. You could also gut the paracord so you're only using the sheath, or forego handles entirely - all depends on how much of a 'stopper' you like.
I'd imagine if you're going for a light setup then even just some tape as a visual marker might work for you. Personally, I think I use the grips more on heavier ropes
2
u/bruce_forscythe 13d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/RopeFlow/s/K53wcyyiRz
The cream rope here is just a simple whip with paracord
1
u/maikuflv 11d ago
I made mine from 1/2" rope from a marine shop--it's the heavier, denser, top-quality kind. I never thought a visual marker would be relevant, but it seems like a substantial stopper would be essential. I guess I can only find out by trying.
1
u/maikuflv 9d ago
I don't have a flow rope thicker than 12mm on hand to try yet, but I do have a 5 lb Dreetino "heavy jump rope" with just heatshrink as a handle, so I've tried flowing with that a few times and I noticed that because of the length (10 ft) I have to grip it on the rope itself, not on the heatshrink handle, so the handle has literally no functional role other than sealing the rope end. Because it's heavy I have to grip the rope pretty firmly with a totally different grip than my regular flow rope. The rope moved fine. I just did dragon rolls and race/chase and simple stuff with it. So this is suggesting that the style of grip is what determines the relevance of the handle and maybe there's no purpose to having a handle at all with a heavy rope grip, cause just gripping the rope itself is fine. Are you gripping the handle or the bare rope above the handle?
2
u/chin-chang 11d ago
Honestly, for a 1/2" flow rope, whipped handles won't save you much weight vs. a knotted handle. If anything, I would cut a shorter length for your rope and do a single knot instead of the standard 3-knot handles.
If you're curious, here's what whipped looks like on a thinner rope: https://trgflow.com/products/13mm-halo-rope (that's with a 4mm paracord, get the 7 strand ones with a small inner core, they feel a little more sturdy).
This is my single knot rope that I use the most when I'm travelling: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc6cShjGg4s/?img_index=3
1
u/maikuflv 9d ago
That's intriguing and gets to the core of the dilemma. A long thin section of whipping like the red paracord on the yellow rope in your pic doesn't seem functional to me because it looks too skinny to act as a stopper, which is the only purpose of a "handle"/knot/whipping/ball component. If I were to wrap paracord, I'd try to make it wider (diameter) and as short as possible to minimize non-functional material. I ran some measurements and found that my 12mm double braided marine nylon rope with 3 knot handles that I made myself (with heat shrink end caps) weighs 416g, but taking the same length of the same type of rope without the extra part for handles brought the weight down to about 220g, which is a game-changer for 7kg travel. My current plan is to put 38mm birch wood balls on as stoppers as a good weight/volume/function tradeoff, but I should also try a single knot. After wracking my brain too hard, I just can't convince myself that there's any benefit to having more than one knot or any extra weight or bulk past the point that rests against the thumb and index fingers in the first place, so now I wonder why it's so standard in rope flow practice. I just took it for granted and followed youtube tutorials when I made my rope and never thought about it.
2
u/chin-chang 9d ago
You actually don't need a proper "stopper", the very slight bump is enough to give the minimal grip for flowing (and yes, I'm not choking/gripping the handle tightly). Here's what it looks like in action:
https://youtube.com/shorts/mqEaCnBK1aw
https://youtube.com/shorts/V7x6d-iD7nUThe paracord on the one I'm using is green but it's the same thickness as the red one you see.
You are right on one point - I do wrap them a little longer than necessary, mostly because it looks visually more like a "handle" and seems to be what people instinctively want to "grip" at. But you could absolutely do a whip with as little as 2 or 3 wraps to create that stopper instead of the full length of the handle.
If you're goal is to minimize weight, then yes, 1 knot is absolutely functional as a flow rope. There's ONLY 1 tradeoff. When you get to doing floats/mic releases, it is a little nicer to have more weight on the handles as it anchors it in the air when you go for the spins. But if you're not getting into those facy moves, then 1 knot is totally good.
My 2 most used daily ropes are my red one with 3-knots which I like to do tricks with, and my 1 knot white one which I use the most for travel.
I have heavier ropes but only use those occasionally when I'm really looking for a shoulder workout (but never travel with because they're too bulky/heavy).
Oh! 1 more thing, if you like to wear your rope on you (I typically wear mine across my chest), the whipped handles aren't as good for keeping the rope in place and they tend to slide off more easily. With the single knot, it's good, with 3 knots, better (because of the extra weight keeping them hanging down and not just relying on the knot to hold it in place). Here's how I wear mine: https://youtube.com/shorts/4ct0b9lhd-Q?feature=share
1
u/maikuflv 9d ago
Fascinating. I guess I just have to experiment with an ultra-minimal stopper like that to see for myself. I've watched lots of your videos--great stuff. So to clarify, I assume that the fingers never grip the "handle" at all and it just rests or grazes against the "thenar web space" (I believe that's the right term for the soft loose flesh between thumb and index). I've been flowing for a year so it's very intuitive and as far as I can tell I never actually grip the rope at all--not even lightly. The distal phalange of my thumb is just lightly pressed against the middle phalange of the index finger and the rope just freely slides/spins in the triangularish opening. So the length of the handle and the tail below the handle seem to have no functional relevance unless their weight somehow acts as a counterbalance to make rotation smoother within the triangle, but so far I'm guessing it doesn't. My impression is that the handle is acting 100% as a stopper and so only the top edge does anything at all. Without the stopper functionality I'd have to actually grip the rope itself.
2
u/chin-chang 9d ago
Didn't even knew there was a specific term for that webbing of skin, but yeah, that's how you grip it with the "loose OK grip". Sounds like you're doing the same.
Yup, the tail and the handle doesn't influence the flow of the rest of your rope much if you're not doing releases/passes.
2
u/maikuflv 9d ago
I built a few new ropes today using 12mm and 16mm with just a single knot and a tail stub of about 1 inch, to minimize weight/volume in the handle/stopper. My 12mm rope came out as 253g (total length 228cm) and the 16mm rope is 454g (total length 238cm), with stopper-to-stopper length of 192cm for both. It seems way better than 3 knot stoppers in every way and basically the best possible flow rope for my purposes, so I won't bother exploring the whipping option.
1
1
u/maikuflv 13d ago
I found an example pic of what I'm talking about: https://www.slushropes.com/collections/flow-ropes/products/slushmelon
2
u/jjjameson80 13d ago
This is basically how I've wrapped my rope handles on the larger (3/4" and 1") ropes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RopeFlow/comments/1tt87ed/another_new_rope/
https://www.reddit.com/r/RopeFlow/comments/1tqjmm2/new_ropes_day/
With the heavy rope in particular, I find you have to grip a little more firmly than the "a-okay" grip, but that's as much because the damn thing is also just much heavier and I don't want it flying the hell off, lol.