My little family of speedballs-Cleto Reyes & Jim Bradley

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  • chippy
    Speed Bag Trainee
    • Jul 2012
    • 15

    My little family of speedballs-Cleto Reyes & Jim Bradley

    (warning long read! get a cuppa first, or an 'echo' (thats south australian for a bottle of beer) sit back and relax or read over a couple of days, thats how i wrote it, in my spare time )


    just an update on my, um, perhaps slow progress, slow because i still have to make my platform yet which is on the "list" of things to do , i hope to get around to it as soon as i finish one or two other projects first, and i should be receiving my swivel any day soon i expect, once i have that i will do a little measuring so i know (for sure) just how big, or rather what the minimum diameter i can get away with is and still fit my largest speedball. perhaps i will be able to show my home made platform, assuming it all goes to plan and thats what i do, and if it turns out ok of course

    i received my Cleto Reyes recently, the pic below shows the little family with my jim bradley ($83AU). the CR were about $60-$70US depending on size, the guy sent me complimentary boxing glove key chain and funny little packets of lollies, weird little chewing gum type lollies, also a pen...the pen i will get some use out of . the two smallest CR bags came with a spare bladder (in the plastic wrap) which is a nice addition but seems kinda strange why the larger two bags didn't, not sure how they work that out, perhaps the bladders were a gift. you may notice that the size of the bladder is considerbly bigger than XS size, so it must really be crammed in there one way or another.. theres a good chance i will try out some plastic bladders for these CR once i have it all up and going, i dont think a plastic bladder will fit the JB speed ball ( due to shape and valve location on plastic bladders being different) , none that i have seen anyway, but its pretty light so it may be just fine as it is

    speaking of the size of the largest speedball (my Jim Bradley) i'm glad i did hold off on making the platform until after i got my SB and such, as the way Jim Bradley measures his (i ordered the large 40cm or 16inch size) seems to be quite different to how some others measure their speedbags

    for example the cleto reyes bags seem to measure theirs from the inside top of the loop (close enough to the top inside that it doesnt matter anyhow) , thats the point where the S-hook or or chain link would sit, then down through the centre line of each ball (as if it were cut in half) which is its total length. give or take a bit (the loop) thats kinda how i expected speed bags to be measured and the cleto reyes seem to be pretty spot on to what they advertise them to be, e.g the mini (also known as XS) is 8x5, the small size is 9x6, medium is 10x7 and Large is 11x8.. the Jim Bradley large speed ball is advertised as being 40cm which is 16' from memory. before it arrived i was anticipating it to have an end to end length (through centre) of 40cm, however upon inflating it, it looked smaller to me and using a ruler sure enough it was, approx 2 + inches shorter or about 34cm (13 1/4 inches) in total including the loop. no doubt the way jim bradley are measuring is by following around the outside of the ball, e.g. from the top of the loop running a tape along the outside curve and stopping in the middle of the bottom, where the valve is situated on many speedbags, measures spot on 40cm, no doubt thats the about the length of the leather panels they need before sewing it together. i think it reasonable to assume the Jim Bradley 25cm (10 inch) is probably measured the same way and would actually end up being smaller too (more standard popular size used by folks for 'speed' i guess).

    without hitting them yet, so just from feel, fit and look i'm happy with the quality and construction of both brands, they are worlds apart though! the C Reyes feel much heavier leather than the JB, not too heavy though, not as thick as some in the local stores to me or old leather bags made in India (Ringsport), i cant remember what they used specifically but it feels like a thin cow hide or possibly goat (edit, duh, should have read the label it says goat or head leather), it feels nice and i can imagine it will wear in very nicely, its nowhere near as heavy a leather as we get on our aussie rules Sherrin footballs but i wouldn't fancy hitting one of them a thousand times repeatedly with my knuckles anyway

    the stitching on the CR look wonderful, not sure if they are hand or machine stitched, almost looks hand stitched to me but i suspect it might be by machine just not a machine with a double needle set up, the folds and piping look very good, perhaps the contrasting piping being edge cut leather doesnt look as pristine (some slightly pale colouring in places) as some advertising pics look but that might be nitpicking, the panels all look perfectly shaped and even giving the ball its correct shape, think i like the black with blue piping the best, it seems to stand out! i considered getting (actually really wanted them) the multicolour ball but my kids wouldn't hear of it, being sports minded kids (there young adults really, i just call em kids still) and with the olympics on atm they said they didnt want 'Italian' colours, i said ah thats a bit unfair, what does it matter, besides its mexico lol , think they just wanted red or black )

    I'm not overly confident the lacing will last for too many years, if, one needed to open and relace it vey often, they just seem a tad delicate to me but i might be wrong and only time will tell, they are laced up perfectly from the factory though and its not hard to put a new shoelace in if need be a year or five down the track if ness. solid looking studs hold the very stiff loop in place. the balls have got all manner of warnings on it, i find it kinda funny but no doubt many companies have to cover their derrieres nowadays, it has three tags sewn on, one states the size of the ball, the other has information about the company and its location and the third has quite a long blurb about wearing gloves, wraps or padding for saftey and any injury sustained is your own dam fault from this day forward , on the bottom is some instruction (though it says 'caution') in two languages on how to insert the needle, its only applied with a transfer and should come off after some sessions being whacked about i suspect ...i like em, cant wait to hit em about, untill then they bounce around the floor pretty good, not a bad substitute for indoor aussie rules footy and their like kids, always underfoot

    continued next post . . .
    Attached Files
  • chippy
    Speed Bag Trainee
    • Jul 2012
    • 15

    #2
    continued . . .


    the jim bradley is completely different in many ways, the afore mentioned way they are measured for one, but also what i noticed first up was the quality of leather, its noticeably different, i say different and not better because i think to be fair some time should be put into hitting it first but i do suspect it is a higher grade, there is no doubt it is much finer grained and thinner, they say its meant to be hand picked garment leather, whatever garment leather they are referring to is i dont know but perhaps goat or sheep maybe unless they used a kangaroo! the leather isnt as nice as some of the very expensive leather coats/clothing i have seen but for a speedball its no exaggeration that it is exceptional to the touch though. so long as it stands up to the work i'm sure all will be satisfied. being a very large speed bag i was expecting it to be quite heavy after handling a number of different bags available to me locally, but i was surprised it feels quite (very) light for its size. e.g 341 grams (12oz) total (with Adelaide air onboard) but near half that is the weight of the bladder 162 grams, the bag itself weighs 179grams. its weight can be deceptive in the hand (being so large), i had the impression it might be the same weight as the large CR or perhaps even lighter but upon putting them on the scales the large CR is 233g (8.2oz) the medium is 199g (7oz), the small 190g (6.7oz), the XS is 167g (5.9oz) and the bladder if i assume all use the same size as the small weighs 57g (2oz) on its own, i can only guess but i might guess a plastic bladder weighs 10-20g...you might notice that the CR and JB bags w/o bladder actually do weigh about the same (170g ish) and its the larger JB bladder that makes it heavier

    stitching looks machine done but still very good, it doesn't have accented piping along the seams (which might not look as good but does leave it with smooth joins), except white around the top and it has the nice burgundy coloured insert toward the top which gives it a modicum of contrast appeal. it has the logo printed on with gold paint but i expect that will rub off with prolonged use.


    naturally wanting to fill it with air, second up to be noticed was the valve is located in the top instead of at the bottom, i thought perhaps that might be not as good or convenient but i have seen it that way on a number of old speed balls, but on reflection i think its swings and roundabouts, doesn't get any easier than just sticking the needle into the bottom particularly if you were to put a few pumps of air into it while its attached to the platform board, with the jim bradley you need to take it off, unzip the short zipper (which while not as attractive as laces is more practical and handy way than untying laces) which makes the valve accessible, so it takes a moment longer. on the other hand changing bladders in this has to as easy as it gets and only takes mere seconds, unzip the short zipper, pull out the old bladder and stuff the new one in, no glue or anything tedious. i mucked about with it and its just so easy, nothing like the mucking about needed as i have seen on utube for changing bladders with the nipple at the bottom. being new to this when i first opened it up and pumped it with air i found i had to shift the bladder a bit, because when i filled it with air straight out of the package the bottom of the bag wasnt becoming taught, as a ball should, but it only took a few seconds to notice the bladder wasnt all the way down toward the bottom (i had originally pulled the nipple all the way to the top, thinking that was the right spot for it, wrong!), so i released some air, grabbed a grip on the top of the speed bag, gave it a little flick or shake so the bladder moved to the bottom, pumped it up firmish again and presto, it was fine been kicking it around the house and bouncing basketball fashion and it seems to stay in place just fine

    its shape is slightly different too, kinda looks like an upside down hot air ballon, perhaps at christmas time i will flip it upside down, attach a little basket, put a little santa in it and hang it from the ceiling …the shape still looks good to hit though, not like some SB that have the bulge higher toward the middle



    well thats my progress thus far, i might add some further ramblings as i go along


    cheers
    chippy

    Comment

    • Biff
      Speed Bag Wizard

      • Feb 2008
      • 1190

      #3
      Welcome to the forum, chippy. That's one good looking family you have there. Post up some vids of your family in action.

      Nice to have another Aussie member as part of the group. We have a few members that live down under. Can you share what part of Australia you live?

      You never know when another forum member might pop by.

      Comment

      • chippy
        Speed Bag Trainee
        • Jul 2012
        • 15

        #4
        G'day Biff,
        thanks for the support!

        i'm down in Adelaide (capitol city of SA, c1836), for those that dont know, its a small but nice, clean and open planned city surrounded by a small (technically called) mountain range (we call em hills) that enjoys plenty of sun shine and a temperate climate, on the southern coast of Oz with beautiful beaches, in the state which separates the eastern and western states (so about the middle), the people that named the state didnt have a lot of imagination, they just called it South Australia .. so not too crowded (only about 1.5mill people in a state bigger than many european countries i.e. about 12X the size of the UK), go a for walk in the hills and ya see the kangaroo's and Koala's and dodge a few snakes, go for a swim and you see the whales, seals, dolphins or the white pointers, hopefully the later are not hungry

        i'll see what a can do about a vid, i think some folk might like to see the big jim bradely for a change of pace to the small bags we see more often

        cheers
        chippy
        Last edited by chippy; 08-26-2012, 12:50 AM.

        Comment

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