Manufacturing Bungy Cords Across The World

Since Bungy Jumping emerged in the 80’s as an extreme exciting sport there have been many changes and advancements in the manufacture of Bungy Cords.  The original cords used, were really not very forgiving on the body and the lifespan of ropes was severely limited.

Thailand is one of the leading producers worldwide of latex rubber, we are fortunate in that we have a large ready supply of base materials and an extrusion plant just 40 kilometers from our jump site where we can inspect and check the manufacture of the raw extruded latex following the process almost from the time it leaves the tree!

Not all latex is created equal.  Whilst the rubber maybe the same regardless, the thread count, count number and post production process treatments vary widely. Latex only has a shelf life for Bungy Jumping of 12 months, so an important part of the process is ensuring that your raw material is as fresh as possible, this gives you the longest possible shelf life for your Bungy Cords. Unlike other manufacturers, we guarantee that when you receive your cords the time from tree to your jump site is never more than three months.

We purchase rubber in huge quantities extruded to our specific requirements, coating it with Silicon to decrease friction between strands making for a longer production life and safer ropes for your customers.  This allows us to ensure that the rubber provides as much consistency as possible.  It all comes from the same batch and is specifically made for us, we never have to rely on using stock rubber originally destined for making underwear.

The Rubber Production Line

Getting Boxed Ready for Pattaya Bungy Jump

Bungy Cord Manufacture

Manufacture for a new customer starts with Maths. The Bungy Cords are one of the most critical parts and unsurprisingly, there is a lot of science behind the cords.  Each cord is manufactured for a specific weight range and jump height. 

All of our ropes are infused with both a silicon polymer as well as powder during the manufacture process.  The silicon helps to both protect the individual strands and provide significantly less friction between strands.  The reduced friction provides for a smoother jump for the customer and also significantly increases the usable life span of the ropes.

Our ropes are also provided with an additional inner core safety rope that serves two purposes.  First, it prevents the rope from being over stretched (4 times its length) and secondly it provides an additional level of safety should a customer be placed on an incorrect rope for their weight. For sites with prolonged exposure to the sun, we are also able to provide sun-shields to provide further protection against the elements.

Our ropes are designed to each accommodate a 20kg weight range from 40Kg to 100kg using ropes individually and up to 170Kg using a combination of ropes. Our rope lengths vary from 6m to 30 m to allow jumping from 30m to 250 m high jumping sites.

Rope Testing

As part of the commissioning process of new ropes, each rope is subject to rigorous testing to ensure that it conforms to your jump site specifications.  By applying specific tensions on the rope we are able to ensure that the rubber elasticity is consistent.

For an elongation of 100 %:

• Green (40-60kg) : tension of 160 kg
• Red (60-80kg) : tension of 200 kg
• Black (80-100kg) : tension of 250 kg

For an elongation of 200 %:

• Green (40-60kg)  : tension of 255 kg
• Red (60-80kg): tension of 325 kg
• Black (80-100kg) : tension of 400 kg

Stress testing our ropes is additionally an important part of the process.  We recently conducted testing over a period of 1 months where we used a test rope for 500 hundred jumps.  Each day we made 10 “test jumps” with a frequency of 2 minutes with a fall factor of 2 and a test weight of 25% greater than the normal weight range for the rope.

After 300 jumps, there was no apparent degradation in the rope and we experienced less than 2% breaks in the bungy strands.  Well within the normal operating conditions.