Compound Bow Cheaper compound spares

chuffalump

Well-known member
After a couple of doldrums years with my recurve I'm thinking about buying a compound to switch things around a bit. The idea isn't to move away from recurve, although that may happen, but to jolt my brain out of some of its bad habits. I can swap between my recurve, horsebow and the compound.

Obviously I wouldn't want to spend a fortune for something that may only be a change of pace. On the other hand, some quality would be nice.

I was looking at the PSE Stinger but have an illogical dislike of single cam bows. Maybe the lack of symmetry bothers me. I then looked at the Kinetic range. Cheep with reasonable reviews but no sign of a manufacturers website at all. I suspect that this means they are the low end side of a well known manufacturers range or, more likely, a Chinese brand.

So...they may be reasonable value for money but what about spares and repairs? New cables and strings? New cams? Limbs (in the worst case)? Can we assume that the archery shops have the contacts to get hold of these?

Anyone had experience with replacing OEM bits on budget bows? Are compound parts in general pretty reliable? Maybe most people never have to replace anything except string and cables which you can get custom made?
 

Timid Toad

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Strings are fairly easy - if you have an existing set you can make or get made a matching set. If you are happy with bodge it and bend it then why not go for a quality second hand bow - 3 years old and some of them sell for comparative peanuts. I'd guess the biggest issue starting out is working out draw length and getting the right cams in the first place. As far as I can tell though, compound can turn into an expensive sport if you *need* several release aids etc etc etc...
 

KidCurry

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Anyone had experience with replacing OEM bits on budget bows? Are compound parts in general pretty reliable? Maybe most people never have to replace anything except string and cables which you can get custom made?
I guess with a new bow you will have the 12month peace of mind you will not get from a second hand bow, but all manufacturers started somewhere. Kinetic seem to be stocked by most of the big suppliers and I guess they will not stock bows that keep coming back.

I terms of failures, in 30 years I've had 1 Barnett Excalibur riser replaced, 2 hoyt compound riser fails replaced out of warrantee, and 1 mathews bow replace within warrantee. All were riser failures except the Mathews. I've never had a small part failure except part of a cable guard on my PSE. I don't think I've ever come across OEM parts for bows.
Single cam bows are great if you are just starting out with compound as the set up is so easy. No cam timing to worry about.
 

chuffalump

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Sorry. OEM meaning Original Equipment Manufacturer. I'm sure you can get pattern parts for some bows. If not, then there's an opening for custom cam machining out there.

Cheers. If the fittings are fairly reliable then riser manufacturing defects maybe what to look out for.
 

chuffalump

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Strings are fairly easy - if you have an existing set you can make or get made a matching set. If you are happy with bodge it and bend it then why not go for a quality second hand bow - 3 years old and some of them sell for comparative peanuts. I'd guess the biggest issue starting out is working out draw length and getting the right cams in the first place. As far as I can tell though, compound can turn into an expensive sport if you *need* several release aids etc etc etc...
Archery Bloat 😁.

Recurve isn't immune though. One of my clubmates was happily showing us his five different sight pins last week.

I do check out the second hand offerings in the shops but haven't seen anything I like yet. I'm surprised that there isn't more part ex going on.
 

Timid Toad

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Shops aren't in the market of selling second hand - there's no margin in it for them. Plenty of second hand on various selling sites though.
 

KidCurry

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Wales Archery used to do secondhand bows, not always advertised though.
Custom built and Clickers both do quite a range of second hand compounds - normally pretty high spec bows as well. Clickers bows are under their 'second hand equipment' tab and Custom built bows are under the 'features' tab. 15 bows in total and some really nice bows for a lot less than they originally cost :)
 

chuffalump

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There are indeed some nice bows there. That Hoyt Maxxis is beautiful. Nowhere near my size but still lovely to look at.

If I stick to the idea that this is supposed to work alongside my recurve, I'd need to be getting an arrow rest, compound sight block and release aid at a minimum, on top of the naked bow. Even second hand, the cost is rapidly approaching that of my full RC kit.

Hmmm. Maybe a good check post December might show a glut of orphaned kit from the Christmas splurge.
 

jerryRTD

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Clickers have a Mission for sale for ?249, this one has 50 lb limbs and at 300 fps IBO it's not fast. Its big advantages are the rotating module drawlenght adjustment,7.25 brace height and 37 inch A to A.
 

geoffretired

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If I stick to the idea that this is supposed to work alongside my recurve, I'd need to be getting an arrow rest, compound sight block and release aid at a minimum, on top of the naked bow. Even second hand, the cost is rapidly approaching that of my full RC kit.
If you are going to use the compound in order to refresh your " form" to improve your recurve shooting, then a compound sight is not necessary, nor a peep sight. A cheap arrow rest will do a good job and the release aid does not have to be expensive.
It is the process of shooting something different that can highlight the details we can miss when a routine starts to get a bit stale. There is no need to shoot on equal terms with the best compounders, so a recurve sight is good enough to allow you to aim while getting the release to happen.
 

jonUK76

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I then looked at the Kinetic range. Cheep with reasonable reviews but no sign of a manufacturers website at all. I suspect that this means they are the low end side of a well known manufacturers range or, more likely, a Chinese brand.

So...they may be reasonable value for money but what about spares and repairs? New cables and strings? New cams? Limbs (in the worst case)? Can we assume that the archery shops have the contacts to get hold of these?
Kinetic are a brand of distributor SSA Archery in Belgium. Website. Pretty much any archery dealer in the UK will deal with them as they are one of the main distributors for archery products in Europe. Their compound bows are, to my knowledge, re-branded Chinese bows. I have a Trium X (was a bargain actually) which is a re-branded Sanlida Prodigy X10. I think some of their others are made by Toppoint. Cables and strings are not a problem - I had a spare set I had made up by Flex Archery, but anyone who makes custom strings should be able to make a set given the correct measurements. Major components, I guess you are at the mercy of whether the distributor (SSA) keeps spares or not, or worst case you could try to order spares from the Chinese OEM directly... I haven't had to replace anything major, happily.
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
Jerry - I'd forgotten about the Mission Rally. The first compound I got to play with was a Mission Menace which was real fun for the price. Good parts backup too. FYI Same price brand new at another shop at the moment. I was looking for something that adjusts over the 30" draw though. Using the various DL estimating techniques puts me at just under-just over 30. Rather than risk topping out I was looking for a little leeway. I have an unreasonable fear of getting it wrong and having to sell on.

Jon - I was looking at the Static as a budget option. Thanks for the info. Spares might be available on certain eastern marketplace websites. 😅 EDIT I think the Static is a rebranded Sanlida Hero X8.

Geoff - good point. No worries about peep twist either. I have an older set of stiffer ACCs that I could turn the nocks on too.

TT - belated thanks for reminding me about wider second hand options. I'm not usually keen on none dealer purchasing but it increases the options.
 

geoffretired

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One of the things I see quite often with archers new to compound( their first ever bow or already shooting recurve/longbow) is a tendency to get all the bits and pieces associated with the bow. Scope with magnifying lens, peep sight, expensive rest, release aid... often unusual as opposed to "in common use by compound archers".
Their initial shots are stifled by trying to get all the sighting elements in clear view while on aim at something like a gold disc on a target face.
The strangeness of the draw and associated let off, means that their heads are full and spinning before they try to get the sight and peep aligned.
My view is that they should experience the pleasure to be had, from simply getting to full draw with minimum fuss, and releasing the shot to feel the sublime power available to them. To me, the extra bits and pieces are like asking a non cyclist to try to ride a bike through an obstacle course when they can't even balance yet.
Draw to references and shoot, just like the recurve; close to the boss so no fear of missing it. No sight required at that stage.
 

chuffalump

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Geoff, "sublime power", I'm almost emotional 😪. Those changes between recurve and compound are what I hope might jolt my mind onto new tracks. It'll mean having to 'get back into' recurve as well but that's part of it too.

Hey, it might be a big failure or I might end up compound full time. As long as it keeps my enthusiasm and enjoyment up. Plus, compounds and fiddling....
 

geoffretired

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Geoff, "sublime power", I'm almost emotional
I have always been interested in sharp knives; since I was six or so. A good sharp knife can cut something effortlessly which gives me a sense of power; sublime power, when compared to a blunt knife.
Some compounds have the ability to shoot very flat trajectories with no hand shock and next to no noise; and for a low holding weight. They have a sublime power compared to a recurve that I would struggle with.
Their gentleness can allow us to feel what we are doing without struggling; giving us a look inside what we do and then, better able to understand what is the essence of the process.
I feel that a compound archer could take up a recurve to try to refresh a stale form. He/she could learn things that might otherwise stay hidden. But when moving in that direction some aspects would be more deeply hidden due to the holding weight, and the way that can draw attention to itself when we most need to be focussing elsewhere.
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
.
I feel that a compound archer could take up a recurve to try to refresh a stale form. He/she could learn things that might otherwise stay hidden. But when moving in that direction some aspects would be more deeply hidden due to the holding weight, and the way that can draw attention to itself when we most need to be focussing elsewhere.

I am not sure about that. There are things that a compound archer can do that are totally alien to a recurve archer.
 

jerryRTD

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Jerry - I'd forgotten about the Mission Rally. The first compound I got to play with was a Mission Menace which was real fun for the price. Good parts backup too. FYI Same price brand new at another shop at the moment. I was looking for something that adjusts over the 30" draw though. Using the various DL estimating techniques puts me at just under-just over 30. Rather than risk topping out I was looking for a little leeway. I have an unreasonable fear of getting it wrong and having to sell on.

My compound draw length is 29 inches (bowtech) my recurve draw length is 28 inches. One inch difference you should be about the same.
 

geoffretired

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Hi Jerry,
One thing that would strike the compounder when they shoot a recurve would be the energy still left in the bow at the point when the arrow is released. The bow almost jumps to the sling with a life of its own. That feeling can happen with a compound, but it can become neglected if the bow is almost recoil free. Also the holding low weight can lead the compounder into a lazy bow arm as it has less work to do to hold the bow at full draw. Back onto the recurve and the bow arm has to work all the time; a good reminder to continue using both arms to hold the draw on the stops.
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
Hi Geoff,
I have found that if a compound archer has a lazy bow arm then the bow draw length is too long. I like to be slightly 'compressed' by the bow, this makes me apply back tension as I resist compression as soon as I have anchored. I never hold just the holding weight of the bow, the set up of the bow will not let me I have to step into the bow like a long bow archer, squeeze my shoulders together and push pull. When I trigger the shot the bow and bow hand goes forwards and the release hand goes back not a lot of difference, and if you have a good set of stabs on the recurve, even less.
 
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