The bumpers are optional, but make learning that much easer. For the rola, I use a seven inch piece of PVC tubing with two female to female connectors on either end. These are not necessary but give more support. It looks cool, and is somewhat more interesting to mount, because they emphasize the initial swing as you climb on, but it is no harder to do. I know a street performer who uses a large tube to get over the head of the crowd.
Large tubes are hard to find except along the road near construction sights.
Raid their dumpster and it is quite likely that you will find both the tube and the hard wood fro the end stops. If you use nails, or if you don't drill a starting hole, you can easily split the top board or the rails. All Rights Reserved.