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Riddell Power 2.0


blue32
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Recently, I was fortunate enough to acquire a Power CP from a retired umpire. It was in really good condition, just a little dirty and sweat stained. It also had a small tear just below the neckline.

I started to look into getting it repaired, and possibly get a new pad built. I reached out to Team Wendy to see if there was any chance of them resuscitating their retrofit program and got a resounding NO.  

I then talked to a local upholstery shop that does a lot of custom work (ZZ Top's furry guitars for example) and was about to take it in to see what they could do, when I decided to go to Riddell and see what they could do. 

Of course, the rep I spoke with had no idea what I had. She was probably born right around the time the last Power was made. She did check around and found the guy who does know about them. He said he could repair the pad (which they call the body) I had, or build a new one. I went with building a new one. The guy in charge of doing it was familiar with them, having done a refurbish for MLB umpire Larry Vanover this past year. 

I was asked if I wanted to go light or dark with the pad color. After some back and forth (if I go with light, there would be many sharpie marks on it that would be visible) so as much as I wanted to keep it as original as possible, I went ahead and chose black for the color of the body. I also asked for gap protection, which Mike was able to accomplish. The epaulletes Velcro on, and I'm not sure how I feel about the stability of it, only time will tell. If I have to, I will rivet them on. The plates themselves were as close as they could get in color, which I think looks okay as it is. Anyway, what I now have for the finished product, IMO, looks pretty bad ass. I will most likely be trying it out tonight, so I'm looking forward to that.

Anyway, I wanted to share the before and after pictures with you, since we don't get a chance to see these very often.

Before:

 

IMG_2032.PNG

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Here is a question, if a particular CP is manufactured to standard dimensions and details, would it not be possible for a firm like Team Wendy to just manufacture replacement padding and offer it for sale on their website?  I can understand that the process of sending your CP to them for "retrofit" is time consuming for them and in all honesty seems to be unnecessary.  They could do a once or twice a year production run and when the supply is sold out, you have to wait for the next run.  

I can't imagine that the location of the velcro strap slots varies from Platinum to Platinum.

Am I missing something?  @MadMax?

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1 hour ago, conbo61 said:

Here is a question, if a particular CP is manufactured to standard dimensions and details, would it not be possible for a firm like Team Wendy to just manufacture replacement padding and offer it for sale on their website?  I can understand that the process of sending your CP to them for "retrofit" is time consuming for them and in all honesty seems to be unnecessary.  They could do a once or twice a year production run and when the supply is sold out, you have to wait for the next run.  

I can't imagine that the location of the velcro strap slots varies from Platinum to Platinum.

Am I missing something?  @MadMax?

Somebody could do it. I got the impression from the guy I traded emails with at TW that they don't feel there was any money in it. Also, when I asked the Riddell guy about making baseball equipment again, he made no bones in his reply: "Never going to happen. No money in it." 

It would be nice to have a source for padding other than what the CP came with, especially something a little lighter, thinner, and more breathable, for the Wilsons.

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Thanks everyone for the compliments. I agree, it turned out great. I'll let you all know how it performs when I wear it, and yes, I need to order a few of Ray's harnesses for my various vests. 

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Well, I wore it tonight for the first time. Had a scheduled 9 inning Legion game that went 10. For starters, it doesn't even feel like I had anything on. What a difference between this and the Wilsons! I took an approximate 85 mph foul ball off one of the gap protection plates, and felt nothing. I was bummed when it happened because I was sure that it scuffed the logo on that plate, but when I checked it after the game, there was nothing. 

Now that I had a chance to wear it, I feel even more grateful to have had the opportunity to acquire one of these. 

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On 7/4/2017 at 11:22 PM, mbkcoach said:

Ok what is this? @Fittske24 

IMG_2116.PNG

IIRC before the ban on the sale of Powers went into effect some were made in different colors. The Arthurian-like legend was that there was a warehouse with a bunch of them that would never see the light of day...? A JW interation one step closer to the gold/platinum?

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5 hours ago, GerryB said:

IIRC before the ban on the sale of Powers went into effect some were made in different colors. The Arthurian-like legend was that there was a warehouse with a bunch of them that would never see the light of day...? A JW interation one step closer to the gold/platinum?

I sent this pic to my guy at Riddell.

His Reply:

"Well its our plastic for sure but it’s pretty old so that could have been made by an outside vendor for us at some point."

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@blue32  That is COOL! The new Riddel decals really add a nice touch. Get yourself one of Razzer's harnesses and you are set!


With all due respect to Ray and not trying to slam his business, I have seen Ray's harness side by side a Force3 harness and the waist elastic that Force3 uses is way stronger than Ray uses.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

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On 7/3/2017 at 6:38 AM, conbo61 said:

Here is a question, if a particular CP is manufactured to standard dimensions and details, would it not be possible for a firm like Team Wendy to just manufacture replacement padding and offer it for sale on their website?  I can understand that the process of sending your CP to them for "retrofit" is time consuming for them and in all honesty seems to be unnecessary.  They could do a once or twice a year production run and when the supply is sold out, you have to wait for the next run.  

I can't imagine that the location of the velcro strap slots varies from Platinum to Platinum.

Am I missing something?  @MadMax?

Possible for a firm like Team Wendy? Absolutely. Is it possible for Team Wendy itself? No, that ship has sailed. Team Wendy is very likely so committed to fulfilling the Military and First Responder contracts they have no latitude (floor space, manpower, etc.) to coordinate receiving of CPs, removing the existing pads, measuring the pads, storing all the supplies, storing the CPs, building the new pad units, fitting them to the CP carapaces with measured quality, and then shipping the new units with the previous pads back to the appropriate customer. Then to coordinate and collect payment!

The challenge in pre-making the pad units is keeping adequate stock, if at all. There is no guarantee that each CP will fit a pad you pre-fab the same way, which involves a degree of customer service that I'm sure not many companies are capable of exercising. Heck, most umpires don't even know what exact model of CP they own! ("Uhhh, it's a Wilson?")

Your proposal for doing a limited run isn't going to cut it... that's missed profits, and no financial advisor is going to approve that. The profit margins on these items, for companies, are incredibly small.

Now, where this could be successful would be for a private, solo or small firm entity to offer this as a service on top of what they already perform – an upholsterer would be ideal, or perhaps something in the fashion industry. 

4 hours ago, gnhbua93 said:

With all due respect to Ray and not trying to slam his business, I have seen Ray's harness side by side a Force3 harness and the waist elastic that Force3 uses is way stronger than Ray uses.

 

It's also shorter, thicker, and less elastic... and a major pain in the a$$ to run T-hooks onto it, adjust, and then pull tense to latch up your CP. Of course it works best on UnEquals and Honig's K1's, because both of them use side-release buckles instead of T-hooks. On a WV Gold, it becomes rather challenging to pull those robust, restrictive straps all the way around to, more or less, the centerline where the T-hook slots are.

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