Hey Sara,

To my knoweldge you will not find 160psi tubing at all in Calgary. I looked for this elusive tubing when I first started hooping as well. They don't really use it in Alberta, where as in the states I think it is pretty standard for them to use it. I heard a rumor that you could order some through home hardware even though they don't have it in stock. Here is a previous discussion on finding this tubing in Alberta, Solarfunk even posted a PL# so you can order the product through any home hardware

hooping.tribe.net/thread/82...1c700efd8c


Also, you can use a lower psi. I started out with 75psi tubing for a long time, it was me and all my friends in the pride parade last year and all of our hoops were the red striped 75psi 3/4 inch from Home Depot. 75 psi is a little bendy, however, but this can be minimalized by not filling it with water. I still use this tubing for selling hoops here cuz I find its one of the better ones for weight/size etc. The bendiness will get particularly noticeable when you start doing breaks (which is where you switch directions of the hoop really fast) again this is more pronounced if there is water in it.

100 psi is really stiff too, its what I use now for my personal hoops. When I was in the states last year for burning man I picked up a lot of th 100 psi because its different from our 100psi tubing. Their's is really stiff but also amazingly light, and I love having a light hoop thats super fast and stiff still. Most of the hoopers in the states make their hoops out of 100psi now, including Hoopgirl who I think if you order a hoop from her it is 100psi not 160. Someone even joked when I was at bman that 100psi is the new 160psi. So keep that in mind.

The 100psi I bought here makes pretty decent hoops, except its damn heavy. I wouldn't use it now for a personal hoop but it would have been perfect for me when I first started. If you do get it, mine was green stripe 3/4 inch, I do not recommend putting water in it because already its pretty heavy. I don't use water in my hoops at all now, but I did when I first started. Once you feel comfortable with the hoop I recommend not using water either, and if you want a heavier hoop to try weighting it down with extra tape. An observation though, is that hoopers tend to use lighter and smaller hoops as time goes on.

Hope the info helps, and can't wait to see you out hooping in and around Calgary. Perhaps you would like to join us hooping in the Pride Parade in June!

Geoff

After going everywhere in -30C weather this christmas looking for tubing material. I ended up at Totem on Bannister Road close to midnapore. I found tubing there that was 3/4 inch and 180 PSI. Made a few hoops, they are a bit heavy, but for starting out its better than a kids hoop and not quite so flimsy as a lesser PSI. The guy in there that I asked was so puzzled why I wanted this tubing. I'd say that the only big thing is that the connecter side is not all that rounded, but as I have been hooping the roundess has sort of occured naturally.