Sort of technical....but again...I trust YOU guys

[GMMAT]

I passed my '05 Switchback down to my son to use for next year (and through the indoor tournaments). We ordered new strings/cables for his bow. last night......and I was wondering to what length the original strings/cables may have stretched.....and what effect it would have when we put new ones on.

Can someone help me out????? Just a quick description of how much stretch.....what could occur.

THANKS!

Jeff

[MC Bowhunter]

I would say to mark the cam's where they line up with the limb and measure the brace and nock setbefore you take the old strings off. That way you can tell when it gets back to where it was with the old string and cables. They may not have stretched much if any. The new material they use is pretty tough.

MC

[Rob/PA Bowyer]

The correct term for the elongation of a string is creep. Stretch is a temporary elongation.

[MC Bowhunter]

Oh well excuse us!...LOL

MC

[BGfisher]

If you want the truth the factory strings (Zebra) may have crept as much as 1 1/2". They have a reputation for doing so. Replacing them with any generic string or Zebra and you could eventually end up in the same boat.

Because they may have crept it does no good to take measurements of the bow prior to changing them, except to see how close the bow is to factory specs. The thing to do is change the rigging and make sure the bow is set to factory specs or at least close. Then mark the side of the cam where it passes between the limb forks. You can use this as a quick reference later to see if the new strings are creeping.

What happens when the rigging creeps? Basically the bow just goes out of optimum tune. The cam changes rotation position. Often, because the string is longer than the cable and creeps more, the draw length gets longer and the weight goes up.

This is why many of us recommend getting decent after market rigging from companies like Winner's Choice, Stone Mountain, Vapor Trail, Prostring, or Bucknasty. They are made of the same materials, but are put together with much greater care. Everything from basic construction to serving is done under tension to reduce creep and serving separation to a minimum.

You can shoot Gibblet a PM here on this site for a quote. His user name is Bucknasty on Archery Talk. His strings are about as good as I've had and at about half the cost of Winner's Choice. His prices are about $50/set shipped to your door. And if you like fancy colors then that's your choice, too.

[GMMAT]

I ordered Winner's choice strings and cables.

here's why I asked.

I have a 29" DL. My son was shooting a Browning Illusion with a 28" DL. There's an LX in the shop that has a 28" DL that fits him, perfectly. When we ordered the 28" cam for the Switchback I gave him......it's still way too long.

When we put the WC strings and cables on his bow.....what's gonna happen? With the "creep" out.....will it be fine? Let me know....we're seriously considering ordering a different cam (27.5).

THANKS!

Jeff

[Rick James]

The 05' and 06' Mathews strings I haven't seen creep much if at all. Certainly not anymore than the other big name bow companies factory strings. Their older ones were pretty bad though. The string material actually seems to be pretty good and I know the 06's are actually made of 452X........same as the Winners Choice you ordered. Their servings are a different story though and not the best, they tend to have some problems from time to time.

Basically you want to get the cam timing in spec first and then double check your ATA and brace height measurements to make sure they are +/- a 1/4" or so. DO THIS WITH THE LIMBS BOTTOMED OUT. Then drop the weight on the limbs to where you want it with an equal amount of turns coming out of each limb pocket.

Cam timing should look like this when it's done right on the Cobra Cam that came on the 05's. Basically I connect the two timing marks with a 3' piece of serving material and check to make sure it is reasonably parallel with the string. If you get too far off from this you will get weird draw lengths and weird tears through paper.

Hope this helps.....

[archer 2]

Mathews bows seems to always run on the long side on draw length. When I used to shoot a Mathews bow, still have them by the way, I would order it a half inch shorter in draw and it felt fine then. ALso I always ordered them with the Tiger Twist string and never the Zebra string. Still when I got the bow I would go ahead and make my own cable since their cables still were junk but at least the string was fine with the Tiger Twist.