Is it short and strong enough to fit a Cyclone, Tom? Looks like a nice rig but the Cyclone is narrow and very stiff. Their PR says it pulls 165 or 175 lbs (depending on where one looks). No way, it pulls much harder than my 200 lb Ecal. My home made press gets tight as a fiddle when I press it.

My hurricane peaked out at 169# but with absolutely no let off. (who cares about let off when you have such a sweet trigger!) So I took it to the handy force draw machine and found out that it has no let off at all. From 9" of draw to 15" of draw the lowest weight was 165#.

The only other bow that uses the no let off cam technology patent is a Bear Maxpoint (circa 1999). I wonder if they bought the patent rights off Bear?

The reason that it feels so heavy is the the lack of let off.

Backing out limb bolts is a dangerous game. Bolts are not designed to take a bending moment only axial tension loads. There are a couple bows out there that may let you get away with using over-length limb bolts but I would not do it personally and I am sure that manufacturers would tell you no.

I saw a vertical bow by limb saver that would allow you to break the bow down by using the limb bolts.

"(who cares about let off when you have such a sweet trigger!)"

Lucky you. It took several honing sessions, and a spring change, to get me that way.

When you start backing out limb bolts, the lateral tension immediately begins decreasing. By the time you get them out to the point where there might be a danger of them breaking, the load is too light to be a problem... Or wouldn't be a problem if the bolts were long enough. With the too short bolts they're putting in 'em now, the limb is still under a good bit of tension when you get to the end of the bolt. Prior to about 1990, and they started putting more prebend in the limbs without increasing bolt length, all vert bows could be completely disassembled without a press. Just back out the limb bolts. By the time you got to the end of the bolt, the limbs were completely relaxed and falling out of the limb pockets. And those long old limbs had a lot more potential bolt breaking leverage than the short limbs on today's vert bows or crossbows.

Surely I'm not the only old timer here that remembers that.

Even if your premise were correct, it would be a simple matter to just use larger bolts, like 3/8" or even 1/2", which would take more lateral strain without breaking. Naturally, it would take a modest amount of redesign and reprogramming on the machinery to accomodate longer and/or larger diameter bolts, but heck... Being forced to use a press for such a mundane chore as changing a string is, in my opinion, an idiotic design flaw in the first place.

Do NOT back out limb bolts!!!!

I'm going to take the version pictured below to a local dealer that has the new Parker in stock and see if it will work but I see no reason it should not. All you need is 2 Bowmaster split limb adapters (hooks) , ap 24 " inch pc. of chain and 2 "S" hooks from Home Depot and you have everything you need. Pull the bow to half cock, place the hooks over the limb tips with the chain adjusted so when you let the bowstring back down the string is loose and can be removed for maintenance. Put the string back on the wheels/cams making sure it's in the grooves and draw the string back to half cock, remove the hooks and let the bowstring back down to rest position. BTW, that dark section in the middle is a pc. of pipe insulation to prevent damaging the barrel deck.

Absolutely! DO NOT BACK OUT LIMB BOLTS! Vert or crossbow. The current state of design is a disaster in the making for someone trying to do that. Wait until the manufacturers get a clue and fix it. Fat chance of that happening.

Sorry for the soapbox ranting fellas, but I've been pissed about this for nigh on 20 years.

The only timeI've been hurt with a bow was while tightening a limb bolt on an Astro compound bow years ago. The limb bolt snapped in half and I caught the full force between my legs. My voice was high pitched for a few daysbut it taught me a lesson. Crossbows, IMO, can be quite dangerous if not handled properly because the limbs are under a lot more stress than verticle bows. Treat them with sensible repsect and you won't get whacked.

I've never had a limb bolt snap, but I never backed off two turns without backing off the other bolt two turns as well. If you screwed one all the way out and left the other all the way in, hell yeah somethings gonna break! There was definitely a wrong way to do it.

What happened to me was getting a pretty bruised wrist when I wanted to change the strings and cables on a Darton Lightning and did the time honored back out the limb bolts routine. The bolt cleared the hole and the limb butt nailed me. It was still under considerable tension. I had to box up the pieces and take it to the shop to get my bow put back together. That's how/when I learned they'd made it so you couldn't do that any more.

I think it's a shame that crossbows are also like that, especially considering how hard it is in a great many areas to find a shop that will work on them... or even let you in the door with one.

The only sure alternative to going out and not getting a hunt messed up with a breakdown issue is to have a back up xbow in your truck. If I went out of state or even across state I would take 2 with me. A cheap back-up xbow is cheap insurance.