Yeah I wish the bungee method was worth while.

I find that it gives the hoops way too much slack which makes it kind of floppy and difficult to control. Also over time the bungee stretches out and the hoop won't stay together.

The best method i have found for non fire hoops is the coil and Velcro method where you use one connector with the barb filed of and a Velcro strip to hold the ends together when uncoiled. I think this method works the best because you are not breaking up the shape of the circle so it stays stronger.

I dont quite see what you're saying but i'm very interested

can you find pictures?

i've just used plastic anchors for screws and they work fine. you can even cut off the tip if you're using 1/2 inch tubing like i do. they come in different sizes.

Oops, a typo. Should be www.mcmaster.com.

omg..your the bomb. I've been hunting hard for these!
Thanks : D

OK if you say so - but thanks anyway! I also today had a look "inside the mouth" of an "exercise hoop" (I believe they're sold at Target) that has a similar mechanism. Hard to describe but I'll try:

The hoop is white translucent tubing, probably 1/2" or possibly 5/8" diameter, with 1/8" rust-red rubbery "cushioning" slipped over the tubing (I wonder what THAT is?). It has a number of short sections so you can adjust the size of the finished hoop. The cushioning has a "marked spot" at each of the joints: you push on that (which is supposed to get you pushing on the buttion) and pull the sections apart. But we had trouble getting it apart, so peeled back the cushioning (more accurately, pushed it down the tub a bit as you would push down a sock). Then we could see the button - it was oval, and made of an orangey-red plastic.

Inside, we found what appeared to be a normal connector - but possibly it was merely a lenth of thinner tubing, it had no ridges (and no evidence of ridges filed off). One end was firmly stuck in place, the other held the button mechanism. That mechanism was the interesting part: it was nothing more than a large (1 1/2-2" long) spring, a lot like the spring that holds a clip clothespin together! Imagine this: take a length of springy wire, bend it a couple of inches from the end. Continue the bend around a mandrel (dowel, stick....anything round that you can later pull out). After you've made a couple of coils, leave another 2" long end. If you were to stand it on the coiled part, it would look like a V. Something like this \o/ (except you have to imagine the \ and / being a lot longer with respect to the little coil). The "button" is attached to the "top" end of the \ - away from the spring.

Then you have to make rather precise holes for the button in both the connector, and the matching part of the next segment. Then the whole v-assembly is slipped into the connector. You'll want to secure it somehow so that there's more than the button sticking through the hole in the connector (and Will Power) to keep things together.

This is probably as clear as mud - but hey, it's been a long day!