SAS Spirit Jr 54" Beginner Youth Wooden Archery Takedown Recurve Bow

Looks great!

I bought the 14 lb for my 13 year old to keep from discouraging him with a bow thats tough to draw back. He loves it and is keen on the accessories that go with this sport/hobby. The information states it does not come with a string but it came with one. The added plastic arrow rest is short lived and we did not attach the sight so he can become accustomed to aiming without it. The arm guard is extremely small and was of no help. The stringer is worth its weight in gold. Very good starter bow. I would suggest ordering a felt arrow rest and a silencer kit. I would also recommend going to your local sporting goods store to find an arm guard that fits your youth.

Got a SAS Explorer for my son and a SAS Spirit Jr for my daughter. She LOVES this bow. The fact in comes in left handed is a major plus. Did a lot of research on these before I bought them and I must say, I'm impressed. If you're on the fence about archery and getting your kids outdoors more, I encourage you to invest in this healthy, amazing sport that improves hand-eye coordination and gets them moving/thinking about their posture. Easy to string with a little instep and body weight. Accurate as the day is long. My daughter wants to custom paint the limbs and riser to her favorite colors and I believe this is the perfect bow to do that with.

I just put it together, and it's all there, and the parts fit where they should! The aiming sight gave me a few problems because I've never had one before. The way to assemble it is to connect all the metal pieces BEFORE trying to put the sight onto the bow in the two vertical threaded holes with the larger screws & allen wrench. The exact sight picture will have to wait until I shoot some arrows into a target so I know what adjustments will need to be made. The limbs fit EXACTLY into the receivers at each end of the laminated wood center portion, and the finger bolts should be tight so they don't move, so tighten each one and then go back and tighten each one again. (Of course, you should put these limbs on before you attempt to string the bow!) A BOW-STRINGER is included: You first put the BOWSTRING on the assembled bow with either the top or bottom loop OVER that limb (NOT in the final position in the grooves at the tip.) Then the BOW-STRINGER goes on, with the one end that fits over the limb covering the BOWSTRING loop that's in the final position and the other wedge-shaped rubber thing on the other limb with the loose bowstring loop and you pull on the middle of the BOW-STRINGER until the bow curves enough to slip the other end of the BOWSTRING on, in position, fitting into the grooves. I used my foot on the bow while I pulled up on the stringer until the bow curved and my other hand worked the BOWSTRING loop into position. If this sounds confusing to you there's probably a demonstration on YouTube. (Doing this correctly will prevent damage to the bow!) There's a little stick-on arrow rest included, but the threaded hole where it goes is for the Other Kind of arrow rest that threads in with a plastic thread and plastic nut that tightens it into the right attitude. The nut goes all the way on the other side to keep the arrow rest from turning. (These are inexpensive and worth getting. I happened to have a couple of these from earlier archery adventures) but the stick-on will do the same thing, only it wears out, or the glue-patch holding it on gets loose. Bow parts are all standardized to the same threads so you can experiment with the ones that work better for you. The arrow rest will deflect the arrow slightly when it passes through after the release, and this can either be adjusted for with the sight or eliminated almost completely by adjusting the arrow rest. The bow is assembled and a look through the drawn bow shows the aiming sight aligned with the arrow rest and the bowstring, all in a line that should produce some accurate results. The only thing left is a way to nock each arrow into the same place, every time because that's how you shoot accurately. There are little brass split rings (not included) that you squeeze tight on the bowstring to capture the nock of the arrow where it goes onto the string: one each for the top and bottom with just enough space between them to hold the arrow. Another solution is to use tape or thread and wrap it until there's a barrier that's less permanent. This is a fine-looking bow with a light draw at 22 lbs. I can feel when it's about as far as it wants to pull back, and that's just about right for the arrows at 26 to 28 inches. A lighter weight will allow you to concentrate on accuracy and proper form which is far more important than just shooting arrows with a much stronger bow. There were no instructions included with this bow. This might be an accident, or there might be comprehensive directions on some website. I knew enough about this kind of bow because I have several just like it that are too strong for a short-range, shallow target situation. There are no local ranges unless I want to drive 20 miles and stand in line, so the solution is a short home range with a light bow and LOTS of Safety Precautions. The affirmation from hitting exactly what you're aiming for is everything. There are lots of instructional videos on YouTube to answer questions you might have and show you how to shoot arrows correctly by eliminating bad habits or things you might not even know you were doing wrong. You'll know when you get it right and the effort to get there is worth it.

Came without the parts to put together ruined Christmas gift

Great bow! Especially for beginners. Draw weight is prefect. Only gripe is that it does not include the arrow rest and when I mounted a pin sight on it, the threaded inserts pulled out of the riser. I used 2 part epoxy to hold them in. Remounted the sight and good to go.

We've only shot this bow a few times, but so far so good. Everything seems to be good quality. I don't have one to do a side-by-side comparison, but I do not notice any major difference between this bow and the PSE Razorback which sells for considerably more. Assembly of the limbs to the riser is easy. So easy, in fact, you could consider this to be a take-down bow. The bow string is multi-strand and has a serving wrap, but no nock indicator. ----- UPDATED 2/3/2016 My daughter has been using this in a league at the local archery shop. She is the only one shooting a recurve, everyone else is using a compound with sights and trigger release. She shoots with no sight and open handed. We did add an arrow rest/flipper and a nock indicator. She is able to shoot groups at least as tight, if not tighter, than her peers with compound bows shooting at the same or lesser distances. At first she felt funny about being the only one different and not having a fancy pink, mossy oak compound bow, but she got over it. Yes, it would be easier to shoot a compound with all the accouterments, but this bow is fully capable of loosing arrows as accurately as the archer is able to. I'm very proud of her. I'm not trying to brag, just to give an accurate review of the bow and it being a great value.

Definitely a kids bow - I mean that in the best possible way. The kids love it, it is light and easy for them to shoot, it is giving them confidence. It beats the tar out of the Bear "First Shot" (I like Bear bows, I have a Cruzer and a Super Kodiak, just not the first shot). Anyway, this is a real bow, for smaller, weaker people. Well made, looks nice, shoots smoothly. I like that the limbs can be attached with the thumb screws, it allows the kids to assemble with no help from me. Get a stringer for it (really please do, don't mess up the limbs), a glove or tab, and some cheap carbon arrows and maybe a nock kit and takedown case; with that kit, the kids will be ready to go and shoot with the adults.