Review > Kando Holds > Erosion

Unless you're European, or probably more likely specifically Italian you've (we're guessing) not heard of a company from Italy called Kando holds. We had, in fact we added them to climbingholdreview a while back, we checked out their stuff and liked the look of it, so we grabbed a couple of sets to see what those sneaky Europeans were up  to :)

The first set we're looking at are called the Erosions...

Kando Holds: Erosion: Pinchy

What you're looking at is essentially a big ol set of pinches that can in some cases can double as edges and pockets. When they arrived there was a scramble for the box... everyone ran for scissors or knives to get the box open, it's always exciting to see holds from a company that we've not seen before and to be honest there were a few smiles when we opened the box. The Erosions came well packed and in neon pink... now we know that mixing bright neon holds is a pain in the ass and these things are PINK, and even before touching one of the holds Noodles was "if these are that pink then they're resin"... score one for him. These holds are made of a light weight resin and when you tap it it does sound like it's kind of brittle, it was (considering the way some packages arrive here) a surprise that when we picked them up that they were so light and in one piece. Resin has this heavy feeling to it, these don't have that feeling they're pretty light and that always worries us... light and resin generally means easy to break. It looked like we were going to have to be careful with these guys :(

So with the fact that we wanted to be careful with them we bolted them on the wall and screwed them down tight to see what would happen... nothing, despite the lightness of some of the holds they're strong. So we dropped on onto the floor to see what would happen there... nothing, ok so we're getting off to a good start. And then someone dropped a hold (accidentally) onto another hold... what happened? A couple of little chips on the edge.. damn! So word to the wise, be a little careful as they can chip if you smash them against something.

Kando Holds: Erosion

Kando Holds: Erosion ... matchable

Kando Holds: Erosion

Climbing on these holds was something different from what we've seen over the last few years, the holds have a really interesting feel to them; they're kind of limestone like with lots of little grooves for your fingers to slip into, most of the holds can be easily matched so setting becomes interesting because you're trying to set moves that will allow the holds to be used in this manner, rather than when you're looking at something that can only be used by one hand, lets face it if you can match a hold on a route the chances are is that you're going to... because it's there :)
We set enough routes with these holds to see where their strengths and weakness' lie... there are a bunch of positives and negatives to these shapes, some people found them a little tweaky on the fingers, others didn't mind the shaping... one thing that everyone found is that they're easy, they do look more difficult than they actually are (unless you set with the smallest of the holds on a steep section of wall and then are asking people to really haul on them) given that every hold can be pinched no matter which way you have them rotated.

It could be said that there are a lot of options with these holds, mainly because there are, some people might say that there is a little bit too much... but as a range of holds they're a jack-of-all-trades, they're not just one thing they're many.

SUGGESTED USES:

As the set is mainly fairly incut you can go pretty steep with these guys, they aren't really incut enough to be used on the roof as we found when we were trying to get off of the Molecule and up onto one of the holds that was up there. You can grab then when they're up there, but pulling on them to get up and then move was really really hard. These holds do have a couple of sharpish edges here and there so if you're planning on jumping around between them take this into account, your fingers will thank you for it. Most of the holds are great for pinches, large incut edges or smallish jugs... they are a jack of most trades so if you want something (and have the discipline) to only use them on one fashion or another then these are pretty handy

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 10
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): 35 Euros / 10 = 3.50 euros each
• Color: Neon pink
• Bolt placement: Good
• Sanding: Not bad
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Good, not too rough. The shapes give you more grip due to their shaping
• Set size: They're not classed on the site, we'd call them medium
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: Kando holds
• Weight: 2kg
• Distribution:
• US: N/A
• EU: Kando Holds

 These holds are bright as all hell, we love bright holds... and this neon pink is probably the most neon we've seen so far. Shape-wise they do do a bunch of grip positions well but some of the positions are a little tweaky for you fingers, these holds work best a largish pinches. The sanding is pretty good across the board with a couple of patches being skimmed over at the edges and this leads us to the edges, they are kind of sharp so when you drop them you do get some chipping occurring.. that's part of the way they're shaped and the material that they're made from.

All of the holds have a "K" for Kando Holds on them, so they're easy to find in a box of holds (if the color didn't blind you when you were looking for them!) The bolt holes are nicely drilled and square, with the washers sitting good and flat. Texture-wise these holds have a good feel to them and it's part the shaping and part the grip that the material gives that make them feel unique; they are grippy but not fingertip sore grippy.

We've mentioned this a bunch, the only downside that we can find with these holds is the fact that they look / sound and at times feel brittle. So far we've not broken one of them yet, but we're due for another drop / strength test soon so we've put one of the holds into a box to see how they perform; we did crank all of their holds up as tight as we dared and we didn't crack any holds so it could be a case of the holds sound brittle but they're strong... only time will tell on this front

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Polyester resin

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Awesome

RATING:
Noodles:

Kando Holds: Erosion... matchable

We all know by now that I'm a hold-snob... whore, call it what you will. I have a love / hate relationship with resin holds, I do love them, I like resin (some people don't) but I hate it when you've got to be so careful with a hold (or holds) because when you store them or chuck them around they do break / chip / get smashed when people aren't careful with them. I go so far as to wrap resin holds when they go into a box... sideline there's nothing worse than a broken hold in my mind... these holds are no different for me, they have to be treated with some TLC when you set with them or you store them. They feel brittle, hell watch the video I tap one and you can hear it... you can hear the sound of brittle, it's pretty damn distinctive!!

Now what's interesting is why they sound so brittle, they're not when they're on the wall, because we have another set of Kandos holds and they feel much more solid than these guys (the review will be upcoming soon) It's purely the shapes and then add the material that they're made from that make them sound brittle... sure the material is probably a little dubious to say the least and that's probably where the problem with these holds come into play. They climb well, apart from a few sharp edges here and there and they do many many things pretty well.... I hate the fact that I feel if I look at them wrongly they will break... you know, like the dramatic chipmunk that look could probably break these guys

So if you're careful and want some do a "bunch of stuff holds", these are a good option, but if you're ham fisted and you drop stuff wait and check out the other Kando holds we'll be looking at

Chris:
To be honest I only climbed a couple of routes with these holds, apart from the color the shapes are pretty interesting... each one is matchable even when I'm pinching on them and I find them pretty versatile. My main problem with these holds is that they sound brittle when you tap them, kind of like china plates; we've chipped a couple but we've had no problem with breakages thus far

These holds are in a strange place for me, they do a lot of things so I feel that they feel a little cluttered for my taste. They do climb pretty well and they do look nice but other than that I'm kind of on the fence with them

Oh yeah, when you go to their site it plays music that you have to turn off all of the time, it's kind of annoying :(

PROS:

• Lots of grabbing options
• Awesome neon pink color

CONS:

• Sound brittle
• A couple of the holds are a little sharp in a few areas