There seems to be a lot of good things coming out of New York these days; Pudge Knuckles coffee, a mug of which is steaming at my elbow and then Urban Plastix, a new company that has sprung up recently and has been somewhat of a surprise.
Here's a little bit about them from their site:
"Urban Plastix (UP) is based in Brooklyn, New York. We are a
climber-owned company bringing the next level of passion to your indoor
climbing experience. Being in the big city, inspiration comes in a slew
of different forms for the typical climber. Our head shaper, Peter Juhl, lives here in Brooklyn and draws
his inspiration from the art and culture that the magnificent city has
to offer. Urban Plastix has been working behind the scenes for 2 years
before presenting our holds to the public. This extended period of time
has given us the chance to completely refine our line and make it the
best it can possibly be for you. We hope to inspire you and grow the
sport of climbing through the art and culture that drives us all to be
better and keep moving UP"
So without much more ado here's what we're looking at, rather than review the holds separately we decided as UP is a new company to run a big review on the two sets they they sent us:
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| Urban Plastix: Ditches |
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| Urban Plastix: Ditches |
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| Urban Plastix:Speed Bumps |
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| Urban Plastix:Speed Bumps |
The Ditches are from the UP site are meant for intermediate climbers and the Speed Bumps are meant for advanced climbers, its nice to see a company class their holds in this way as it means you kind of know from the images and descriptions what you're going to get. We didn't know what we were getting despite being given a heads up on what we were going to get to review, but it seems Peter has obviously seen our videos so he sent something that would challenge us.
Challenge us they did, the two sets were set as one long route that rolled in around V5 or V6 and was then made easier at a later date, we alternated the holds and setters as we went setting feet afterwards to make something that would really put us and the holds through their paces. If you look at the Ditches then you have these wonderful slopey crimps that allow you to really get you pads into them without any sharp edges, and then you have the Speed Bumps which rather than being incut have small slopey ledges for you to grab on, both sets are both pretty low profile and don't take up much space on your wall. Once set we started climbing and man was that a climb!
Starting with a Dimple you have the option to hit the long thin Speed Bump, it looked like you could match it but after numerous attempts it's apparent that it's not going to happen easily at all (We didn't give people beta on this route at all when they first climb it), so you have a long cross that goes down well and then you have to transition into the 45 degree wall and two holds that are on the red volume. The first hold you hit which is the biggest Dimple is something that looks (again) like an easy match... HA!, not at all, you need precise hand placement or you can't match, and then you hit a Speed Bump undercut... that's the crux moves, or so we thought! After that the route gets stretchy and balancy to a level where any climber under 5'6 is going to suffer. Look at the videos (before we changed it) and the moves he's making to get this route done, he's struggling, he's working and he's working HARD!
So Dimple, Speed Bump, Dimple, Speed Bump rinse and repeat :) To the end if you can make it, most can't so the route was made a
little easier and even then it's still hard, these holds even on a vertical wall will make you work, there's nothing easy about them, but they are some sublime shapes when you get down to it. The shaping is superb, the pouring and sanding is superb (These aren't poured in NY they're poured by a different company) and these holds for a start up company that's just started have just flat out knocked it out of the m'fking box
SUGGESTED USES BOTH SETS:
So, obviously we love these holds, that's pretty easy to see. We'd only go to 45 degrees with these holds but don't rule out blind slaps on aretes, especially when considering the Speed Bumps. You'll not find better quality out there from a new company, we love the technical movements that can be forced with these holds. You can really do some very interesting things with these guys, the Ditches are way easier if you want something that really rolls with your training and these holds definitely work better on the steeper angles. The Speed Bumps are hard, harder than they look and they will catch you out even when you know the holds and where you want to hit them, you need to be very precise with them!
OVERALL BUILD
- Number of holds: 5 holds for both sets
- Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
- Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds):
- Ditches: 5 holds / 50 = $10 per hold
- Speed Bumps: 5 holds / 60 = $12 per hold
- Color: Ditches are yellow / Speed Bumps are orange
- Bolt placement: Middle
- Sanding: Great
- Hollow backed: No
- Soft back (Rubber backed): No
- Texture: Good
- Set size: Medium to large
- Versatility: Great
- Pre-drilled screw holes: No
- Shaper: Peter Juhl
- Weight: TBC
From start to finish there isn't much to complain about these holds, they've done an outstanding job in the shapes and in the forms that you'll receive. There aren't any set screw holes which is a problem and there isn't a UP logo on the shapes either, its something we've come to expect from pretty much every company these days... but we can forgive them this one time because they're new; but they did say that they'd done their research... so I guess they just messed up.
The colors a vibrant and bold, the shapes are well defined and great on your fingers and the texture give enough bite that will allow for long sessions without worn out skin. Like seriously long sessions, the texture is
just just enough it's the shapes and the smooth radii that allows you to haul all day long and not worry. And that's what will always make the difference between a
good shape and an
awesome shape, the shaping and molding go hand in hand, bad shaping and good molding makes a bad shape, good shaping and good molding makes a great shape and that's what we're talking about
It's a hard thing to write about overall build when there's pretty much nothing wrong with the holds. Of course we'd like to see bigger expanded ranges of these holds, but that's what we always want :)
The one gripe that does spring to mind (Thanks for reminding me there Mark) one of the holds was a little miss sanded but a few millimeters, again no real biggie but when they've done so well from the start then it's kind of a shame.
WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane
PACKING / SHIPPING:
Good
RATING:
Noodles:
Chris:
PROS:
CONS:
1) Name and job
4) You're a big ol bugger as well, do you train for climbing or climb to train? 
8) Now, lets talk about something that we're super stoked on.... Pudge Knuckles... care to explain the ethos of it all?
was the serious shit. We were
in the process of trying to find the best coffee maker.. her being from
Europe, she boasted about this company that made the most ridiculously
good machines. So we tried finding them. The only way we could track
them down was through a distributor. He told us to meet him at this
roasting spot out here in Brooklyn and while we were waiting for him to
show up I started looking at the roasting machines. Hmmm... the idea
came to me. I asked the roaster guy a million questions and by the time
the dude with the coffee machine showed up Pudge Knuckles was born. I
was like damn... I can create my own blends and roasts of coffee.
Instead of the endless search for good coffee, I could create the strong
ass climber coffee. Just how we like it. And so it was.. I left Red
Bull and decided to do my version of energy drinks. The Godfather of all
energy drinks.. coffee. Hartje and I spent all last year learning the
art and mastery of the bean. Then bought a friggin cafe full of all the
dopest coffee machines to make the PUDGE. 
10) Lets talk
about the coffee itself, Dave sent me a bag of the Organic Dark. Now let
me set something straight, I love coffee, people have been trained to
not even speak to me in the morning until I've got a coffee in my
hand... and I drink a lot of coffee, today I had my first cup and I was
sold at the first sip. I had two mugs of coffee before work and I didn't
touch another one all day... and I drink coffee all day. So tell me
about this coffee, get all coffee geek on me!
beans... one from Peru and the
other from Sumatra. Roasted to that specific taste that you now know as
EAST COAST THRILLER. I had to name it after a high balls boulder problem
here in the Gunks. It's like the same feeling 
first
sips you had of PUDGE make it that reality bro. 
