Review > Rock Candy > Hoodlums Large

Sometimes it takes some time to get holds, Rock Candy is a company that's been pretty prolific with their hold shaping and pouring of late with new sets hitting the market more often than not. When we talked to Nathan about getting stickers for our comp he wanted to put up a set of holds for the prize draw, so he sent us a set over so we can give them away... in fact he didn't send just one set, he sent two... one for a winner and a set for us to play with, what did we choose? We chose the Hoodlums as they looked like a good set of holds with a variety of grip positions

There was a down side to this deal dear reader, team Rock Candy didn't want us to review the holds! They believe that they make some of the best shapes out there... but they didn't want a review; so cue Noodles on the phone... and some time later we had the OK to go ahead

Looking at the RC site you notice one thing very quickly, they really like their colors to be bright or of a hue you don't see very often on the market. The images on the site (Ours or theirs!) don't actually do the colors justice, the set we're giving away is blue, the set were reviewing is green; in both cases it's not just blue or just green... it's neon(ish), really really bright green and blue; these things when you open the box are just bright! OK, we know that color is a personal / professional preference, we do prefer a bright color as they're better in photos and when we set at the gym to see how the holds fare we do like our routes to stand out... some people don't like that, and that's fine

From the box we sat down and looked at both sets and decided upon the Hoodlums because they looked like we'd get more use out of them than the other set, The Scabs, and as we'd been playing on crimps for a few reviews and we'd had the Tour De Bloc comps we decided to be nice to our hands for once :P Shape wise the set is an interesting mix of different hand positions, from incut matchable edges / single hand edges and one of the holds you can match on either side, there's a lot of variety, nothing that's massively bomber but nothing that's so small you want to tape all of your joints; for once we knew these holds were going to be very doable on the 45 degree wall.

Jacky had the holds first, as he was going to be missing from the crew for a while due to his exams, and he set an interesting route with a cross over on the face of the box that looked like it wasn't going to be very easy to get across, but the holds inspire confidence in your hand placement and it turned out to not be so bad

On the 45 degree wall is where most of the video takes place, but the holds went everywhere. These holds are best suited to steepish terrain as you'll get a good workout without stressing your hands too much, of course this depends upon how you set and what you want to do. We set easy and super hard problems on the steep walls and although the hard routes took a few times to get done but they did get done. Bear in mind the texture on the holds is pretty aggressive but no so much that you're going to get a serious burn, add chalk and once the holds have bedded in they become much much better, and as the texture is so grippy it means getting the chalk off of the holds isn't a problem

This is a tricky one, the holds are suited to a myriad of uses! We had them on the 45 and once you get the sequence correct the route was easy enough, but some people have had problems with the moves we set. On the 30 they were just too easy, but pushed some of the beginner climbers pretty hard... like we say it's a tricky one to pin down.

Slabs? Nah, waaay too easy! 45, sure they're positive enough that you can push it pretty far with the moves and the distance between hand placements before it becomes a full on dyno situation. It really depends upon your ability, if we look at say the Metolius Cobblestones... it's easy, you're going to have a tough time on a 45, same with say the DRCC ESC/DSC's... these holds are hard enough that beginners will feel like they have the route but will have to work it to get the send, whereas experienced climbers will have a much easier time on the same route (Ain't it always the way?)

It depends upon what your needs are, we love them on the 45, on a 60 we'd have to work pretty hard, but due to the shape and the nature of the holds (you can pinch them) it'd be more than doable, past that you're going to be spending some time with your close friend the mats!



JACKY
It's our first time touching holds from this fairly new company: Rock Candy. It's a sweet hobby to get to test new holds before most gyms have them in their collection! Indeed, these holds are definelty candy colored... so success on the look! The shape of the holds are well done, resembling something you'd find outdoors. They are nice little pinches, where you're supposed to place your fingers are obvious and yet don't give that easy a grip. These cracks are small and well guaged, leaving enough space for your fingers to find a good grip, but not making it that easy for an experienced climber, but these holds could also be used in childrens routes since their tiny fingers will fit comfortably, deep into the cracks. The surface finish is also nice, mixing smooth areas with rough areas. As Noodles noticed, there are fine lines in the depth of the cracks that should have been paid more attention to, but you won't loose fingernails or tips when you slip off of the hold. Despite this, I would catergorize these holds as some, where the shapers have clearly spent alot of time and effort to make them what they are. Now if only the collection was large enough to set a full route at the local gym, we could see what long term exposure would do to them...

So Ill Ads

Review > DRCC > The Force Edges DSC / ESC

We're looking at the dual texture line of holds from the DRCC, there's a bunch; so here we go!

The Force ESC and DSC

From the start, the colors of these holds is going to grab your attention, from the the crazy green and white swirls of the ESC and DSC's; it's not a color combination you're going to see very often on holds.. of course what else you're going to notice is the fact that the slick part of the hold is very very reflective

The next thing (if you know holds) is that they're similar to some other holds on the market... sim-i-lar, but not the same! From thin positive crimps on the ESC (Easy Side Crimps) to evil non positive crimps on the DSC (Dark Side Crimps) you're going to have a blast setting, but remember to play nice as hauling off of crimps isn't the best for your digits!

We had a couple of routes about the place from the instant you get onto the holds you're either going to love em or hate em; we gave them to Marty to set with as he loves the small stuff to see what he'd try to get us to pull off, in all honesty the route wasn't that bad the horizontal pull on the steps is actually that bad, the cross over on the super thin edges on the box ok... what was hard was the undercling on the 45 degree walls feature... and getting across the 30 degree wall without getting spat off on to your ass (Bear in mind, the large holds we're using are also from the DRCC and will be reviewed at a later date)

Next up we took one of the large holds and put it upside down to gauge how slick the dual texture part of the hold was... answer? Pretty damn slick, it's a shame we didn't have the camera rolling when Noodles got onto the hold he just put his weight onto it, got his thumb onto the textured part of the hold and then swung under the box to the small crimp that was there... it looked precarious to say the least!
VIDEO

VIDEO END
So you can manage to get your weight on the holds when they're shiny side up and move, if slowly, through the move you want.. put your foot onto it and it's a different case altogether.. it is not going to stay, even when you have some nice new 5.10's on your feet and you dig your toes into the top of the rubber backing.





We have two different kinds of shapes with similar uses. The Force (DSC) are flat and slopey and because of the dual texture you need to rely on the friction of the edge to keep you on the wall. We had the edges on the 30 degree wall and they were hard to stick, so we'd only recommend these holds on walls no steeper than 30 degrees. They're hard to hold onto when you're on anything more than about 15 degrees overhung, but are more than ok to climb on if the moves set are delicate and you're not forcing a dynamic move of any kind.

The more positive holds (ESC) could be set on steeper terrain and once again because of the dual texture setters will be delighted to force moves. We personally find them kind of small and have taken it pretty easy with these holds, well easy is hard to define, we used them a lot all of the place but they never went anywhere near the 45 degree wall, but we did set some interesting underclings, laybacks on essentially a roof section and other cross over monkeying about that used the holds every which way but how and then some.

Both sets of holds are nice to set with side by side, we did set some short problems with the ESC's and then switched the holds to the DSC's to see if the moves we're still stickable; result? You can but you're going to find yourself being so much more delicate than you were on the Easy Side Crimps... that's the difference in the holds.. slightly dynamic and can get away with it; to slow and gentle. Together they make a pretty formidable team to play with, kind of like Contacts Hex and Rex holds... oo oo get all the holds from Contact and the DRCC and you're got a route of crimps and semi crimps that you're going to have to tape up and work for for a long old time!!

Review > Revolution > The Boss

Ah... do we start this review with a (P)usher logo or a Revolution logo?

It's a tricky one to answer... Revolution used to be (P)usher, and back when they were (P)usher they made this holds called The Boss. It was one of those holds that has gone down in history as a classic, people that have them covert them, people that never had them but knew about them wanted them and people that have never seen it and have no idea what we're talking about are none the wiser about what we're talking about.

We're talking about this:Noodles has one of these holds in resin back in the UK, and he's always talked about getting it sent over, but was worried about it being lost in the process of coming across an ocean... thankfully Clark at Revolution is a lovely chap and he poured our hold from the original mold and sent it on over to us.... then began a conversation between Clark and Noodles about whether he should remold the hold as the original mold was a little burnt and ripped. Clark ended up on the fence about remaking the hold, so Noodles pointed out that when people see we have one and we reviewed it they're probably going to want one so it'd be a good idea to get cracking as he was going to post an image of our Boss on the web on April 1st... a urethane Boss? It was something only people could dream about, and here we are with one on the wall; poured from 1 gallon of urethane and weighing in at 25lbs, it's a monster for sure! The new remold will be lighter as it's getting a new hollow back, but it's going to be urethane not resin so it'll be nice a strong

Finally before we start the review proper, here are some images of the hold being remolded for your pleasure!

First coat of silicone going onto the mold

Second coat of silicone and the hollow back

Right now that's done, we can get down to reviewing the hold. As Noodles has one of these holds he knew almost exactly where to put it... vertical? Nope; 45 degree wall? Never going to happen! The roof... well we did try that... the best place was on the box, it's slightly overhung and the Boss will be nice and slopey up there. We grabbed a bunch of other Revolution holds that were in one of our boxes and we set a route that ran from the 45, across the 30 under the box and then finishing on the Boss.

As you can see either way up the Boss is something that you have to sneak up upon, no crazy dynos: just nice static moves to a huge huge sloper. One side is more positive than the other, but that's not saying much, both sides are pretty evil to get onto and hold.. more than doable and super fun to try to match in different combinations. After we polished the above route off, we decided to stick the Boss onto the roof to see if we could get a knee bar, or double knee bar to a long long move to a jug, you had to knee bar before you could even go for the jug; unfortunately we didn't take any video but rest assured we took some huge falls the pads when we got it wrong

Next up, we put the Boss back to it's original position. Aryane was pulling off of the floor to a Teknik pinch and then onto the Boss and then to a jug on the roof, we didn't add any feet other than at the start and then feet follow after that, which means you ended up with a slightly mental toe hook on the pinch with your hands matched on the Boss which meant you really needed to lock off and rely upon your core strength to manage to hold and then move off of it

As you can see we were playing the two hold game, with the Boss as one of the first holds, lots of different people with lots of different strengths and weakness'... but one thing leveled the field and that was the Boss






If you've been climbing for a while, especially if climbed in any competitions then chances are one of the problems or routes you've climbed have at one point had one of these monsters in it! If you're strong as hell and have good core strength or want to work on your core strength then chuck this hold onto a 15 degree wall and then place your feet carefully so that you have to move onto the hold slowly and carefully, that'll give you a good work out. If you're stronger than that, go for the 30, and good luck holding on!!

Beginners are going to learn some very important lessons from encountering this hold, they're either going to love it or hate it (most people do) but they will learn how to hold onto something that will test them whichever angle they approach it from. But if you're setting then remember to be nice and put it on a vertical wall to be nice.

Texture wise the hold is great to hold onto, no sharp edges and the pour from the original mold came out really really well. It's surprising considering the last resin of this hold was poured in 2005



JACKY
Wooooaaaa... The Boss! Have you ever seen anything like it?! Yep... just like my boss' beer gut! Large and heavy (at an impressive 25lbs), it certainly commands respect. We are the luckiest folks to have been given such a gift. Revolution was kind enough to recreate this dinosaur for our pleasure. This piece shows that the dudes at Revolution like what they do, because I'm sure they spent plenty of time to revive this one piece. Despite the fact that this Boss was molded out of the original mold, the texture remains in great quality, it won't rip your skin off when you slip from it... oh, you'll slip from it! There is absolutely no one place to comfortably hold onto the Boss, it's kinda like a classic HP40 top out. Evidently it is always nive to carry a beast in a hold collection and as such, this classic becomes essential. And for all of you that don't have it: Hahahahahhahahhahaha! :P

Note to Revolution: The washer you sent with the bolt got stuck in the hold and doesn't seem to sit very nicely. The strength of the bolt is therefore not uniformly spread out. As you will be remaking the mold, there's a detail you should consider for a better 'next generation'

Hoo.... I almost forgot... there was other holds in that first route! We used a whole bunch of holds from Revolution and this leaves me unable to give an appropriate review for the load.. other than the fact that they were red and I like them. You can probably find a review for some on this site and you'll have to come back for the others

ARYANE
The "Edges" are colourful and quite aesthetic, which is probably what is most attractive about them. The shape is similar to other holds I have seen before, but the texture is interesting and feels different. Smooth and not peeling off your skin (unless you slipping unexpectedly), they actually stick pretty well, much better then you would expect them to do at first sight. I would likely see them on technical face routes or slightly angled walls.

As I am not yet mastering all slopers (although they don't scare me anymore), so I have a hard time comparing the "Boss" to other big slopers. I would say it's great feeling to be able to hold it with both hands while cutting loose, although this cutting loose part better short and sweet in order to stay on the wall. The hold also has some interesting bumps and curves which you can explore, for more friction and grip.

WE GRABBED SOME THOUGHTS ON THE BOSS' RETURN FROM A COUPLE OF SETTERS, MOLLY BEARD AND JODY MIALL

MOLLY BEARD: USA CLIMBING NATIONAL SETTER

Return of the Boss is a beautiful thing. I remember seeing the first one some 14 years ago, instantly asking "What the hell is that?!?!?"

and then spending the rest of the day fondling the damn thing. It was a truly revolutionary moment for me as a setter as up to this point there were no 'XXL' or massive volumes. None. Nada. Zip. I think the biggest hold I'd seen had a radial footprint of 10" and a depth of 8". Tiny by comparison! To have it being poured again is nothing short of a mouth-drooling experience.

verde pr

Rev logo

Review > Metolius > Cobblestones 2

Way back... well a year ago we reviewed the Metolius Cobblestones

And our overall comments were this (you can read the old review here):

PROS

• They hold up pretty well in a commercial gym
• Holds get better the more they are used
• Changing a route means rotating a hold a little
  

CONS

• They only come in one color... green
• They do take a few climbs before they get REALLY good
• Depending upon how strong you are will dictate how overhung a wall they can be used on

Now Metolius has extended the line of holds to include some more shapes, rather than the normal Cobblestones we've been climbing on they've made some more:

We have the set of the left, Set A: and this time they're much more incut than what we'd seen before. As we had a pretty big session scheduled the day they turned up we gave them to Eve and she set a route to test herself, and because the rest of us are stronger than her, there was a little added sting in the tail... she put the last hold upside down so we'd all just chuck for it and then get sent flying!

After we'd all had a few go's on that route, we turned the upside down final hold up the right way so people had a chance of finishing the stretchy last move. (Chris and Noodles actually managed to match the upside down hold on their first or second trys) Doing this meant that KC and Seb who came over a few nights later were able to romp across the route without too much trouble, KC is fairly new to bouldering and Seb hates roofs so getting the across the route was pretty cool.

Now that the route was dispatched we grabbed the other Cobblestones we have and we set a route with the entire ensemble... across the 45, the 30, under the box and then onto our stepped feature. The new holds are a nice compliment to the original line, with the jugs being positive enough for the 45 degree wall when set as side pulls (We also set a route on just the new set on the 45 and they're big enough to campus up without worrying too much); they're super positive, but not space hoggers, and for intermediate climbers these holds are going to be good training on steep terrain, for beginners they're going to inspire confidence as they look smooth and shallow but are more forgiving than they'll think. That being said, as the original holds we have range between slim, really slim and slightly incut the traverse that Noodles set had a few people (him included) dabbing the padding on the last few moves.

SUGGESTED USES

As the holds are all pretty incut depending upon your level of climbing you should be able to climb on steep walls or across a roof on these holds, some of the people you saw in the first video are bouldering around the V1 / V2 level and they struggled with the moves to begin with but once they got them dialed in they were able to get across the roof without too much trouble. The holds will teach beginners (especially if mixed with the other Cobblestone holds) that looks can be deceptive and that these are more positive than they're going to expect.

Despite the fact that there is no wow factor with this set, these kind of shapes should be standard on any wall. They're great holds to warm up on and don't take up too much area, you could place them in any problem, they don't burn the skin, there's not much wrong with these holds except the color. Now don't get me wrong, I like the green, but Metolius doesn't offer any other colors and I think that if they had more variety we'd see more of Metolius's holds in the gym.

EVE
It was my first time playing with any holds in this collection. Noodles asked me to set with the 'juggy' ones and so I did. Off of the feature, into the roof and... Since I like to cause a little trouble for the boys, final move onto the opposing wall, on a hold which I cleverly set upside down. As the video depicts clearly: many triers, zero success. So, we placed the hold back up just to realize that it was enough of a challenge even that way. This is because the cobble 'jugs' are really barely that. We set another route with the complete collection and now I get it....they are jugs because the other cobbles are sorry excuses for wall protrusions. I wasn't able to go through that route but eh! Watch'ya gonna do, I tried :).

So the cobbles are pretty standard looking, they are what I assume my grandma would imagine a climbing hold to look like. The shape and color at first glance is nothing special and at second glance, looks like its been done. None the less, these little 'jugs' are a very nice set since the difference between each member of the kit really only is just how much finger space exists in the angle between the hold and the wall for you to close your hand on. This allows a setter to keep the level of difficulty of a route fairly standard since you can use the nice jugs on the angled wall and then keep the 'oh my god, how much am I suppose to squeeze' ones on a slab. Or, if your Noodles, on the 30 degrees! Either way, the Metolius Cobbles are a painless way to get a good training session in. They are skin and tendon friendly with an appreciable touch of holy s***!!!!!
JACKY
Here, spring’s back and the rock are slowly warming up. Yes, I am still complaining; I NEED REAL ROCK!!!! Hence my deception when I saw the Cobblestones from Metolius. I can’t say they are bad holds. They are well constructed with the reliability and solidity you’d expect from Metolius. We even managed to make a very technical route! On the other hand, there is not one ounce of originality in these holds (dull colour, simplistic form and uniform texture). These days, with such harsh competition and holds evolving so rapidly, it is disappointing to still see holds like these for serious training. Worse yet, are the koala-ear-like holds included in the kit, which are outrageously unnatural (except for on koala heads of course). I’m sorry, but I do not climb koalas…you know, trying to preserve nature and all. Basically, I have nothing against the Cobbles but they don’t make me want to climb, or haul myself to the gym for that matter. The worst part is, it’s exactly the type of hold you’d find in industrial quantities at the gym! For a kid’s route; OK. But for a serious climber; Metolius-man, could you at least vary the texture, because your Cobbles are about as exciting as a girl in a snowsuit.
SEB

1. LOOK: They redefine generic. What you expect to see in a gym
2. TEXTURE: Skin friendly, classic
3. VERSATILITY: Let's move to the next topic
4. ARE THEY FUN: Yep
5. PRICE: Cheap!

I don't have that much to say about this set. That's what you always see in a gym, they will help you build forearm power (as they say on the Metolius website) and are what I would refer to as as classic shapes. There is no doubt that fun routes can be set with these but they will be more on the easy side (Noodles: He didn't climb the other route!) which is totally not a bad thing for me as I enjoy playing the monkey. Speaking of which, Eve's route was actually quite fun and with a high monkey factor so watch the video

They are quality stuff that will last and that aren't too rough on your hands and you know what... they're cheap!

Bottom line; I don't think that you always need to reinvent the wheel in order to create good stuff. There is also nothing wrong with classics... even if you know them! Would I buy they? For sure. They would not be high on my priority list but I can assue you that they would be on it.
KC
Those holds are fun to play with. They have a good grip, so you can place them in hard to reach places to upgrade the difficulty of a route (Chris: We all had to stretch for that roof move!) You can place them upside-down on a vertical wall, on an angled wall, on the celling everywhere you want. Want’s fun about them is that you can do a route with only your raw power… the hell with technique (ok, ok!!! Some technique).
The outside of the hold have a good grip (texture), they are a little rough but your fingers stick to it. I enjoyed them.

PROS

• They hold up pretty well in a commercial gym, even after years of abuse
  
• Holds get better the more they are used; good for beginners on steep terrain
• Don't take huge amounts of space on a wall

CONS

• They only come in one color... green
• Take a while to bed in