Review > Pusher Gear > Molecule

Ah "Big Black" as we call it... ah "BB" as it's known to us, to you it's called the Molecule and it's one of what we call classic holds from Pusher Gear. For those of you not versed in the language of Pusher, let us introduce your worst nightmare:

It's big and it sure is beautiful to look at, Noodles took some "artistic" shots of it whilst it was going through it's paces (you can find them amongst our usual Facebook updates). The Molecule is a shape by renowned climber and shaper Jason Kehl, this is probably one of the first large holds that Jason became known for, the first time this shape saw the light of day was back in 2001 at the first PCA competition (anyone remember those comps?) and it was well received. If you've climbed indoors at all you'll know the story of Pusher and that they stopped making holds for a good long while until they resurfaced last year... and the reemergence of Pusher meant that shapes like the Boss and Molecule came back for another generation of indoor monkeys

So it's big and it's black, what else is there to this thing? Well it's heavy as well, 26lbs is a lot of urethane to put up on the wall, even with it's new hollow back this thing is a two person job rather than the old days when it was a three person job; sure it's a pain to get up and move about but once it's up... well that's when the fun starts :)

Now it's going to look like we didn't rotate the hold from it's original position on the wall, or move it around. We did, but the other routes we set weren't anywhere near as enjoyable as the ones we filmed, the best of them is right at the end of the video and is the last two clips... let us explain:
Start on some Kando holds and then into the Molecule, set yourself up with the top sloper and then get your arm all the way underneath "BB" and then back step into a long move to another Kando hold... needless to say getting to the Kando hold was hard, getting out of "BB" is something we're still trying to work out as the move is just pure power. It's something that was set late one night and was worked on and off for a couple of weeks until we moved the Molecule... but it will come back.

We made the decision right from the get-go to put this beast of a hold on the 30 degree wall, it was going to be too easy on the vertical and a little trickier on the 45 (it makes any route a hoot on this angle)... we even put it on the 60 (talk about powerful moves!)  For instance when this hold was at the PCA comp it was used as a mantel on a V5 or V6 problem, it's just about big enough to do things like this with it. We wanted everyone to get onto the hold and to play around... the 30 degree wall seemed like the best option for all... and it was, anything less makes the features of this hold too easy and anything more makes them a little too hard (for some climbers)... and the 30 degree wall allows nearly all of the intricate sloper / undercut / pinch moves you could want. The amount of times we set a route that used this hold wasn't even funny; from three move, get on, get off the Molecule to routes where you had to position your body in the right place (at times it involved 3 or four hand movements just on the one shape) the Molecule took it all... even though she was injured before anyone climber on her :( This is pretty unusual for Pusher as they normally drill out the holes and we've never had a problem before... maybe because it was the first pour that came out of the mold they just over looked some of their usual steps

Injured, yup. Chris cracked the hold when he was putting in a set screw. A number 8 set tapper to be exact, with the drill on almost minimum torque. Noodles was not amused. It's not the first time we've cracked a hold and it sure as hell won't be the last... but something that is $200 and a classic... well that's something completely different!!! The are a number of reasons why the hold cracked, we had the drill angle right, and the correct sized screw AND the drill on super slow and easy... despite having placements for screws the holes aren't drilled all the way through so you either have to use a self taping screw (which we use a lot) or you have to pre-drill the hole. We took self taping and the hold cracked.

SUGGESTED USES:








The only reason this hold doesn't get a roof rating is because we're not that evil :) You could put it up there but a) it'd be hard and b) it'd probably be a waste of a feature like this. If you have a gym or a wall with a lot of space (the middle of an 8ft by 8ft surface is good enough) then you're going to enjoy owning this hold; it's not for everyone and when it's down from the wall it does take up a bunch of space for storage but considering what you can do with this hold it's worth it, sure it's not cheap at $199 but it is a (as the Pusher Gear website classes it) a MONSTER hold.

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 1
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $199
• Color: Black
• Bolt placement: Off centered
• Sanding: Awesome
• Hollow backed: Yes
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Good
• Set size: Massive, they call it a monster
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes but not drilled through
• Shaper: Jason Kehl
• Weight: 26lbs
• Distribution:
• US: www.pushergear.com
• EU: www.revolutionclimbing.eu
• Scandinavia: www.frictionwalls.com
• Japan: www.crux-jp.com
• Australia: www.bigjohn.com.au

Right it's heavy.. but it is bloody massive... sure compared to some of the stuff that Jason Kehl has shaped of late it's not actually that big :) But it is still massive, you do need some wall space for this puppy that's for sure.
The hollow back is perfect, the walls of the holds are nice and thick and give the shape a lot of structural strength.

The texture is grippy but not so grippy that you're going to walk away with flayed skin and sore tips, we spent many hours on the hold and never had a problem, from slapping it to pinching it the whole shape is well designed. If you over chalk then you will find yourself brushing the hold a bunch as chalk does build up quite quickly.

Our hold is called Big Black, guess what color it is... yup black. As the hold was the first out of the mold it did have some little bits of dust within the material, but considering it's now covered in chalk it's something that you don't notice at all.

The bolt hole has a good straight hole and wall placed washer. Considering this hold is so big the fact that the sanding is perfect is a feat in itself, the hold sits level on a wall with no little areas where you could sneak a finger tip for some extra purchase (aka: cheating)

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Awesome

RATING:
Noodles:
Right, consider this statement: Jason Kehl shaped this hold back in 2001. For it's time it was probably the biggest bad ass piece of resin (now urethane!) piece that people could bolt onto a climbing wall... let's face it, it's pretty bloody impressive. This hold and the Boss started a revolution (ha!) within the industry, so this hold and the fact that it's back on the market means you're buying a piece of history.. consider the size of some of the holds that Jason has been putting out lately, they're not so much holds as art, the industry has moved on and so has his style but you can see and feel it with this monster.. you can feel the beginning of something much bigger (ha!)

Whenever a box arrives from Pusher or Revolution it's always an interesting time as you never quite know what is going to be inside, Clark likes to keep us on our toes that's for sure. This time we knew it was coming but we didn't quite realize how big the Molecule actually is. Again, considering when this hold was made it's impressive to say the least.

The stand out route using this hold was one that didn't get finished, I'm going to put it back up again soon. The back-step undercling on the Molecule with the pinch and then up into the roof... amazing movement, super hard but great fun. I must have hit that problem more than I care to think about and I never had a problem with the Molecule or my skin. It'll be back and we'll film it because it will be hard as all hell.

The Molecule (considering I don't think I'd ever seen or climbed on one ever) actually kind of blew my mind a little, I didn't know what to expect, apart from pictures I'd seen and now I have climbed on one I can say that I enjoyed the hell out of it, yes it's big, yes it's heavy but it sure as hell is a good addition for a gym...and then if you consider the price of it... and that it's actually a feature and from what I can work out considering the size it's about 1/2 the price of much of the stuff that's on the market

Chris:

Look out plague, black death has a new contender and its name is the Molecule! Now if you're a fan of the Boss from Pusher Gear then you'll find a different kind of modular hold here. What we've got with this hold  are options and unlike the Boss, this big boy has pinches, incuts and slopers all in one. With the Boss its hard to get away from the open hand sloper and this has its limitations.


So I made a rookie mistake in not piloting a screw hole and on this first note, this hold need screws. I wouldn't trust a hold this size with just one bolt.

Whichever way you rotate this hold it has options... some are obviously better than others and it can take a little while for you to find out which way you want to grip the hold. We tried it every which way and then how and there's no mistaking that this is a hold that has a lot to give. On the downside it is still heavy and it will take two people to put up, but it's more than worth that hassle for the fun you can have playing with it.


PROS:

• Lots of grabbing options
• 
  

CONS:

• Heavy, needs two people to put up
• Screw holes should be drilled out before sending

Pusher ad

Review > Climb It Holds > Tufas

Ah Climb It... their new website with all of their new sets will be online very soon... so here's another sneek peek of what's going to drop very very soon... the Tufas as you can see there are a lot of them.

Photos: Aidas Rygelis | Ruby Photo Studio
www.rubyphotostudio.com

That when you think about it is a lot of holds, from small to 2XL+, there is enough urethane here for some of the tallest routes around and if you use the sloping holds you're not looking at an easy route at all, you're looking at some stiff ol' grades :) We were told by the shaper to pinch these like men because we mentioned that we were going to make a whole layback route out of them... so we went one further and stuck them across the roof which meant some really mean pinches, to make things even more interesting Noodles decided that the move into the roof should be a sloper. The route was described as "not doable" by Bobby... ha! Once you figured out the beta, which was a right hand bump three times and then a big old toe hook on a hold on the roof it because really doable, pumpy as all hell but totally doable... sure it took some working to get the moves down but it wasn't really that bad.

Was that pinchy enough for you Mr Anderson?

Photo: http://www.bonuel.ca

Once that route was put to bed we set some traverses and some layback routes where the only holds you could use were the same for your feet, thank god some of the holds are deep because it would have become impossible if they'd not have been.

Those of you that read this site a lot will have noticed the pictures that we're using of the holds in action... Dustin was in town to do some setting some months back for Allez Up and he wanted to borrow the Tufas for a couple of finals routes at the Tour De Bloc when it was held at True North in Toronto. In true Dustin style the finals problems were just crazy, one of the mens problems and one of the ladies problems were set with just the Tufas (and a couple of extra footholds, considering the steepness of the walls that True North have at their disposal the problems look pretty damn stiff! (As usual all of the images are click for larger)

Photo: http://www.bonuel.ca

There are more than enough holds when you look at the entire set for any angle of wall, you just need to shop carefully when you look at what you're looking to buy. From the get-go apart from the holds being slick and needing time to "bed in" because of the release agent that Climb It uses to get the shapes out of the mold the holds received lots of praise from everyone that climbed on them. Everyone was kind of sad to see them disappear for a couple of months whilst they were off on loan, we have them back and we know full well that they're going back onto the wall as soon as we make some space :)



SUGGESTED USES:








Stick them wherever you want! There's a little of everything on these holds with the exception of pockets, they do feel pretty rock like, well more rock-lite feeling, they all have nice rounded edges and even when you're hitting them hard and at speed you're not going to have any problems... hell if you're in the wall for hours and hours these guys don't trash your hands, Noodles and Bob hit the same route at the end of a long session for about three hours and they both walked away with their skin intact.


Some of the larger holds may end up being too big for a small home woody, but thankfully you can just choose a smaller set of holds that will fit your needs

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 28
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt on
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): TBC
• Color: Neon green
• Bolt placement: Centered
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: On the larger shapes yes
• Soft back (Rubber backed):
• Texture: Awesome
• Set size: Small to 2XL+
• Versatility: Not bad
• Pre-drilled screw holes: Yes in ALL the holds
• Shaper: Louie Anderson
• Weight: Various

Climb It have done a superb job with these holds, from the hollow backs to the set screw holes in every hold... the sanding is perfect and the color is even throughout the shapes. From inset washers, to bolt columns it's like they've gone down the checklist on what to do and have ticked every box.

There are a few problems with the holds but they're minor, the holds do take a while to "bed in" because the release agent that Climb It uses makes the holds super slick, so don't expect to be cranking down right away; we actually pre-chalked the holds before we climbed, it just makes life a little faster :) Despite the holds all having set screw holes pre-placed, not all of them were drilled through; this is something that is a minor point that is going to become major in the future for us, if you have a set screw hole go that extra step and drill it all the way through, don't half measure this little step, it does make a huge difference. Pre-drilling the holes is also important as it will lessen the likely hood of the hold snapping when you chuck a screw in once the hold is on the wall. The only other minor gripe is that some of the bolt holes on holds that have center columns are drilled a little off center... they're straight but not right down the middle, again another minor point but something that should be pointed out

Overall the holds are superbly built 

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
One huge box, super well packed. No damage en-transit

RATING:
Noodles:
Right off of the bat I'm going to state something. Something that is interesting.
"These are the best holds that Climb It make"
Do I need to continue after a statement like that?

Let me explain a little

a) The holds came through with no defects
b) They were well packed
c) They look gnarly but are super comfortable
d) There are enough holds for really tall walls and long routes
e) Some of them are massive and have well formed hollow backs
f) Even the small holds had screw holes

I could go on and on. We've seen a lot of Climb It holds, almost their entire range in bits and bobs and there's always been something wrong... some little thing that just isn't quite right. The Edges were a little too sharp, the Blockys cracked etc etc, but these are perfect. They're hard enough for a 5.14 but useful enough for a V2... hell they were lent to True North for a Tour De Bloc finals route that was in Dustin's words "pimp"

Now the best set of holds is a BIG BIG statement, the Power Domes are some of my favorites as well. So maybe I'll refine my statement a little. "Of the new sets that Climb It are releasing in 2011, the Tufas should probably be in your gym"

Again, another statement that warrants some explanation...

You want long lay back routes? Tufas
You want to work your pinch strength on a variety of rock like pinches? Tufas
You want holds that you can hook and hand match on? Tufas (the big ones)

You want interesting slopers that are evil? Tufas (only some of them thou)
You want to hear me show you the holds? Watch the walk through, it's super long :)

Photos: Aidas Rygelis | Ruby Photo Studio
www.rubyphotostudio.com

By far of what we've seen from Climb It over the last three odd years these are the best holds that we've seen from them, of course there are a couple of complaints :) The release agent they use makes the brand new holds hard to hold onto and they do take some time to get chalked up and in working order. One of the screw holes (and we used all of the holes) did crack, but that was us (Mark) with the wrong sized screw. Other than that they should be checked out, soon as we have some space they're going back onto the wall.. and lets face it if they make a Tour De Bloc finals problem like the images we've kindly been allowed to use (that are all over the review) then they're something special... read Dustin's comments for the full break down on the problem and how he used the holds

Chris:

Wow! Like usual, Climb It has molded some awesome shapes. They're all pinchy and kinda look alike but each one has some hidden features. The other thing is, like the gym, we have quite a bit of Climb It holds and we can get the feel for all the different sizes Climb It has to offer.

So I would say if you don't like pinches, you should pick up a set of these holds (and if you're like us, you'd have the full range ;) The versatility of this set will keep you setting over and over but you can also train on these holds since their open hand and comfortable.

I would have to say that these holds are some of he coolest pinches I've seen from Climb It. The shapes are versatile. If you want a slope or a pinch, you'll find it with these holds. The ridges and intricacies in the mold make for some interesting grips and are really great and fun to match, you can even get digits from both hands onto the smaller guys.

All that said, I love this set. We had them up on the vertical, 45 and roof and they always had something to offer. The shapes have a lot to offer and even though their pinches, you could pass them off as crimps and even slopes. Another winner from Climb It.
 
Mark:
These green tufa's were a pleasure to climb on. The versatility and size of this set was leaning towards spectacular.  To top it all off, the negative aspects of the holds were almost non-existent. This set came with everything from massive to tiny slopers and pinches.They could be used as said holds, you could hang on them on almost all angles and some of them had in the rippling features miniature sloping crimps to work off of. The toeing and heeling on these holds were great, you could bicycle them, sit on them or pretty much anything.

The downsides of these suckers are that when new they are pretty slick and they absorb a fair amount of chalk before you start sticking them properly. Though on the plus side; even though we kept slipping off of them we never destroyed our hands since the texture wasn't too porous. They also only have one set screw hole and it isn't drilled all the way through making it a bit of a hassle to screw them the first time.
 
What I really would of loved on this set is that the large pinches would of had screw holes all around the hold so that you could place them without a bolt. These big pinches would make great hand jam cracks if only they could be placed properly. For sure you could make a cool hand jam in a roof with a couple of those to spice up your route or boulder problem style.
 
As for actually climbing them as tufa's we unfortunately didn't have the chance since our room is too small.  I would imagine it'd be pretty wicked and given the real tufa's I've had the chance to climb on I'd say these are pretty realistic. I look forward to climbing them as they should be climbed one day, I'm sure it'll be a wicked line!  


Dustin:

Photos: Aidas Rygelis | Ruby Photo Studio
www.rubyphotostudio.com

So the Climb It Tufas... Lets talk about one of the best damn sets of holds I've ever laid my hands on, tightened onto a wall or watched someone else fondle! These holds are the best that Climb It has put out, by far and I'm a big fan of all their shapes, Black Mountain crimps give you some heinous crimpin, they've got giant jugs for haulin on roofs or for the gym's classic 5.8 route, power pinches for your simple thugged-out bouldering, simple shapes, natural shapes, all of it, Climb It has one of the most diverse line in the biz, and these shapes are the fucking pinnacle of this shit! I swear to you, I borrowed these to sample them on some finals problems for True North's Tour De Bloc, and I had to give them back to Jeremy since I borrowed them for the comp and a month afterward from him, and my setters will not shut up about when we get our order.

Let's just get down to basics, I know that I'm supposed to write some bullshit about how they worked on certain angles and shit like that but honestly, that's what Jeremy is for. I'll be honest, I am a Climb It athlete and this shit is not biased! As a route setter, as the comps head route setter, the problems that I set with the tufas, (men's and women's final #4) were a bit too hard, I know but still, they consisted of some dope holds with some cool movements but the thing about these holds, is diversity. If someone asked me about the Climb It Tufas I'd say that the word tufa, doesn't really aply to this style of hold. When I think of Tufa's I really think of long pinches. These were not only that but bad slopers, moderate ledges, slopey pinches, incut crimps, all of it! If you are looking for a style of hold that perfectly rounds out your gyms selection or your home walls versatility, look no further! These would be perfect on steep, to slightly overhung to even vertical, just use your imagination.

I used these holds as positive pinches, bad slopers on a triangle feature, big feat, ledges, the works! On top of all this, the quality of urethane is unreal! Most solid and durable urethane on the planet. Believe me, we at True North have broken everything, every climbing hold company that we have, we have broken at least one of their holds, Climb It is one of those offenders, yet these holds, with their hollow backs, have stood up to the best and worst, that we have had to offer and use and abuse. If you don't have these holds, get them. Jeremy, I'm waiting for mine.


PROS:

• Huge size range
• Lots of grabbing options

CONS:

• Take a while to bed in
• Some of the larger matchable holds might be too big for a home wall

Interview > Limestone Software > Grade Converter

Aight, we've been busy the last week with competitions and reviews, this week we're taking a quick break... but we're not just sitting on our asses, nope, we were contacted by Limestone Software about a free app that they made to make a climbers life just that little bit easier.

Making apps isn't easy, look at Noodles, he makes video games for a living and it's no fun thing. Now Limestone (who are Montreal based) have put out a climbing grade converter for free, we decided to sit down and have a chat with them about it.

Route converter

1. Name and job

François Campeau full time software developer at Asset Science and co-founder of Limestone Software and Martin Morissette, full time software developer at 8D Technologies and co-founder of Limestone Software. 

2. Company name, and what do you do?

Limestone Software is an indie mobile application development company focused on crafting quality consumer software. We are currently concentrating our efforts towards the design of iPhone and iPad applications related to our fields of interest, namely climbing and photography.

Bouldering conversion

3.  So you decided to make a grade converter why?

We found that the market lacked a well designed and tough out climbing grade converter and we needed one for out last trip to Tonsai in Thailand. Furthermore, Redpoint was a great starting point to familiarize ourselves with the submission process on the Apple App Store and the perfect little app to start out our company's portfolio. 

4. What formats is the converter available upon?

Redpoint is currently only available for iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) We are open to porting it to other platform if there is enough demand for it.

5.  You're not making money... was this a conscious decision?

Yes we were very conscious of that fact when we launched Redpoint and it's important for us that always remains free. Although elegantly designed ;-) we don't feel people should have to pay for such a simple app. See it as a gift to the climbing community which as been very generous to us since we started climbing a few years ago and also a way to get our company's name out there.

6.  Do you have plans for more climbing related apps?

Yes we have lot's of ideas for more climbing related apps but right now we are focusing on our second app which will be photography related

You can get the Grade Converter from the below two links, if you like it please review it!!

http://limestonesoft.com/redpoint/
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/redpoint/id413925036?mt=8

New SO ILL

Review >Teknik > No Shadow Hands / Feet & Fat Sloper

Prepare to get spanked! The name "No Shadow" is not used lightly in the case of the No Shadow hands and feet from Teknik Handholds. We picked these sets up with the Fat Sloper down at the Mountain Equipment Co-op, Noodles as he has some time on his hands has decided to run some (what we call) Blind Tests. We know full well that people will send us holds that are built superbly, but what happens when you get them from a store and not direct from the company? Well this is us helping you, of course we suggest you inspect all holds before buying them but we just walked in, picked em up, payed and walked out...

So if you break down the No Shadow sets, they're like the the Top Out Slopers from Climb It but waaaaay thinner. Noodles even decided to be nice and get the Fat Sloper so we could actually have a hold that we could hold onto. The No Shadow sets (which is two hands and two feet) and Fat Sloper are nice simple shapes, but they are each unique on their own. The Fat Sloper is a shape that you will often see from Teknik. We have other slopers from Teknik that we've had for years and the and this one is similar, but something new at the same time

Our wall is mostly made up of angles from 60 to 45 degrees and the No Shadow sets are pretty much impossible so we broke down the angle by using bolt on features. Putting the hold onto Motivation volume and the Nicros Jug or Not we ended up using the No Shadow feet as hand holds really thin "oh my god hand holds" but hand holds none the less, most people would look at these and would dismiss them as useless for hands AND feet but we like to use hand holds as footholds and as these are evil we figured we'd give it a bash, although with the volumes, the climbs and pulling on these holds became feasible  the spanking was just about to begin.

Jackie came over to play. We haven't seem him in awhile and now that he's off from school he could have a go at the sloper fest that was about to begin. We stayed off the angled walls for our first set but we kept the No Shadow holds on the volumes. It seemed easy enough when we set. Three moves, to and from the Fat Sloper with the No Shadow holds on volumes. The starting holds are No Shadow feet while the finishing hold is a No Shadow hand hold on a Motivation volume. Like a classic sloper problem it was all about balance and foot placement. Before moving onto the 45, we set one more problem on the vertical wall. Jackie had a height advantage and cruised the sequence while the rest of us spent spent some time figuring out which feet to use.

If we thought the vertical wall was giving us a lesson in humility, the problems set on the angled walls were a step above. Even Jackies length wasn't going to help him through these sequences. The first problem we set started on the 60 degree wall and it ended up being to hard for any of us to complete. So we moves onto the the roof and started a problem with two feet on a Motivation volume. We learned our lessons from the previous problems and made a sequence we could all manage. In the end we relied on brute strength and ignorance to complete the problem ;)

What you're looking at when you realistically look at the No Shadow hands are competition holds pure and simple, they are really specific, super thin and super hard holds to get onto. If we're honest (and we're proud that we are) these don't really have much of a place on a home wall! On a gym wall on a corner problem they're going to be amazing, on a slab they'll be super fun but as they're hard on a vertical wall and you can only really hold them in one direction we'd probably suggest passing on them.... that is unless you like super balanced moves or you can top out on your wall!! If you want some evil Fontainbleu style top outs then these are the ticket for you!

The No Shadow Feet.. well they're super thin and hard for feet, so they're brilliant. They're footholds that you have to be super careful with and you have to work to be able to use them, these have a place on everyone's wall, no matter where... same goes for the Fat Sloper, it's awesome fun. It's big enough and fun enough that Noodles went to a different store (same company, different location) to go and get another one. It's hard but do-able hard for everyone and we'd suggest you grab it if you can... and then try to hold it... fall off... get back on etc :D

SUGGESTED USES:

Sloper madness like these holds are best suited for vertical walls and slab climbing. With the exception of the Fat Sloper, both the No Shadow foot holds and handholds don't have much to offer when it comes to an angled wall. Lucky for us we have volumes hanging around so we could manage to set problems on angled walls. Even so, the holds make for setting hard problems and we didn`t have much success in sending most of the problems on overhanging terrain. The problems are hovering around a V7 but since Mark, the strongest climber in our group is in Horse Pens 40, its hard to gauge.

We're going to suggest shallow angles for the No Shadow Hands, any angle except a roof for the feet and the Fat Sloper... we'll go as mad as you want :)

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds:
• No Shadow Hands and Feet: 2 hands and 2 feet
• Fat Sloper is one hold
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds) 
• NOTE: These were store brought and it's better to get the Fat Sloper in the 5 set (for more fun) and more of the No Shadow Hands in larger sets
• Color: Fat Sloper is green / No Shadow Feet are blue and the No Shadow Hands are Purple
• Bolt placement: Middle
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: The Fat Sloper is
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Classic Teknik i.e: superb
• Set size: Small to large
• Versatility: Little
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: Seth for the Fat Sloper / Zoe for the No Shadow Hands and Feet
• Weight: Various

From the little Teknik star to the hollow back on the Fat Sloper there are little details on these holds, Teknik holds are always special to hold and we know of people that have broken a classic Teknik (resin) shape and has had a funeral service for that hold :) The sanding is great, the colors are consistent across the board and the bolt holes are well placed and drilled. Considering these are from a store it's bloody impressive.


The color of the No Shadow Hands is great it's a nice dark purple that really looks nice, the No Shadow Feet are a baby blue that's good and even and the Fat Sloper is an off green that looks quite nice. All of the holds were board mounted with bolts and T Nuts included, the packaging is nice and simple (like the shapes) and it looks pretty kick ass on a rack in a store.


If you have a wall or you set you know that Teknik means quality, but sometimes your budget is going to suffer for it a little. Sure, they will last a lifetime (if taken care of) but and lets look at one set the Tron Disks that we want on our wall... 10 holds at $65 = $6.50 per hold and they're not that big, not big at all. $6.50 per hold for something about  2 inches across stops us from buying them. And that's our point, you pay for what you get when it comes to Teknik, they know that they make quality holds so they charge you for it, sometimes it's a stiff price to pay and other times you just don't get the holds you want :(


WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Brought in store. All holds were on boards with bolts and T nuts included

RATING:
Noodles:
Argh, thanks to the person on the team that wrote the review... I"m in trouble :) HA! Fuck it, who cares. Teknik Handholds are...

Wait for it...

The shit.

They have been for a long time and they remain as one of my favorites, their quality is amazing and the shapes are sooo nice it's just silly. I love reviewing Teknik shapes, I love seeing them and just getting my hands on them. Shame they're bloody expensive, I'd buy more but even at wholesale prices I stop and think twice. I have an order form in my desk drawer for a bunch of stuff, hell I mailed for a price a few weeks back because I wanted to a) climb on the shapes and b) wanted to review their holds some more... it's one of those things where I look at our budget and then spend it else where because I can get more holds from different company's... the Fat Sloper, I want all of them, the Tron Disks I want them, the Pinchtite... I WANT IT NOW! The Mathematics, man I love those holds, gimme gimme gimme. Maybe I should stop being such a tight ass with money...

Oh are you guys surprised? Yeah, we pay for holds... it ain't all a free ride!


When it comes to Teknik holds can someone just send me the entire range so I can be happy?

I got my ask kicked, I believe I was the only person on the vertical wall to use the No Shadow Hands and actually get some weight onto the buggers... the Fat Sloper is fun as hell. So here's the bottom line...
No Shadow Hands: Top outs / vertical walls / blind arete slaps / Stemming routes
No Shadow Feet: Use them as hands, you'll be surprised but pretty much the same as above
Fat Sloper: Just buy this hold, in 10 years when it's classic you'll thank me

Chris:

I've always liked Teknik holds. I have the notion that these are the holds that will make you strong. I just wish they had a wider selection of holds. It seems to me that they keep re-working their classic shapes into something new and discontinuing the older shapes. Hey Teknik, give us more shapes!

As for these sets in particular, I'm split between them. We have a resin sloper (not made anymore) from Teknik and I found that it was a little smaller and easier to pinch then the Fat Sloper and the No Shadow Hands are just about grabbable, but they're still super hard to hold.

Considering these were brought in store I think the quality is amazing and they've done a great job.

PROS:

• Amazing quality
• Great colors
• Superb texture and climbing fun!

CONS:

• The No Shadow Holds aren't for the faint of heart at all
• Prices may put people off a little

warts logo

Review > DRCC > D Balls

Are you a baller? Do you like balls? Well this week it's a treat for you... the word BALLS is going to be used a lot over the course of this review. Why? Mainly because of these:

D Balls

D Ball Halves

Big D Balls

The DRCC as you're probably well versed by now have been making some of the best holds that are out on the market right now; but this time if we're honest they may have done messed up :( Opinions over here at climbingholdreview are split. There's the Noodles camp that's "they're rubbish" and then there's the Everybody else camp and that's "they're awesome!" One thing has to be stated these holds are the second set that Allison shaped and that's a thing to be very proud of, the shaping on the Big D Balls is great... well great until you look closely at the above image. Do you see what we see? No? Let's look closer:

You think you're getting four different holds, but you're not, you're actually getting the same shape four times... just they're poured shallow. Ok? That's fine you're thinking, I get four slopers of differing depths. Yup you do, but you're throwing close to $200 at these four holds alone. Sure the biggest guy is pretty damn big, but all the DRCC has done is make a mold and then pour to different depths; when you think about it they're either being genius' or they're being cheap. If you look closely at the backs of the holds you can tell that they're actually coming out of two different molds... they hollow backs are different (at least the bracing inside) So what they've done is make the master, cast it twice for the different depth pours and bobs your uncle... four new holds. It does kind of sound like we're bitching here (mainly because we are), $199.95 for four holds, that's nigh on $50 per hold and they're not technically that big, the price seems a little steep.
The Big D Balls when it comes to the three sets of holds are the ones we really liked, despite the fact that no matter how many times you start the same problem you always seem to grab them in a different way (see Noodles comments below for a video)

And then you get to the smaller holds, there are 10 more to look at. If you look closely they've done the same thing again. Both sets are just shallow pours of each other, so again you're getting two not identical sets of holds. Genius or madness, you tell us! When it comes to the smaller holds they're a major point of contention around here, normally there would only be a few people commenting but this review has generated comments from pretty well everyone that came and climbed on them. The D Ball Halves and the D Balls all climb pretty well and even though you are climbing on duplicate holds you don't really notice too much, if at all.

One thing that has to be noted is that every when we did the walk through we didn't notice that the holds were just smaller versions of each other, it was when we were playing with the holds on the wall that we noticed this we should have figured it out from the names :P

 We've had them all over the wall in most scenarios that we could think of and they're a hoot to set and play with (once you get over the same shape different depth stuff), the larger D Balls are the ones you really want the rest... well go and read the comments for what we think of those, there's not really any reading between the lines for pretty much the entire team

SUGGESTED USES:








With some of the holds you can go steep, hell, we had some of the larger more incut balls up on the roof and it made for some stiff climbing and some interesting hand matches. The D Ball Halves and D Balls are pretty well door knobs so you can wrap your hand around them and just crank, the Big D Balls end up being huge slap happy slopers or technical balance monsters depending upon where you place them.


Normally we'd suggest that home wall owners go and grab the smaller versions for their walls, this time we're going the other way as the Big D Balls are the most fun and are quite versatile for their size and shape. It is kind of a shame that you can't buy them as singles as well as a four hold set.

OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds:
• Big D Balls:$199.95
• D Ball Halves: $44.99
• D Balls: $54.99
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt on
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds):
• Big D Balls:199.95 / 4 = $49.98 USD
• D Ball Halves: 44.99 / 6 = $7.50 per USD
• D Balls: 54.99 / 6 = $9.16 USD
• Color:
• Big D Balls: Ours are mixed, green, pink, dark green and bluw
• D Ball Halves: Yellow
• D Balls: Pink / peach
• Bolt placement: Middle
• Sanding: Bang on
• Hollow backed: Yes, some of the time
• Soft back (Rubber backed): Yes
• Texture: Great
• Set size: Small to large
• Versatility: Ok
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: Allison O
• Weight: Some holds are hollow backed, others aren't

We're going to sound like a broken record on the hollow backs... some of these holds (The Big D Balls aside) are hollow backed and some aren't, the shapes are very similarly sized so there really seems to rhyme or reason to why this has been done.

As usual there is little to complain about with the DRCC and their quality, all of the holds are very well built and there aren't any real blemishes to even mention. From the DRCC logo to the rubber back as usual they've done a superb job. Well til you realize you've just brought the same set a couple of times :)

There aren't any set screw holes in the big guys, they would have been hard to add to the larger shapes but it's something that could have been added. Unless of course the set comes with the rubber back as standard (and included within the price), not that we had any problems with the holds spinning when we were using them but mainly because some gyms will want to put a screw in to be safe.

Our colors were a mixed bag with these guys, each set was a different color (not that we specified (but we did pay for these holds)) and the colors are all nice and even without any problems anywhere, same for the sanding which was perfect

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Superb

RATING:
Noodles:
Hate is a harsh word, balls is seemingly a funny word. Balls is something that I'd use a lot to explain the smaller sets of holds, they just (for me) don't work very well, they seem tacked on, an after thought as this is where the fun and genius of the Big D Balls begins. Grabbing Allisons balls is a treat, even if they are just different pours of the same shape. The biggest shape of the lot is the one where you'll probably have the most fun, but I have a small problem with the slot that's on the side, it's not really needed... well it's kind of needed when it's on the roof... other than that it means people will just monkey through the move and stop using the shape for it's intended purpose... pock marked fun.

Did I say fun? I meant pain. I'm going to get down to base facts, I love the large holds, the smaller ones are rubbish and they're all painful for me to hold

Painful for me. Not for anyone else. There's a set of holds from Sequence Climbing that if their website was actually working then I'd not have to go and get my camera and have to take a picture... give me a sec:

Sequence Climbing's Moon Rock??

This hold (above) hurts my hands and fingers, it's the same as the balls, they hurt my hands... pure and simple :) There's nothing wrong with the way they're shaped or made, either for the Sequence shapes or the Balls they just hurt me... the wide pinching moves just for some reason just give me a bunch of pain. For the review I didn't really notice but when I stopped the next day my fingers hurt; no one else had that problem so it's just a me problem. As soon as I stopped playing with them then the pain went away.
I'd have had no problems if the holds were a bunch of slopers of different shapes and sizes, the dimples just simply fuck me up.

Wrapping up: half the shapes are hollow backed some aren't, what up with that? Also whilst I'm on a rant about these holds I'm not sure that having the same hold repeated through out a set multiple times is cheap or genius...

The bottom line is I like the Big D Balls, I wish I could climb on them more. The smaller versions should be binned. Sorry, hard to read and pretty hard to write but sometimes life jumps up and bites you on the ass.

Chris:
We've had our fair share of DRCC holds come through our door and the D Balls are of a different flavor. We've had holds like the duo texture slots or the setters delight, but the balls are much larger and friendlier than what I'm used to seeing from DRCC.

The set ranges in difficulty, where the smaller holds are much easier to grip. The holds have large dimples on them and are a breeze to pinch. As for the larger guys, well they're of a slightly different flavor in that they act more like a sloper and are harder to grip.

This set is pretty generic and you can find these kinds of spherical shapes from other hold suppliers but as usual, the DRCC has taken a classic design and made it better. The hold that stands out for me is the largest hold that we received, the large green guy we stuck on the roof. There is a small jug hidden in the back and it can be strategically placed to force moves. The dimply texture of these holds make all the difference. It makes for plenty of options, no matter the size of the hold but it is also its Achilles heel. The dimples are pronounced and give you plenty to hold onto and although they're really positive and easy to grip, they're small enough that you could feel some finger strain when you put a lot of weight on your fingers.


Mark:
This set of holds I found had it`s ups and it`s downs. For sure not to get me wrong, they were professionally manufactured, don`t weigh much and have prefect texture. I suppose my perception of the downs comes from the fact that all the holds are very similar. There are big slopping balls and there are fist sized balls. The big ones definitely stick out as different and can be fun but I find that they all grab the same way and feel the same. As for the small balls, they have edges and you can pinch or crimp them and it`s really challenging to have a small sloper since they`re just too positive.

The plus side of being that positive is that you can play with the small sizes on overhangs and vertical walls and don`t have to be some sort of god-child to climb them. The big slopers are definitely workable in almost all angles; can be used for knee jams sometimes, and there is one that is really shallow to the wall and you are stuck working a open handed sloper pinch off of all the little indentations. 
 
Overall a good set of holds but I think they could of passed and not made the smaller holds altogether. 

Eve:
If it wasn't for the nauseating amount of ball jokes that these holds inspired out of our jolly bunch of idiots, these slopers, no wait crimps, no wait...  well whatever they are, the D Balls sure are entertaining!  The colours are the usual DRCC unusual and the texture is comfortable.  The holds were slippery at first but the chalk and climbing fixed that.  They are amazingly fun climbing holds but they are hard to understand.  It's as if there is no actual way to hold them comfortably.  They are definitely slopers but hurt your fingers like they were crimps.  I have to mention at this point that while reviewing these holds, I have only been talking about the large D Balls since the small ones I quickly ignored after trying. You can pretty much only grab the smaller holds like a door knob - whatever wall angle they are set on and whatever your hand size - making them boring at best.  I don't think they should even be used by beginners because they don't encourage good hand and finger technique.  Conclusion, big balls are versatile, fun and challenging, little balls I can do without...  That's what she said!   ;)

Bobby:
I generally like these holds. We set a bunch of fun balance problems with the four large holds. Unfortunately not as much with the smaller ones. I guess this derives from the fact that they are all too similar to each other.  They all come from the same  mold, more or less, just poured at different depths, they just got boring fast.

As for the four large ones, they are also repeats of each other but get a way with it. These holds did offer some inspiration when setting, balance was definitely  the theme of most the problems we managed to set with them, and they almost always end up as a match, but I still liked them. Of the four, the largest was the only one that was really easy or could be used on a ceiling comfortably.

These are holds I would like to see on the wall again...    maybe just the big balls.


PROS:

• Large set sizes
• Interesting take on shaping / pouring
• The Big D Balls are fun on steep terrain

CONS:

• All of the holds are different depth of other shapes
• Prices seem steep
• Some holds are hollow backed others aren't and the shapes are very similar sizes