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Review > Redpoint Holds > Conductors / Coefficient / Curreny Pinches

Originally we were going to run three reviews for these holds, do them one at a time but as we got around to setting we decided to get them all done at the same time, we only filmed one route of myself and Chris climbing and we were going to film some more on different problems but you'll see why we had to stop that for a little while :)

Redpoint is a new company that started this year in Canada and it's always good to see new companies especially Canadian ones come into the market and begin the journey of making climbing holds, and Redpoint although new are doing it the hard way, they actually mix and pour their holds unlike some other people that have joined into the fray this year... so a new Canadian company and three sets of holds... lets roll!!

So as there are three sets we'll talk about them specifically and then about the route that was set... but first... why didn't we film some more?

Noodles... kind of messed himself up a little bit:

He hit the mats a little funny when climbing and kind of took himself out for a little bit; the left hand photo is 30 minutes after it happened and the right photo is the next day; nothing was broken it's all torn up but that's our excuse for not filming more for this review. It also has to be pointed out that he wasn't on the Redpoint route when he did this :)

So excuses aside lets talk holds:

Conductors 

Why ruin perfectly good holds is the main comment that we've received on these holds... indeed why? There's no need to add those thumb catches to the holds because they don't need them they're awesome without; maybe there's a need for Redpoint to distinguish themselves from every other hold maker out there but we think not, good holds will sell... maybe of the thumb catches were perfectly placed we could see them being beneficial to the shape, but when the shape is perfect why add to it?

As a simple set of edges / large crimps these holds are awesome, well worth a look


Currency Pinches

Five of some of the best sized pinches out there, these holds are so versatile if you can stop yourself from skipping from a pinch to just using the slopers on them, realistically these holds should be half the depth (something that should be added like Teknik did with the shallow pours of their holds) for something really interesting to climb on unless you're a beginner... but hey as everyone has to start one way or another then these are pinches that you can haul on when the going gets steep... smaller options would be super nice to see

Coefficient

Taking a note from the Europeans (Redpoint didn't actually know that closed cell volumes have been around for a while) this is a closed cell volume. Close Cell basically means theres a back on the hold but the inside is hollow :) CC means that holds can be bigger but basically weigh nothing, we tip out hat to these guys on this as we don't think that there's anyone else doing this right now on the North American market... so awesome. There are so many ways you can use this hold it's just plain retarded... look for it in the X-Cult Volume review coming up next, it's the start hold

For it's size it's light, not as light as it could be but for a first attempt it's a bloody good attempt and very well pulled off

So what did we do with these holds? Well before Noodles killed his season we set a few super burly routes using these holds to see where we could go with the holds; they're all pretty happy on the steep walls that's for sure and then because we wanted a bunch of traffic on the holds to see how they fared we made a nice simple (if jumpy, if you're short) V2 route for the climbers at the gym... this route has been getting a lot of traffic from the low to intermediate climbers it's kind of surprising. As usual we've been putting the thumb screws onto people that have been climbing it to see what they think of the holds and it's a mixed bag of comments for sure! Some people were attracted by the large start hold and others saw the metal hardware in the upper holds and were kind of curious... no one except the low low end climbers attempting the route have anything negative to say about the holds so that's a good thing to hear from the punters that's for sure


SUGGESTED USES CONDUCTORS:

45 is about as far as we'd suggest going with these guys, although they're incut they're not that incut so you'll end up loosing their edge quite quickly... that's not saying that they couldn't go steeper, they probably could but it'll be a super hard pull for sure

OVERALL BUILD CONDUCTORS:

• Number of holds: 2
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $20 / 2 = $10 per hold
• Color: Ours are purple and yellow
• Bolt placement: Bang in the middle
• Sanding: Good
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy but not crazy
• Set size: Medium
• Versatility: Pretty good
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: ?
• Weight: ?

When we hear of a new company we're always wary of what they're producing, but we always like to see them for sure!!

The Conductors are a little strange because of their little metal rings that act as thumb catches which definitely catch a climbers eye; its different and it does set them apart, but in our mind it kind of sets them back a little, it's a great idea but it's also a little strange... if you use the holds purely as left and right hand bias then the thumb catches are in the right places, if you switch them them they're kind of useless (the rings not the holds) and that's their downfall and greatness all in one.

The holds if you loose the rings (and that's a new set of holds in the making we're sure) then you have some great great simple holds that are awesome :)

If you look at the shapes they they're well shaped and they're clean, they have enough bite without the slightly sharp edges becoming a factor. When you look at colors you find an interesting fact; our holds are purple and yellow but it seems that the main color of the holds is purple and the yellow is added post pouring; what does this mean? It means that the porous texture is slightly filled in with the color which means some parts of the holds don't grip the same way as others... it's a tricky thing that's for sure because if the holds were bigger then it could be a problem, or if there is too much paint then the texture could be compromised for sure

Overall build is these are some solid holds, we've cranked them up super tight on a slightly uneven wall and they've handed the problems with the wall well and they've also handled the sheer amount of climbers that have hit the routes we've set really well. Super good job, the rings is something of a personal taste

SUGGESTED USES CURRENCY PINCHES:

When it comes to pinches, or slopers we're connoisseurs for sure :) We've seen some great pinches and we've climbed on some so so pinches, these guys are awesome, they're versatile and some great shapes which is a surprise from a new company. Redpoint are on the ball with these holds, the ones that are incut will go super steep, if you place the slightly less incut guys in-between then you can make some really interesting problems that'll keep you happy for a while; if you take the holds onto slightly overhanging walls then you can use the sloped parts of the holds to mix it up a little and that's the great part of their holds is their versatility.

OVERALL BUILD CURRENCY PINCHES:

• Number of holds: 5
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $55 / 5 = $11 per hold
• Color: Pink and blue
• Bolt placement: Middle
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy but not crazy
• Set size: Medium
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: ?
• Weight: ?

Woo hoo; These holds are flat out awesome, versatile and good for a great amount of angles!! When you look at the shapes then you can't complain, the pinches are a good width, the angles of the incuts and the radii of the slopes means you have bang for your buck.

When you look at the colors (apart from what we mentioned above) you can see well drilled square bolt holes and nice raised logos denoting the holds manufacturer. The sanding is good and the texture is the same as what we mentioned before, the shapes is where it's at that's for sure. When you hold the holds in your hands they have a good weight to them and they do feel solid and have a good heft to them.

For a simple set of holds they are comfy simple shapes that are great from a new company

SUGGESTED USES COEFFICIENT:














Closed Cell volumes aren't a new thing for sure, they've been done but in North America its not something you see at all! So Redpoint are bringing them to this market is awesome for sure. We've used this hold in a few routes and we've had is as part of an X-Cult volume route that we've been working on and a lot of people have been working on... it's had a LOT of traffic and even though its had so many hands on it it has so many ways to grab it that it's not funny. At the price for the size of hold then it's pretty interesting and at a size that's good for a home wall.
 
OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 1
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $55
• Color: Orange and green
• Bolt placement: Bang in the middle
• Sanding: Hard to tell as it's a closed cell, it sits flat on the wall
• Hollow backed: Yes, but it has a filler inside
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy but not crazy
• Set size: XL
• Versatility: Great
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: ?
• Weight: ?

Something new hitting the market.. awesome! Again the colors are vibrant (see above for how we think that they did it) and the texture is spot on. When you look at the hold it does look a little same ol same ol all the way around but the devil is in the details, a 90 degree rotation means that the start / move (wherever you have placed the hold) gets easier or harder depending upon where you set it :)

The shape is simple and clean, it would have been nice to see a little more variation from the four sides of the hold rather than similar versions of the same theme for sure but it is nice and smooth and fun to grab without any pain, it's size means it's awesome for home wall owners because of it's size, it's not a wall hogger in any sense of the term

Bolt hole is nice and right into the middle and the hold despite its size and closed cell nature sits really well on the wall, a surprise as we figured a new company would have a little trouble with this at the start, it seems Redpoint have done their home work.

Problems? Well it'd be nice to see set screw holes in this monster because it might spin on you, adding it will be a tricky but welcome addition
  
WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Awesome

RATING:
Noodles:
A new company is always something that's good to see, a Canadian company is even better to see that's for sure; we've been doing this for a while and there's not been as many company's coming, apart from the people from this year. We were sent three sets to have a look at and originally the plan was to run three different reviews, unfortunately I kind of took myself out pretty well until March or April of 2013 :( Yeah that's six months from now, so we wrapped them up into one review; and lets face it so far if you've read above then you know that theres some good and some meh in the above. So lets cut it down to the bone, I'll talk about the sets one by one:

Conductors:
I'm a little in the bag on these, I like the thumb pinches but hate that they are one sided (yeah its an up and a down) I'd almost want there to be two thumb catches to make them useful for both hands rather than rely upon a setter to not get it wrong... there's a problem with this, it'll drive the price up but right now they're pretty expensive as it is :(

For shapes, they're awesome, they should come with and without the pinches. I like the shapes for sure, if you put them the right way around then they're great, I'd like the pinches to be a little bit more angled so the climber is forced to use them... mind you if the edges weren't so incut the the climber would have to use them so it's a little of column a and a little of column b

Currency Pinches:
Awesome, just awesome. I love these holds, there are so many ways to use the holds it means that they're versatile on a variety of angles and that's what make them pretty damn good. They're not huge, they're nothing that take up huge amounts of wall space but they're something that are pretty good most places

Com-fort-able is the way to look at these holds, ver-sa-tile is another, for a new company it's a home run

Coefficient:
New tech in the volume field is always welcome. Considering it's size and that Redpoint are a new company they've done a pretty stand up job on this guy, sure it's not the lightest volume out there but the price is right and it's done some heavy duty at Shakti since we've had it and it's been bomber.

I'd liked to have seen more variance in the sides of the volume to make it a little more versatile than it is because it is a little samey when you rotate it but like I said for a first pass it's something for home wall owners that will add variation to their wall without breaking the bank

Overall:
Great first run! The material they're running seems good and strong, all of the holds are well made with no defects (and they came across Canada without a scratch) and we've seen no problems. The only thing is the addition of colors after the holds are made, it does take out the texture a little and could cause problems if there is too much color added and as usual set screw holes... the pinches are probably the only holds that don't need them, the edges probably could do with them and the big guy, well he probably wants one at some point.

I'm impressed, the only company that's come onto the market that has made a better impression is Urban Plastix this year and they don't pour their own holds... so to be pouring and having a quality like this is fucking impressive and i'm sure it's a lot of work. Great, no, fucking amazing work, keep it up

Chris:

Guillaume:
So, Canadian Brand climbing holds is a good news, a little competition to Teknik seems
like a good thing to me. Teknik has been making some of the best shapes available on the
market for a while now. I welcomed the news of a new Canadian brand. But when you
compete against one of the best brand available on the face of the planet, there are some
expectations... do they meet up?

Climbing on Redpoint Holds is a fun thing. Shapes are fun to hold onto, texture is smooth
enough yet not too rough. Holding onto them feels good.

For the crimpers / edges, there is a nice and bomber thumb catch where you would want it. The pinches are quite interesting since they are a big chunk that you could use in the 4 sides of the hold. The setters had made an easy problem with them and I don’t think they could have made it harder. In my opinion, both sets of holds should be aimed toward beginners to intermediate climbers. The more advanced ones will find them boring. The presence of this MAJOR thumb catch make them unapealing to me. You have to know that climbing outside is my life; so when I climb/set inside I want to have a similar feeling. So this minor tweak in the holds isn’t a pro for me.

General opinion:
Good, but lose that thumb catch that is as good has the hold ! Pinch would be cool for more
advanced climber in a steeper angle.

PROS:

• YADDA

CONS:

• YADDA

Review > Synrock > Mixed Bag 2

So, when we talked to Jim about doing this review and we agreed for him to send us some of his Synrock holds we were all up for it! We've wanted to see some of these holds since we started the site... and now we have some; Jim also specified that for us to do this review that we'd have to mention that these are some of the cheapest holds on the planet... we don't really bow to that kind of stuff but we think that in the course of this review we think his point will become clear.

This review is a different one... despite the holds we received we're going to talk more about what you the consumer can buy for your home wall, of course we'll talk about what we are reviewing but lets really talk and look at these holds because it's pretty damn interesting...

First lets look at the holds; well we'll look at what's currently on sale:

A: 132 holds: $79

B: 42 holds: $69

D: 46 holds: $79

C: 50 holds: $41

Review > Atomik Climbing > BOMBS

Ahahaha; Kenny the owner of Atomik has just made our life easier!! This week we're looking at the Atomik Bombs, something that we've had for a while and we've been using as part of our training program... a bomb! Actually... these:

These are the BOMBS, and they come in two sizes; we gave one pair (the smaller ones (which are still large) to our review at large Mr David Bursey the head setter for Vertial in Ontario (see his comments below on those), the larger set that are attached to the Boulder Board that we use as our training station at CHR HQ.

They attach nicely to the top of our board and before we raised the board up to be closer to the ceiling (read about that in our upcoming review of the board) they were easily reachable; now we have them a little lower on slings so we can reach them and we put them up as we want.

So what are the Bombs? The Bombs if Kennys video (below) doesn't explain them too well (see why our life is easier?) are balls that you can hang from to do pull ups; you're thinking I've got a pull up bar I don't need a set of bombs. Well you'd be wrong on a number of fronts! Pull up bars don't allow you to rotate your shoulder like the bombs do (yes we know our photo of our bombs has them set in a way that doesn't allow them to swing freely)... and when using these it does allow you to pull up symmetrically and in a more natural way and with less force on the shoulder... lets let Kenny talk through them quickly:

Atomik Climbing Holds Bombs. They hang, they rotate, you pull. from Kenny matys on Vimeo.


We also love the information on these holds (well training devices really) that comes from the Atomik website:
Pressed for time to get to the gym? Tired of fatiguing on your latest project or do you simply want your shoulders to stop aching? Well allow us to introduce the Atomik Bombs. There's a lot to be said about large muscle group and core strength training and this is what we have to throw at that challenge. The spherical/sloper shape of the Bomb makes these perfect to give you a forearm burning workout. What you can expect to do on the Bombs are lock offs, typewriter, pull ups, dead hang and most importantly the ever so important core strength workouts you need to have to climb efficiently on steep walls. 

There are not many training aids on the market that allow you to train "around" a hand injury, but the Bombs do. With their open hand concept design, all of your hand tendons lay ergonomically around the ball allowing you to continue to stay on top of your core and upper body strength; injured or not. Never surrender! Since you can rotate the Bombs while on them, you can switch from pull up, to chin, to biceps pull up all in one set.

The diameter of each Large Bomb is 3.5 inches in diameter which is about the size of a regulation softball. The diameter of each Extra Large Bomb is 4.5 inches in diameter which is the size of a really big grapefruit or the mid section of a football.

The eye bolt measures 5/16" and will accommodate a climbing rated carabiner, quick link, 6mm static cord and/or chain. Chain works the best to extend the Bombs to the exact height you want them to hang. Looped and sewn webbing is the second best option. Static cord is a cost effective alternative but it poses the challenge of getting the holds to hang even.  You can also use quick draws.

Common places to hang the bombs are from pull up bars, rafters, door ways and of course, everywhere you would think of putting up a hang board. They also are very cool to set boulder problems with!

Phew, that's a lot of information! One of the things they say is that they allow a climber to train around a finger injury... that is a big bloody claim but read Noodles comments and see what he has to say about that. What we've found is that they're way more comfortable than a pull up bar and in some cases where you're really working hard a nice change from hanging on a finger board. Now lets get this right first off, we love finger board training, but sometimes you need to mix it up before you get injured or worse than that bored. The Bombs have allowed us to go hangs and pull ups without knackering our fingers all of the time... we've always said "if you want to get strong without an injury climb on slopers inside" well that's what these allow you to do.

They're also multi purpose.... you can set routes with them, but as Kenny has made some videos lets let him talk for a little bit about training... (we think Kenny trains a lot, check out that pull up bar he has)
atomikclimbingholds.com assistance band chin ups on Bombs from Kenny matys on Vimeo.
Hell, lets roll with him doing some more workouts:
atomikclimbingholds.com chin ups on Atomik Bombs from Kenny matys on Vimeo.


Right enough of Kenny flogging himself to death...

When we had both sets of these on the CHR wall you know what we did we put them onto the ceiling and we part of a route with them!! Swinging madness did occur!!We've used them for training, we've used them playing around on routes and they are (HA) bomb proof :) They're well constructed, which isn't a surprise given the fact that all of their holds come with a guarantee that's second to none.

If you're looking to train then these are some pretty powerful tools to have in your arsenal... if you're setting something for a comp a couple of slings and you've got some fun routes for your competitors

SUGGESTED USES:

If you're tired of hanging from a bar then these guys make pull ups a nice task again. If you have an injury then these guys allow you to train without stressing out your hands; of course if you have elbow problems then they won't really help because pull ups will just aggravate the problem.

Noodles had a hand injury when these arrived and he used them to train around his injury and he loves them... from just training to adding them to a roof will add some interesting moves that will catch some people off of guard 


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 2
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): These need to hang from quick links and some slings if you don't have a set up that allows just a quick link set up
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds):
• Large: $39.99 (sold as a set of two)
• Extra Large:$69.99 (sold as a set of two)
• Color: Ours are pink and yellow swirled
• Bolt placement: Top, for sling / attachment for hanging
• Sanding: None
• Hollow backed: None
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Grippy
• Set size: Large and Extra Large
• Versatility: Good
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: TBC
• Weight:
• Large: TBC
• Extra Large: TBC

What can you say? Look at your anchor placement on these guys; it's bombproof; 5/16" placements that take a carabiner; you can order silver or black for these placements and can order any colors you want.

The Bombs are made in two parts so they do have a small seam running around them, but as you're focused on just hanging on these guys most of the time you'd never notice it; we didn't because it's not that prominent.
On the texture front you have enough to hang from as you train without giving you a burning sensation and this allows for long sessions (not that they should be) on the Bombs. As usual Kenny had provided us with some great colors, the Large Bombs that Dave has are neon green and blue and ours are Neon yellow and pink and when you see them hanging in a gym you kind of just want to hang on them because they're different!

Atomik doesn't make cheap holds, they make solid holds and these are definitely that, these guys do weigh in pretty well but that's fine because you're probably only going to put them up once and then you'll just leave them to train upon

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Great

RATING:
Noodles:
So a finger injury; yup it's part and parcel of climbing sometimes. I've had a niggle here and there and when the balls had arrived I was struggling to not climb and to keep away from trying to play on some plastic. The balls came at the right time they allowed me to rehabilitate myself back into the realm of the gym again; would I say that they're something that I want to keep in my arsenal of things that hang around my house for me to knock my head on? Yes of course, these Bombs helped me climb again.

Why?

Because of their radius it meant that I could hang without stressing my hands. They came at the right time for me that's for sure, I've not stopped using my hang boards (on the Blank Slate) I still use them and I train on them; I've just added these into my arsenal and glad that I have.

In the end, these are something that is better for pull ups than a bar, if you have a bar then I strongly suggest that you hang these from it and do your shoulders and fingers some good

David Bursey:
First time I saw training balls was in a Patxi Usobiaga training video, and it was basically two softballs
bolted with an eye bolt.

What Atomik did with these is great. Super easy to set up, given you have access to a strong anchor
point, and perfect size to give you one hell of a burn!

The website description says they’re perfect to train “around injuries” and I’ve found it to be true, and
others I’ve had hang on these with tweaked fingers have said the same. Since there’s not one specific
point where these rest, it’s really the whole hand/forearm, not the digits getting beaten up.

I think the only thing I’d change about these is the texture. Awesome to help you hang on, but after
longer sessions on these, I needed a day or two to grow skin back.

Bottom line, these are great to add on to your training system if you have the room to hang them, and
at 40 bucks, they’re worth it, if only for the hours of ball jokes they fuel.

PROS:

• YADDA

CONS:

• YADDA

prinz climbing holds

Review > Figure Four > Lines Two

If you know anything about us and new companies you know that we don't just review one line from a company, we generally look at one or two to see if their shaping and pouring is consistent. So here's a second set from Figure Four; they're called Lines Two, lets take a look:

If you read the review on the Lines One (here) you know that they were simple clean shapes that in some cases could be matched. With the Lines Two you find the same thing but on a bigger scale, all of the holds are easily matched and if paired with the One's it means you have enough holds for a pretty good boulder problem. All of the holds are incut so the terrain you put them on is pretty much up to you; we've had them on the roof and we've taken them to the local gym and have set a V1 with some fairly long moves on it.; so far from asking people that we've seen climb the route no one has complained about the texture or the clean grabbing areas that you're going to find.

These holds all have a nice little lip, that is rounded down so it's not sharp, that allows climbers when these holds are being used as side pulls or even when they're up the wrong way to get some nice sneaky thumb catches pretty much wherever they grab; the only time the ledge really come into play is when you're setting on steep (over 30 degrees) and when the holds are being used to force moves. Forcing moves is always an interesting task when the holds are easily matchable, getting the sequence just right takes some tweaking but we're glad to say with some creativity you can do it with these guys... it's hard but not totally impossible.

Where these holds really shine is when they're paired with their little cousins and they're used to create problems on steep terrain, setting a V3 to V5 is simple as pie because although these holds are incut they're not bomber incut, they're just enough and comfortable enough that people can work a problem and not worry about their fingers.


SUGGESTED USES:

The suggested uses is an interesting one, it depends upon how steep you're planning to go with these holds; they're super hand and skin friendly, kids can probably get all of their extremities onto them and any beginner on shallow terrain is going to be happy. We've had them on the roof for some opposing moves and you can hang around quite awhile without too much bother, we've also set 5 move V1 problems with them on 15 degree walls... most people want these guys on a 30 degree where they're great for training strength and matched sequences


OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds: 5
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons): Bolt
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds): $45 / 5 = $9 per hold
• Color: Deep red
• Bolt placement: Middle
• Sanding: Great
• Hollow backed: No
• Soft back (Rubber backed): No
• Texture: Very grippy
• Set size: Medium / Large
• Versatility: Good
• Pre-drilled screw holes: No
• Shaper: George Reynolds
• Weight: 2lbs

Lets roll with whats missing first... set screw holes because we made these holds spin a bunch despite how tight we did them up... it's a little thing and the one thing we can (and will) complain about, we really thought that people had got the message already!!

All of the holds have a QA stamp on the back of them, and you can see that they've all been sanded totally flat. All of he bolt holes are square and well drilled with an inset washer to spread the force of tightening them down

Simple and clean lines with a texture that has a bite to it, once they're chalked up it gets much better without clogging too much; when they do get over chalked they can tend to become a little slippery to grab but just taking off some of the chalk without having to scrub too hard brings them back to life quickly

These holds are a deep almost maroon color that's nice to see and if you're wall is covered in red holds picking these out isn't a problem at all; they stand out against the normal run of the mill reds most people put out

These holds again like the Lines One have a clean simple style to them, they're eye catching but great for the hands (and the occasional heel hook), we've always said that in most cases for training simple is better and these holds mix simple lines with a lip that when the going gets steep allows you to set on steeper terrain and still be able to crank out the moves.

Overall, strong mix, clean simple lines and great colors; shame about the lack of set screw holes

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:
Urethane

PACKING / SHIPPING:
Awesome

RATING:
Noodles:
Simple clean, easy in shallow, pullable on the steep... overall a versatile hold for most angles!! Figure Four have done a great job with these holds and for once I won't harp on about the lack of set screw holes I think we drilled (HA) that one in enough above.

What do I like about these holds? Well the color sets them apart for sure, the shaping is also another stand up and take my hat off job... simple and a little complex at the same time and I appreciate that; it meant I could set what was in my head with little problem and have a great number of climbers walk away happy.

Another thing is the fact that we can gym test holds now as we set and have access to a commercial facility... (we also climb there a bunch) and I was worried about the holds getting slick quickly from all the hands and feet that would hit them... no such problem, maybe because loose chalk isn't allowed so you can't cake you hands in the white stuff before climbing. I've stuck a do not brush these holds tag on the route i've set and I climb the route a few times a week (taking notes each time about the holds) and i've not seen any problems... for gyms this is great news because you won't have to clean them too often!

Figure Four have done a great job and again the price is pretty damn spot on! We cranked these guys up hard on our bench and they're bomb proof... after two months of gym use they show no signs of wear; great job

Chris:

PROS:

• Great price
• Awesome color that stands out
• Clean simple shapes that are good on the steep stuff as well as the shallow stuff

CONS:

• No set screw hole

sic grips

new logos

Review > EP Volumes > Various

So we seem to be in volume mode right now, first HRT and now these guys from EP. Now the HRT volumes were fun, but you're going to run out of options pretty quickly with them, there were plus' and minus' to them so we figured as we had them just kicking around that we'd look at some of the stuff that Sander from EP sent us... so we present to you....

EP 2XL Porta Ledge

EP 2XL Phat Lip

EP 4XL Earlobe

Wow Escape Climbing Holds make our life easier, not only because of what we're reviewing this week but well, read on and you'll see :)

This time we're looking at the Cyclone Jugs from these guys, we haven't seen much of their stuff since 2009 so there's going to be a bunch of changes. Firstly they've changed their logo from this:

to this:

so that's pretty cool it's something you can better define the company with... you see our logo you know it's us... you see the gorilla then you know it's Escape Climbing Holds. Then there's the mix and the shapes, they've changed that up as well! So lets look at the jugs:

They're pretty big on the whole... lets look at them a little closer:

See what we mean by they make it easy for us? Thats hours of walkthrough videos we can skip on, but lets look at their points one by one and weigh in on them:

SUGGESTED USES:













































OVERALL BUILD

• Number of holds:
• Type (Bolt / Screw Ons):
• Price per hold (set price divided by number of holds):
• Color:
• Bolt placement:
• Sanding:
• Hollow backed:
• Soft back (Rubber backed):
• Texture:
• Set size:
• Versatility:
• Pre-drilled screw holes:
• Shaper:
• Weight:

WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM:

PACKING / SHIPPING:

RATING:
Noodles:

Chris:

PROS:

• YADDA

CONS:

• YADDA

Accuracy and comfort are the name of the game with these slot style climbing holds. With applications on a climbing wall of any angle, this jug maintains a comfortable, no meat-hook hand position. Striking the eye of the giant can make for difficult accuracy moves on steep climbing walls or movement that requires momentum, while vertical applications and static movement can be the bucket you need for the autobelay