Klutch Holds - Granite Edges Line Review

The Granite Edges line from Klutch features 28 holds:

1 XXL $52 5 M        $32

3 XL       $44 5 S         $26

4 L         $39 10 XS $17

The XXL Feature is the jewel of the line.  We used it on every problem we set in some capacity – sidepull/gaston match on the 20, compression sidepull on the 50, and on volumes as a sidepull and straight ledge.  The gripping surface starts out small and positive on one side and gets wider and slopier as you move to the opposite side.  The surface detailing not only looks awesome, but creates small thumbcatches across the whole hold.  It has a modest hollow back, but it doesn’t really remove enough material to be worth the effort.  It seems like a borderline candidate for a hollow back anyway, because it protrudes at most 2 inches from the wall.  There are unfortunately some serious texture issues here.  There are tiny little protruding shiny bubbles all over this hold.  They reduce grippiness and if you hit them wrong they can actually be painful.  Klutch really needs to refine their molding process before they make any more of these. 

The XL, Large, Medium, and Small edges vary in terms of positivity, but all share a similar footprint and shape.  Again, the surface detail is aesthetic and creates subtle directional thumbcatches – a nice little variation on a standard shape.  7 of the 17 holds in this range are incut and are positive enough for use sans-volumes on a 50 degree wall in the V6 range.  The rest we used on volumes and on the 20 degree wall no harder than V3.  All holds in this line (including the XXL) are really low profile – another perk for homewall and volume use (but creates some structural issues – see below).  They are definitely fun, but it’d be nice to see a little more variety.  The XS footholds are your pretty standard chips in varying degrees of positivity with potential for handholds on volumes, vertical or slab.  They share the granite-like surface texture and round out the line visually as a theme.

The plastic (a urethane casting resin) is quite brittle and chipped readily during drop testing from 5 feet.  The chipping tendency is likely exacerbated by the fact that the holds are so thin.  As an example, one of the Large holds is about 10” long and ¾” deep in the center, tapering out to a knife blade at the edges.  The others are a little thicker, but the knife blade taper is present in most of the holds.  For our standard tightening test, we take holds over to our local gym which features broadly concave concrete walls.  The hold we tested was about 5.5” long – which would require 1 mm of flex (approximately 0.5% of its total length) to come in complete contact with the wall.  The hold snapped in half before contact was established.  You can see this test in the video above.  Any irregularities or concavity in the wall surface will cause problems with these.  Also, despite predrilled set screw holes, we cracked one of the medium holds when tightening a set screw.  There is no washer in the hole, but given how brittle the plastic is, we aren’t sure it would even help.  Bottom line is that this plastic won’t cut it long term – changes need to be made.  

Speaking with Klutch, they plan to switch to polyurethane before any more holds are poured.  We will post an update here on the new material once we test it.

 Overall, we were really impressed with shaping in Klutch’s first line – a subtle twist on standard shapes.  They look great, climb comfortably and are a lot of fun.  Bravo!  However, the manufacturing process and materials need some work for them to make any noise entering the market.  Keep an eye on them though - they have legitimate shaping talent.