Author |
Climbing gear on Kickstarter. |
|
|
12-Jun-2015 5:02:41 PM
|
Quite a few climbing related projects running on Kickstarter at the moment. Disclaimer one of them is mine — Rack Sack (mods can trash me if I've crossed the spam line!).
Climbing hold brush — fully funded in less than 24 hours! Wish I knew their trick, though having a top climber is an advantage (Tom is not only a good climber but good media person too). I guess they found a market niche and designed for it well, I've pledged for one.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/632048116/the-sublime-climbing-brush-the-best-brush-for-clim
A film about makers of climbing gear in the US
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1176926049/climbings-craft-makers
Rack Sack is going OK, we are 17% funded with 21 days to go. It's great when people like the concept enough to pledge; both supporters and actual orders.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/climbdesign/rack-sack-rock-climbing-rack-organiser-and-carrier
Dick's nut tool. A phallic design and puns galore…
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dicksnuttool/dicks-nut-tool
Recently finished and fully funded was a book on climbing injuries that looked pretty interesting, there was also a climbing gym in Canada that got funded for a large amount of money. Kickstarter is an interesting place, especially for niche markets like climbing.
I was thinking of Kickstarter as a democratising of product development — small outfits like mine could have a go, but it seems the projects are getting slicker: professionally shot films and graphics.
|
13-Jun-2015 8:47:53 AM
|
But untangling, sorting and racking is my main form of procrastination before getting on that onsight. Noooo!
|
13-Jun-2015 9:56:52 AM
|
On 13/06/2015 johnpitcairn wrote:
>But untangling, sorting and racking is my main form of procrastination
>before getting on that onsight. Noooo!
I hear ya.
I like ya thingy though Tim.
|
13-Jun-2015 8:09:59 PM
|
Why'd you go with a shoulder strap instead of a backpack?
I have the Rock Enpire rope bag backpack (which incidentally fits double ropes, shoes and most of my rack and harness if packed well) and i hate it when I have to carry someone's shoulder bag now...
|
13-Jun-2015 8:55:41 PM
|
My first thought was that the small amount of time you might save pulling out the gear and racking up would probably be cancelled out by the time it takes to sort your gear out into tidy little pouches at the end of the climb rather than chucking it in your sack and heading for the pub. Seams like a solution where there is no problem. Good luck though. I am a self confessed cynic.
|
13-Jun-2015 8:57:32 PM
|
On 13/06/2015 martym wrote:
>Why's you go with a shoulder strap instead of a backpack?
Actually, it does appear to be a backpack.
|
13-Jun-2015 9:12:07 PM
|
|
13-Jun-2015 9:13:30 PM
|
http://climbdesign.co/2015/06/08/rack-sack-details/rack-sack-side-view-lowres/
|
13-Jun-2015 10:21:32 PM
|
See the photos on the kickstarter page. The photo of it closed shows two straps, and the last photo shows it being worn as a backpack.
|
13-Jun-2015 11:16:28 PM
|
Looks like a weird re-directed seatbelt webbing, and if you zoom on it's only going over one shoulder... definitely not the pinnacle of comfort, considering how heavy it will likely be.
I'm sure Tim will enlighten us.
|
14-Jun-2015 7:41:07 PM
|
On 13/06/2015 martym wrote:
>
>
Link broken?
|
14-Jun-2015 7:52:37 PM
|
On 13/06/2015 johnpitcairn wrote:
>But untangling, sorting and racking is my main form of procrastination
>before getting on that onsight. Noooo!
Hi John, perhaps we could replace the zip with a lace-up version to assist in the procrastination?
|
14-Jun-2015 7:53:59 PM
|
On 13/06/2015 shortman wrote:
>On 13/06/2015 johnpitcairn wrote:
>>But untangling, sorting and racking is my main form of procrastination
>>before getting on that onsight. Noooo!
>
>I hear ya.
>
>I like ya thingy though Tim.
Thanks Shortman
|
14-Jun-2015 8:33:24 PM
|
On 13/06/2015 martym wrote:
>Why'd you go with a shoulder strap instead of a backpack?
>I have the Rock Enpire rope bag backpack (which incidentally fits double
>ropes, shoes and most of my rack and harness if packed well) and i hate
>it when I have to carry someone's shoulder bag now…
Hi Martym. I've tried to create a light and flexible suspension system that can be easily stripped off so Rack Sack can be used inside a bigger backpack when carrying ropes and other stuff. The suspension system can be a hipster single strap or backpack style with or without waist belt. The adjustment is by a daisy-chain sort of setup. It is 50mm webbing and surprisingly comfortable in all three modes. Deb tells me this system is a bit agricultural but Im afraid my gear aesthetic is kind of old-shool. The main structure of the pack has attachment points incorporated into the handle so we'll probably do a standard padded backpack harness for it in the future, though these will be bulky and expensive. Either system can clip on or off.
|
14-Jun-2015 8:57:19 PM
|
On 13/06/2015 Karl Bromelow wrote:
>My first thought was that the small amount of time you might save pulling
>out the gear and racking up would probably be cancelled out by the time
>it takes to sort your gear out into tidy little pouches at the end of the
>climb rather than chucking it in your sack and heading for the pub. Seams
>like a solution where there is no problem. Good luck though. I am a self
>confessed cynic.
Thanks Karl. Cynic's are good for product development! Design stuff ricochets around inside my head for ages before it comes into the world so it's great when people respond to the prototype, positives or negatives. I've had some really useful feedback from friends to-date and been able to incorporate a lot of it. This small batch for Kickatarter will help us sort production and refine the design. Once Rack Sack is out there we'll take in all the comments from users. Small batch and local manufacturing can be very responsive.
Actually did the "chuck it in the sack" this arvo — not for the pub unfortunately. Got the call that the car was required home by 5 as I was abseiling down cleaning gear from a solo aid climb that took me all day (not a big climb but a slow climber!). Anyway Rack Sack worked fine in "chuck it in" mode, just sorted it when I got home. Comment from Ross at Vertical Life was that Rack Sack is good for OCD climbers — made me laugh, and in my case a bit true!
|