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7-Apr-2005 4:25:47 PM
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I'm working on an assignment, and have a few queries regarding shoes and helmets.
If anyone has suggestions i'd be very grateful.Below are some questions i need to address:
What are your fav climbing shoes?
What stand-out features do they have?
What would your ultimate shoe be?
Regarding helmuts, what frustrates you about them?
How in your opinion can they be improved?
Thanks
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7-Apr-2005 4:43:29 PM
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Fav shoes: 5.10 Anasazi lace ups.
They have good sensitivity and edge and front point well, while smearing OK.
Ultimate would be climbing shoes that do all of that with more comfort
What frustrates me about helmets: weight and sweatiness on hot days. Also, the compromise between helmets that protect you primarily from falling stuff (eg: Petzl Ecrin Roc) and helmets that protect your head from blunt impacts on rocks (eg Petzl Meteor) provides some frustration.
Helmet technologies in development (probably mostly for motor cycle helmets at this stage) involve impact force absorbing gels. These technologies might make it possible in future to produce light helmets with hard shells that cannot readily be pierced by sharp stuff but also avoid transfering forces from blunt impacts directly into skulls ( with resulting scrambling of brains).
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7-Apr-2005 4:45:34 PM
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Probably best place to start is do searches on both here and then read through the posts. As all your questions will most surely be answered.
Cheers Dalai
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7-Apr-2005 5:00:47 PM
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From there you should be able to develop a more specified framework that will let you setup some questions as a poll.
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7-Apr-2005 5:19:57 PM
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>What frustrates me about helmets: weight and sweatiness on hot days. Also,
>the compromise between helmets that protect you primarily from falling
>stuff (eg: Petzl Ecrin Roc) and helmets that protect your head from blunt
>impacts on rocks (eg Petzl Meteor) provides some frustration.
Have you tried the Petzl Elios? That's what they have done. It's a hybrid between the hard and the soft shells. It has the styrofoam like in the soft shells, but encased in a thinner hard shell. Therefore it's lighter than the hardshells and does the job with sharp stuff.
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7-Apr-2005 5:28:30 PM
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One thing that anoys me about wearing a helmet, is the way I seem to constantly bang my head on the underside of roof's, blocks etc whilst im climbing. Obviously it doesnt do any damage because im wearing a helmet, but is annoying and distracting.
Funnily enough, I have never banged my head on anything when im not wearing a helmet.
I think the extra couple of inches of height the helmet adds is the problem. If there was some way to make them sit closer to the head, whilst maintaining strength and cushioning, that would be sweet.
Whilst im requesting impossible design features, can I add I would like them to be super cheap, super light, and super strong.
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7-Apr-2005 5:28:31 PM
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I would like to be able to wear a hat under my helmet or have a visor on my helmet. On a hot sunny day wearing a hat is a must but it makes the helmet about as breathable as wearing a plastic bag.
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7-Apr-2005 5:37:04 PM
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@cruze
Don't know if they fit. But sometimes you see cyclists with a cloth legionaires cap which sits over the bike helmet. It might be worth a look?
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7-Apr-2005 5:45:28 PM
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>a cloth legionaires cap
I use an 'Arafat' which is an Australian made visor type hat made similar to legionaire style but without annoying stitch lines that rub against the skull when worn under a helmet. They are made in Qld and I have seen them for sale in some outdoor type shops as well as some boating type shops.
Its excellent.
It can also be worn over a helmet if required due to its elasticised retaining strap.
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7-Apr-2005 6:59:16 PM
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bandana under a helmet works a treat.
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7-Apr-2005 9:04:09 PM
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I have an Adapt-a-hat that I bought from Mountain Designs. Unkind people have referred to it as the "Spac-a-hat", but hey, I didn't get sunburnt. I think it was about $30.
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7-Apr-2005 10:48:03 PM
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with a fairly spacious helmet like an ecrin-roc i haven't had any issues with wearing a hat underneath. i've used a stretchy neck-tube number too but i think bandanas or a wide thin scarf are probably a better bet for keeping the sun off your ears & neck.
mind you, you end up looking like a bit of a dweeb with a stack of pots on your head..
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8-Apr-2005 7:20:31 AM
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floppy bucket hats are great under a helmet too!
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8-Apr-2005 7:32:49 AM
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Someting should be done about chin straps. The strap always seems to iritate my chin if i haven't shaved that morning. It anoys the buggery out me. My helmet has a little peice of material that covers the buckle nut it still plays havoc with the wiskers
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11-Apr-2005 3:45:28 PM
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Thanks for the help Billk.
I want to design a pair of climbing shoes that can be worn by beginners to experienced climbers. Better breathability.
A shoe that fits like a second skin. What do you think of interchangeable soles?
Cheers,
Aga
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11-Apr-2005 4:03:42 PM
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I thought you were doing an assignment? This reads more like a free focus group session for you. So, what manufacturer are you working for?
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11-Apr-2005 4:08:06 PM
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Hi Aga
Better breathability sounds like a great idea. There were some 5.10 shoes that had a breathable upper (UFOs?) but they seem to have disappeared off the market. You could possibly contact 5.10 to find out if they are still around or whether they were a market failure.
Interchangeable soles is a really interesting concept but it would be a huge engineering challenge to make sure they wouldn't come off mid climb.
I made the mistake of trying to resole my own shoes once and the sole on the right shoe came adrift half way up the Stolen Car Descent Route (a somewhat run out slab at Tallarook that apparently has some rock under all the dirt). It wasn't fun.
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11-Apr-2005 4:25:16 PM
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I am doing an assignment. I'm an industrial design student.
Does that clear up your queery?
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11-Apr-2005 5:38:03 PM
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i think interchangable soles would be very hard to manage...as they are likely to be bulk on the sole which would lose sensitivity...
and besides by the time a climber is ready for a pair of intermediate or advanced shoes there first pair probably need replacing anyway.
as for shoes thats why there is so many ...as there are many different needs in a shoe as well as feet shapes....
so i dont think there will be an ultimate shoe design..best you can hope for is to design a shoe that fits a niche market , or a general shoe that fits a wider catagory
as for helmets.....yuck..i think i've got a odd shaped scone...as both hats and helmets dont seem to fit properly.....they just seem loose and move around to much ...which is distracting and uncomfortable apart form reducing your visibility
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11-Apr-2005 6:37:28 PM
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On 11/04/2005 hangdoggy wrote:
>as for helmets.....yuck..i think i've got a odd shaped scone...as both
>hats and helmets dont seem to fit properly.....they just seem loose and
>move around to much ...which is distracting and uncomfortable apart form
>reducing your visibility
I had the same problem until I discovered that there were different sizes and even kids sizes, at the time none of the retailers I was haunting were aware of this until I requested some different sizes!
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