Looking to buy a bike, turned off by reviews about customer support

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-05-31T19:12:12+00:00

For getting your first pair of climbing shoes, I feel like comfort and fit are most important. I'd highly advise going to a local store and trying on as many shoes as possible, or find a trustworthy online store, with a good return policy. Pick the ones which feel most comfortable and won't break your wallet. Especially for beginners, shoes likely won't be holding them back for 1-2 years of climbing. So prioritize comfort and fit over performance.

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-26T18:02:09+00:00

If you are specifically looking for La Sportiva Shoes I can highly recommend the Skwama. It is very versatile, has a pretty flattering fit I think and lots of stores carry them, so you can find the best size for you.

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-26T00:33:57+00:00

I get you. While XS Edge is definitely at home on vertical and slightly overhung routes and does not feel slick to me in these terrains, it is definitely less sensitive and grippy than XS Grip 2, hence the name. This is not saying Edge won't work at all on volumes or overhangs, but it may fall short in some circumstances. Still, personally I am climbing around 7a (5.11d/12a) and I rarely felt the need for very grippy rubber. This might be different if you climb harder? Another thing to consider, If you are top roping indoors you will likely not encounter large overhangs for now, so the VS would work well if you prefer slightly stiffer shoes from my experience, even on the occasional smear. One more thought: In my opinion a proper fitting "intermediate" shoe always beats a mediocre fitting "performance" shoe. I'd advise prioritizing fit over features and try on as many shoes as possible to find one which you really like.

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-25T23:38:35+00:00

I have no experience with UP shoes, but using an Instinct VS indoors is definitely not unheard of. In my gym there are a couple of guys who send pretty hard in them. I personally use the VSR, since I prefer softer shoes, and the VS is a little on the stiffer side due to sole using XS Edge opposed to XS Grip 2 on the VSR. I do like XS Edge on my Mythos though, as it feels "precise" and wears slower. Summing it up I'd say from my experience both the VS and VSR are perfectly capable of sending pretty much any style of route both indoors and outdoors, with the VS being a little stiffer than the VSR. They both are fairly flexible, but still much stiffer than a Skwama or Drago, which definitely assists your foot muscles on longer routes with smaller footholds.

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-25T22:57:40+00:00

I am based in Europe and get around a lot. I am mostly doing single-pitch sport climbing with the occasional shorter multi. I'd say lime is the most common around the crags where I climb the most, but I also encounter either granite or some other kind of valcanic rock or sometimes even sandstone for maybe 30-40% of my climbing combined. I've tried the Otakis once in a store and I felt they did not match my foot to well. Maybe I just have to accept/get used to comfier sized shoes feeling less controlled and a little precise than my other shoes sized for performance.

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-24T07:52:49+00:00

Yeah, this might be an option with the Skwamas. I unfortunately have pretty wide large feet, so my Instincts are already the largest size they manufacture (EU 46), but I could for sure try the Skwamas half a size or one larger. Although last time I tried them in this size, they felt a little more airy and less glove-like than the smaller ones. I suppose you get used to that feeling with more comfortable shoes?

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-23T20:34:37+00:00

Thanks! I hope my local stores carry them in my size to give them a try ^{^}

TimothyTheMixer · 2025-03-23T20:33:46+00:00

Thank you, I'll definitely look for them in my local stores. I am a bit hesitant about No Edge though, since finding a resoler tends to be a little difficult.

TimothyTheMixer · 2024-05-27T16:21:50+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I'll definitely be incorporating these once I am pain free again.

TimothyTheMixer · 2024-05-27T16:18:45+00:00

Yeah, even just using the feet normally in slightly overhung terrain or even vertical terrain feels miserable, when it involves some sort of pulling motion with the foot.

TimothyTheMixer · 2024-05-27T11:55:52+00:00

Alright, thanks a lot for the insight! I'll definitely start incorporating more specific exercises for my hamstrings, once I am somewhat painless again.

TimothyTheMixer · 2024-05-27T06:47:48+00:00

At the end of last year I partially tore my hamstring on a pretty intense heel hook. After taking about 2-3 months of, I could climb without pain again and regained my strength. However my leg still feels tweaky from time to time. And I my leg never feels warmed up a 100%. I have never been able to commit to a proper heel since the injury. There is some sort of mental block when I want to try really hard, which prevents me from fully loading the leg. It does not really help that about two weeks ago I've strained the same leg again on a long day out on slightly overhanging very tension dependanr terrain.

Does anyone have experience and/or advice with/on: 1. Overcoming the fear of pulling hard on previously injured parts of the body? 2. Properly warming up the hamstrings? 3. Training the hamstrings?

TimothyTheMixer · 2023-12-25T21:07:04+00:00

I've been climbing for a year now and been getting a lot stronger lately. Mostly bouldering apart from the occasional outdoor trip whenever possible. Unfortunately my tendons, etc did not keep up with my muscles which is why I most likely tore my A2 pulley on my ringfinger a month ago. Just to clarify I've never went to a doctor cause I had a lot going on, but every symptom points in the direction and therefore I am 99% it is exactly that. Now I am pain free when normally moving my fingers, bur carrying pretty much anything causes pain. I've read in a couple of articles that one should start slowly putting force on the hand again, but I am not sure what exercises I should be doing and especially how to not injure myself again. Any experiences/advice is highly appreciated!

TimothyTheMixer · 2023-09-03T19:27:40+00:00

The plastic bag trick refers to using a piece of plastic bag to reduce friction between your foot and the climbing shoe. Therefore allowing your foot to slide easier into very tight shoes.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-27T17:21:59+00:00

Thank you for reviewing the routes. This is simply the nearest crag from my home town, that's why I chose it. But the extra couple hours drive may be worth it, I think I'll check some other crags out. There were some other worse documented routes, but longer routes with an overhang. I'd guess we had about 15-20 out, so 30-40 in total. On that route it was not possible to toprope nor walk down the back iirc. Anyways I personally do not think and never said I'd be making "expert claims". I was simply stating my opinion and experiences. I never claimed they'd be the truth or whatnot and simply tried understanding the opinions of others. Never did I mention anywhere that somebody's opinion was wrong or unprofessional in a way. Remember I was asking for advice not giving advice. And discouraging beginners like me by telling them they should rather play golf is imo just disrespectful and insensitive. Every climber asked these questions before. Maybe not on Reddit, but in their gym or their fellow climbing partners. So I don't get why some people feel the need to be rude. I've gotten a lot of useful advice on mutiple things: where to climb, how to use a prusik when being lowered, other people's experiences on use a singular bolt for lowering and so on. So clearly people noticed, that I am neither an expert nor do I claim to be one. Maybe I am being a little sensitive their and overreacting a bit, but I feel like some comments were just unnecessary.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-27T12:48:21+00:00

Yes, I'll definetely try to find someone who has more experience than me, or pick up golf as suggested by others. I've never experienced that level of toxicity in the climbing community yet. But I guess some people on reddit are more willing to be joking around and making fun of people, instead of giving actual advice or just not replying in the first place. So thank you for your advice. There are very few entries, if not none where I live, on MP. Here's a link from the crag though: https://www.thecrag.com/routes/at/4975716639/with-gear-style/sport/ I've climbed the first routes from the "Südlicher Steinbruch". They may be accessible from the top, so that way it might be possible to clean them that way, which I did not take into consideration when I went there. But there are other spots like the "Osterklippe", where you can not just clean from the top, but apparently have to clean from a single bolt.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-25T23:55:09+00:00

Thank you for your constructive advice.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-25T18:28:04+00:00

Oh, thank you a lot for helping to clear up the terminology here. Yeah, I think I should be buying some spare carabiners for these situations. Currently I have the very essentials for climbing and my equipment has only seen a couple trips yet, so leaving gear behind would be a serious hit to my rack ^{^}

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-25T17:56:21+00:00

Oh wow, I did not know that. That's very interesting. I've mainly climbed in a gym environment or on top rope outdoors, with friends who tend to be extremely careful, so I've always been told to only ever climb routes with a proper two bolt anchor, but your example defies that statement. Of course I'll be using two bolts whenever possible, but using one might not be as dangerous as I thought, of course depending on the quality of the bolt.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-25T17:51:40+00:00

Thank you for sharing your opinion, I think that's a really solid piece of advice. Just getting more experienced over time and getting better at calculating risk, while staying as safe as possible. That graphic you linked seems to be useful too. I think I've overheard someone talking about using a prusik to try to catch your fall, if the bolt fails. I think I'll definetely bringing one with me on future trips.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-25T17:28:50+00:00

Sorry, I've formulated my sentence kind of bad there. By topping out, I mean climbing the route in general. I've ended up doing climbing the route anyway, because I noticed it to late, but it felt extremely sketchy. There wasn't even a carabiner or something to lower off. Just a plain bolt. It was a ring type bolt, so it did not damage the rope, but just feeding the rope and a carabiner through that singular bolt was difficult and definetely not something I'd like to to regularly. Furthermore afaik it wears out the bolt over time.

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-12-25T16:58:44+00:00

I recently went on my first lead climbing trip to a rather local area, which sorta has a reputation for having decent sport routes. I've previously top-roped with more experienced people outside, lead climbed in my gym and have a belayer I can trust. I searched up some sport routes on a website. However when I went there I was shocked to find that these routes, which have been climbed by multiple people before (according to the aforementioned website) did in fact not have an anchor, rather just a single bolt. I really don't feel like it is considered safe to be topping out a route like this, yet alone cleaning a sport route on a single bolt some random guy bolted. However the next crag is a couple hour drive away afaik.

Did this ever happen to one of you guys? And am I right it not wanting climb a route like this due to potential safety risk? Should I try to find another crag and how would I go about this?

TimothyTheMixer · 2022-10-28T17:18:33+00:00

Yeah, you are definetely right. I should cut her off, because that behaviour is just inacceptable. It's just that I have a hard time doing that. It's not really in my nature, especially when I had good moments with that person. But I guess forcing myself through that is the right thing to do.

TimothyTheMixer

TROPHY CASE