New Wide Boyz crack gloves

They look a little bit beefier than some others, such as the Black Diamond gloves.

Looks good for all the crackz!

Looks like great coverage and fit, similar to the BD gloves which I love. Curious to see if these ones gets super hot and sweaty tho being all black with so much rubber. That was a problem with the Ocuns for me. BDs are white and the fabric breathes pretty well. Can we buy them now?? 

A common issue with crack gloves seems to be tearing the opening the wrist strap goes through. It's would be a big selling point if they found a way to address that. 

I just wish they didn't say WIDEBOYZ all big and obvious 'cause I'll feel like a big poseur with them on chuffing up that 5.7 crack on the Bastille.

Long Rangerwrote:

I just wish they didn't say WIDEBOYZ all big and obvious 'cause I'll feel like a big poseur with them on chuffing up that 5.7 crack on the Bastille.

Screw it, they’ll go great with your Bear Gryllz clothes. 

K Gowrote:

Looks like great coverage and fit, similar to the BD gloves which I love. Curious to see if these ones gets super hot and sweaty tho being all black with so much rubber. That was a problem with the Ocuns for me. BDs are white and the fabric breathes pretty well. Can we buy them now?? 

it's a pre-order, the first 1000 are supposed to ship out first week in july. 

chris pwrote:

A common issue with crack gloves seems to be tearing the opening the wrist strap goes through. It's would be a big selling point if they found a way to address that. 

One wrap of tape around the wrist of my BD crack gloves (just leave it on all day) and they're still going strong 7 months later.

aid

They look hot. Hot I tell you.

Can't wait to try these. My OR's have just about fallen apart so I barely use them anymore. Could probably fix them with a bit of glue but now I'm used to going bare skin ;)

I ordered a pair. Current designs of gloves don't provide enough protection on the thumb for sharp sierra granite, and the thumb loops always get cut before too long from fist jamming on sharp rock. Seems to solve both problems. Tape is often not enough-- I used just tape gloves once and my fists were bleeding by the top of the pitch. Will put these things through their paces on sharp granite. Excited to see how they do!

Tape is way more flexible but potentially wasteful. If you are bleeding just use more tape to beef up the trouble spots (say an extra strip or two across the area between thumb and forefinger), although obviously there are some situations where too much tape blocks you out of the crack size. I have Ocuns but haven't fully embraced them yet. I prefer either bare hands or tape depending on how evil/sharp the rock is. I think I get a better feel with tape too due to that secure connection to the back of my hands (maybe a bit of tape on the Ocuns would help avoid that feeling with them). Also sometimes I'm a bit concerned that I'm loading the straps rather than sharing the load fully across the grippy part of the glove, particularly when leaning out of jam to milk a rest  

I won't endorse these until I get my cut.

Nathan Doylewrote:

I won't endorse these until I get my cut.

I will endorse these if they prevent me from getting cut =P

Removable crack gloves are an old man with cellophane skin’s best friend. Have used Hand Jammies, Ocun, OR, and now currently BD - which I love. Guess maybe I’ll have to give the WBZ gloves a go when my BD’s wear out.

How are the OR Splitters vs the BD gloves?  I tried the BD gloves, seemed to work well, but the thumb sleeve was really tight on my thumb joint. Thinking of buying the OR gloves, anyone out there like them? 

Charles Iguanawrote:

How are the OR Splitters vs the BD gloves?  I tried the BD gloves, seemed to work well, but the thumb sleeve was really tight on my thumb joint. Thinking of buying the OR gloves, anyone out there like them? 

OR gloves are old tech compared to BD, and BD are way more durable (just tape the velcro wrist if you're jamming all day). After one fist jam in the BDs I was sold. ORs fall apart really quick and the flat shape doesn't stay put on your hands so I get gobies through those gloves sometimes. BD do stretch a bit over time, maybe wear them a bit and see if they get more comfortable, or try a bigger size. I got M in BD based on the size charge but couldn't get my sausage fingers in them so had to size up to L. 

I've been pretty impressed with the other Wide Boyz products I've experienced, and these seem to solve some problems I've had with other crack gloves, particularly thumb protection. I'll be buying a pair, though I've gotten used to climbing with bare hands so maybe they'll just end up sitting in my closet with a bunch of other theoretically-useful gear.

The one thing I'm wondering about with these is the exposed stitching.  Everyone else seems to be avoiding this with crack gloves and I think for good reason.  If the stitching is dyneema, kevlar or some other highly abrasion resistant thread I could see them working though I suppose.  Besides that they look bomber for fists and hand/fist stacks which always tear the piss out of my thumb.

Have used a little, the thumb feels eh and they're a pain to get on and off (probably a good thing) you won't be tearing through these fingers any time soon, they will probably go at the wrist strap but should take a decent amount of time to do so. They seem to be using a much much stronger glue than most others, feels a bit like cynoacrylate so I'm not too concerned about when the stitching goes.

Something I am concerned about is how thin the polyester microfiber upper is, no PU binder either, pure polyester according to the label,  did I mention this stuff is really really thin? How tough this will be in the long term is a bit concerning but pure polyester ropes are preferred in the caving community due to better abrasion resistance than nylon so we will see.