Ronin UK

Try before you Buy!

2009-10-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

You want to try out a Flashed Ronin before you buy one? Well makes sense really, after all who wants to spend £250 on a new concept of bouldering pad without first trying the pad out. Of course once you have tried the Flashed Ronin we are sure that your knees will appreciate the Flashed Ronin and eventually you will succumb to the pleasures of air over foam :-)

Well it's easy to do with The Flashed Ronin. Our friends at The Climbing Works have a Try Before You Buy scheme on a number of pads that they sell, including of course the Flashed Ronin. Basically you hire a Flashed Ronin from The Works for a weekend and come back and buy one within a reasonable period (let's say 1 month) then you will get your hire charge back against your purchase price. Pretty good deal really.

Hire charges from The Works are £10 per day with periods in excess of 2 days are fully open to negotiation!! Anyone that pays an annual Works membership (ie the £300 a year deal) gets 50% off these hire charges.

PRICE REDUCTION !

2009-07-06T08:47:00.001-07:00

2009-07-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

We've managed to reduce the price of the pads for the summer to £250 :)

There's a great neutral view here of what they're so good from UK climbing.com

http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=1701

Some pics of real life Peak District falling onto the pads

2009-01-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

2008-11-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

VAT reduction on pad prices

2008-11-26T02:04:00.000-08:00

As UK VAT rates are reduced to 15 % the prices of the pads has dropped to £295 accordingly.

First user feedback from the recent UK import

2008-11-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

I fell of the top of 'The Rumour' a few times today, it was like falling onto a bag of kittens

Our perspective on the Ronin

2008-11-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

Ronin AIR Bouldering Pad

So, how’s it work then?

It’s still a pad; you fold it up, put in the car, get it out, carry it to the crag, open it out and fall on it. No pumps, inflation stuff or anything.

It has the usual closed cell foam as the outer sandwich, but doesn’t have softer foam on the inside... it has a hundred or so AIR cells in it. Each about the size of a fag pack that are all fixed in strips...

It's the cells that make it special. They have a small central foam core enveloped by a semi permeable membrane to allow for a big cushion of air to be expelled as you slam onto the pad. The air acts as the shock absorber.

On walking over the pad it feels squishy... each small surface area of your footprint deflates some cells, that spontaneously re-inflate some 2 - 3 seconds later as your foot leaves the area.

The pad feels really plush, but at this stage doesn’t reveal it's true performance.

However, take a fall onto it and progressively more cells are deployed as the closed cell foam spreads the shock load over the surface of the pad. The pad comes back to shape in 2 seconds as above.

So, the shock absorbing ability of the pad is not linear and more of the pad in effect gets used to cushion your fall with progressive deflation of the cells. That's why it's much better at coping with greater and greater impacts.

Nothing is perfect, but this shock absorption system is way better than foam can ever be.

In addition the cushioning effect it's very reassuring to cash onto from on high, jarring is kept to a minimum.

Does the AIR pad make bouldering safer?

Here’s the scary stuff:
All extreme activities have a defined risk of personal injury, disability and death. It is the responsibility of the end user of equipment made for use for any extreme activity to be responsible for their actions and no liability is accepted by us, GA climbing consultant or any affiliated parties.

We are convinced this is the safest pad on the market.

AIR pad’s unique fall absorption gives you maximum control and the potential to fall further without injury.
The progressive nature of the FAT AIR cell deployment means you can fall higher with less shock from the fall being transferred to you. This is noticeable from both big falls and from general fatigue after the end of a long day.

The way the pad forms around your foot leaves it less likely for you turn your ankle.
The pad envelops you foot as you strike the pad, the resulting deformation then resists inversion injury.

All in all if you want to save your legs, fall higher & keep as safe as you can this is the best bouldering pad you can buy.

Jon Cort MB, ChB, FRCA
Hospital Consultant

The Ronins arrive Monday 16 November 2008

2008-11-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

Our first shipment of Ronins arrives on 16/11/08. They are getting delivered to The Climbing Works in Sheffield and are available to purchase immediately!!

If you are interested in buying one let us know, either by leaving a comment here or by emailing graeme@climbingworks.com.

The Tech Spec sheet for the Ronin is available here

Cost = £300 including VAT. Postage, including insurance, is £15.00

Payment is by any of the following methods:
1. Cash
2. Cheques made payable to GA Climbing Consultant and sent to Graeme Alderson c/o The Climbing Works, Unit B Centenary Business Park, Little London Road, Sheffield S8 0UJ
3. Card payment. We can process card payments through The Climbing Works. Drop me an email and I will call you when I am in the Works to sort things out.

We will post videos and pictures of the pads in use but check out the Ronin in use at Cliffhanger 2008 when the Guinness World Dyno Record was broken. Sklyer Weekes here and Lily FitzGibbon here