Trax rubber

Anybody climbing on Trax rubber? I need to resole, Yosemitebum now only offers Trax. Also, any experience with GearforRock, out of the Ukraine?

I got some gearforrock cams over ebay. Inexpensive, but kinda cheap looking in the materials dept. No problems with them yet, but none have held a big fall yet either. I see they are spreading out with more strange looking knock-off stuff on ebay lately. No idea who has Trax rubber though.

I'm impressed. Almost as good as fiveten.

Yosemite Bum has been my go-to resoler for at least 5 years. My experience has always been positive. I like the Trax rubber that they use.

Evol uses it. It's pretty good, no complaints. It wears slowly, and the friction is solid. I wouldn't say it's as good as stealth or some of the other rubbers, but you won't be super pissed if you get it. It seems a little stiffer/harder which helps reduce the wear, but I don't think that compromises the overall stickiness.

There's a couple threads over at RC.com about gear for rocks. Some older ones then a more recent one how they recently (or supposedly) got certified. Note some of the info may be a bit older...

rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/fo…;search_string=gear4rocks;#2017335

rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/fo…;search_string=gear4rocks;#2209870

rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/fo…;post=2302886;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

yosemitebum does an awesome job and trax rubber is very good (not my favorite, but up there). the only problem is it takes a while (~3 weeks) to get them back. if that isn't a problem & you like the rubber, go for it.
my personal favorite if Komitos in Estes Park. Steve does an incredible job and is pretty cheap too (i think i paid $28 last time for 5.10 onyx 1/2 soles) & turn around is a week in high season.

Agree nobody beats Stevie K' boot works. Plus he's classic historic to climbing in Estes too.

Will Stevie do Evolv? For some reason I thought I may have heard a rumor that only Yosemite Bum will do evolve shoes.

Yosemite Bum will resole non-evolv shoes, but it will cost a little more, and of course they only use evolv rubber. I think they can use different rubber if you send it in with your shoes, but have never done this myself.

I've had good luck with them .. mostly on my gym shoes. Living in CA their shipping doesn't seem to take all that long, especially in the off season.

Yosemite Bum is Evolv. They did a good job on my Pontas the last two times. Quick turn around as well, I'm from the East coast, and it takes about two weeks to get them back. Price is also very reasonable.

Just about any shop will do Evolv shoes, but not with the trax rubber. I was told yosemite bum is the only shop that do trax rubber, but I don't know if that's still true or not.

divnamite wrote:Yosemite Bum is Evolv. They did a good job on my Pontas the last two times. Quick turn around as well, I'm from the East coast, and it takes about two weeks to get them back. Price is also very reasonable. Just about any shop will do Evolv shoes, but not with the trax rubber. I was told yosemite bum is the only shop that do trax rubber, but I don't know if that's still true or not.

I am pretty reasonable.

Evolv is cool and enviro-friendly, and the Trax rubber is spetacular. Send them in!

I use YosemiteBum for my resoles, no complaints concerning the Trax rubber, it works just fine, even though initially I almost switched resolers when YB didn't offer Stealth anymore.

BUT they do exceptional work, they's resoled multiple pairs of my Moccasyms and they always look new when I get them back and fit just as well as when I sent them.

Great resoles!

Where can I purchase Trax rubber so I can resole my own shoes?

Just to get multiple takes, I despise Trax rubber. Ask yourself a couple questions: Will I use these shoes in the gym on plastic holds?  Will I only use these as an outdoor shoe? If Yes to the first, Trax will certainly disappoint. If Yes to the second, you probably wont notice that much. Not sure why I've had trouble, but Trax in the gym is an epic fail for me. C4, Vibram Edge are excellent on plastic AND rock, Trax is not. My experience is there is a moment of warning when C4, and edge rubbers start to slip so you know you're coming off the wall. Trax is either on or off, with no warning, they just simply blow. That always made me climb worse, not knowing if i was going to slip off a hold at any moment. Just my 2c though, some people think it's great, obviously.

I've gotten 6-8 resoles done with Trax rubber and have no complaints. I climb primarily outdoors but do go to the gym often enough. I like it because it seems to be a little longer lasting than some of the softer rubbers that I've tried.

Ma Ja, harder rubbers do tend to be less forgiving if your footwork is off. This is especially true on slick plastic holds (or slicker rock). I'm not saying that it's your lack of experience, but you may want to consider paying special attention to your precision, which is a good thing to do regardless of rubber type. I imagine that as you progress you will notice that the type of rubber on your shoes starts to matter less and less. I see you climb in the Red. My favorite place on the planet. I miss it even though I live in a national park 10 minutes from dozens of "classic" multi-pitch routes. Have some fun there for me! 

I was impressed with YosemiteBum’s resole job. They replaced the whole toe cap rather than just a portion of it on my blown out Tarantulaces. I found them to be the most reasonably priced of the main resolers for shoes that need a toe cap as well. Especially when you send in 3+ pairs and get free return shipping. I plan to use them again the next time I resole

Ma Ja wrote:  C4, Edge and Grip 2 are all excellent on plastic AND rock, Trax is not.

Have they reformulated Grip2 since last fall when you were saying it was the worst on plastic?

PWZ wrote:

Have they reformulated Grip2 since last fall when you were saying it was the worst on plastic?

I retract my previous, you're right Trax and Grip 2 dont work for me indoors. Grip 2 is amazing on real rock though. The shoes I misplaced my opinion is actually Butora's proprietary rubber. For some reason I was thinking Butora used Grip2, which made me change my mind, but looking it up, I was wrong. Grip2 still sucks indoors, and Butora has excellent rubber. The Genius is the shoes that wouldn't stay put on plastic for me, but was better than Trax because at least I slid off instead of flying off.

I think Trax is great on real rock and in the gym. I think this is somewhat body weight dependent but I find with Trax the rubber is stiff enough for me to edge but also pliable enough to smear when I need to (very common to have to do both of those moves on outdoor routes).

This of course is I think like all rubber choices slightly body/weight dependent. I am tall/skinny and weigh about 170 so I find Trax is great for me. A good analogy is if you weigh 250 you will likely hate c4 (very soft rubber) because your body weight will basically be folding it in half every time you try to push down. As a general rule, the more you weigh the stiffer a rubber you will want compared to a lighter climber because your weight effectively makes it softer.

My rough opinion of each rubber's stiffness - furthest left is softest, furthest right is stiffest.

Soft                                       Stiff
C4                                         Onyx
                XS Grip 2                    XS Edge
                      Trax

Wesley Neill wrote: I've gotten 6-8 resoles done with Trax rubber and have no complaints. I climb primarily outdoors but do go to the gym often enough. I like it because it seems to be a little longer lasting than some of the softer rubbers that I've tried.

Ma Ja, harder rubbers do tend to be less forgiving if your footwork is off. This is especially true on slick plastic holds (or slicker rock). I'm not saying that it's your lack of experience, but you may want to consider paying special attention to your precision, which is a good thing to do regardless of rubber type. I imagine that as you progress you will notice that the type of rubber on your shoes starts to matter less and less. I see you climb in the Red. My favorite place on the 8planet. I miss it even though I live in a national park 10 minutes from dozens of "classic" multi-pitch routes. Have some fun there for me! 

I'll never say I dont need more experience, but my technique is quite good, I used that to cheat my way up routes and problems until my strength finally caught up. I have always paid very close attention to my feet, I can usually get 6+ months out of a pair of my hiangles that I exclusively wear in the gym. I'm usually in 3-4 days depending if I get out 1 or 2 days on the weekend. I've just always noticed how different rubber feels, and those two mentioned just dont work for me. Grip2 is actually as good or better than anything if you're standing on a volume or smearing on a textured wall, but I couldn't stand on any slopey plastic holds, and this is me swapping shoes and doing the same footwork with hiangles and having quick and easy success. Just my experience. And yeah, the Red is my favorite style of climbing I've found so far. Still haven't tried any Limestone though, so still not sure it's the end of my search.

Ma Ja wrote: Just to get multiple takes, I despise Trax rubber. Ask yourself a couple questions: Will I use these shoes in the gym on plastic holds?  Will I only use these as an outdoor shoe? If Yes to the first, Trax will certainly disappoint. If Yes to the second, you probably wont notice that much. Not sure why I've had trouble, but Trax in the gym is an epic fail for me. C4, Vibram Edge are excellent on plastic AND rock, Trax is not. My experience is there is a moment of warning when C4, and edge rubbers start to slip so you know you're coming off the wall. Trax is either on or off, with no warning, they just simply blow. That always made me climb worse, not knowing if i was going to slip off a hold at any moment. Just my 2c though, some people think it's great, obviously.

What you’re describing is edge for me.