Wednesday with Amal / Enter the Shoyoroll Comp 450

We had a pleasent surprise Wednesday in Arvada. The school's founding Black Belt joined the class to instruct. We worked Osotogari foot sweep takedowns from standup, and then we worked open guard passes. It was a pretty intense workout, but not highly technical. We worked a lot of Up/Down/Out cycles, but no free rolling or randori during class.

I am really liking my new Shoyoroll Comp 450 Gi. The pants are unbeatable with their stretchy waist ties, and padded knees it is easy to become spoiled. The kimono is quite nice as well. It seems to breath a lot better than my Solid, or my Atama, and it feels much lighter, although the construction is very solid.

It isn't the easiest thing to obtain a Shoyoroll. They only import about 300 of each size for each limited run. The fact that I had set my heart on a Comp 450 didn't help much either since it was well past the initial run/ pre-order dates. I first went to Ebay, and found a Comp 450 in A3 available "lightly rolled" according to the description. I sat on it, watching, and stewing for 5 days before entering the bidding. In the last minute of the auction the bidding skyrocketed from $125 to $182. I had $200 to spend, but missed the auctions end as I was entering my final bid. I was heartsick to lose that one. Perhaps it was the heat of battle... I then decided to pursue a new Batch 7 Golden State Gi, but the pre-orders on the mainstream sites were all sold out. I grew frustrated as here I was with money to spend, but I couldn't find a Gi to purchase.
On a fluke I was browsing the Shoyoroll Brand Facebook page and spotted a reference to a website where they supposedly had Shoyorolls for sale brand new. I checked it out, and low and behold he had a brand new Comp 450 in A3 available. I bought the Comp 450 for myself, and a 7th Son for my best friend. I got the Comp about a week later but the 7th Son is still on pre-order and per Shoyoroll hasn't shipped from Pakistan yet. We will have to see what that is like when it gets here.

Thus far i know my comp 450 is a "stripper" model Gi, it doesn't have the heavy taping inside, nor does it have a liner- this keeps it cool, and light for competition, but i worry it may affect durability. Regardless, there will be more shoyoroll products in my future. It is just that good.

I guess I understand the demand, and the shortness of supply now.