I have been looking for an excuse to road test the new Ichiban Light. Fortunately, Gestalta was in town and she was definitely overdue a session. You thought this business was all fun, didn’t you? Well, as you can see, this product testing is a serious business and part of the daily grind…erh, not literally. I’ll be posting Nina’s photos of that little session later so you can see the meticulous scientific process for yourself. Anyway, let’s talk about the rope, rather than its far more interesting contents. Rope v naked Gestalta in rope? It’s not really a fair contest, is it? You’ll have to make do with the sample picture for now, it’s product review time now.
I thought I’d give it a go straight out of the pack since I am claiming that it is ready to tie (prêt-à-attacher?) without any treatment. Gestalta had an ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ moment when she said “That’s really not treated?”. Yes, it’s that soft! The rope is made from an extremely pale jute fibre which is 100% free of dark or coarse fibres. I don’t think I’ve had anything this clean before.
It is nominally a 6mm but it seems to be a little over at around 6.2mm. As it’s so soft, I think it will stretch out a little with use. Usually, burning off seems to tighten rope a little and the one bit I did burn and oil did seem to tighten a fraction. As I’m more used to 5mm, it seemed a little less easy to tie with but I think this was as much the extra friction of new un-oiled rope as anything. Inevitably, knots and frictions were a little bulkier than my 5mm. Again, I think newness is a factor. That said, the rope is super flexible and performed amazingly for a first time use with no prior breaking in whatsoever. It’s flexibility meant it still formed very nice knots and frictions. For most westerners, 6mm is probably the ideal diameter as it suits the body size and weight; 5mm is all very well for Japanese size models as there have been a few cases recently where smaller diameters have proven inadequate leading to rope breaks.
Let’s get geeky and talk technical. I’ll give you a warts and all assessment. At 18.5g per metre, it is very light. I would describe the lay (twist) as medium to long. Each ply comprises 11 double-twisted yarns, which compares with 9 single ones in typical Japanese asanawa. The double-twisted yarn construction has proved in my best-selling Tossa jute, amongst others, to result in better resistance to high-stranding (going out of balance) than single yarn. This is a notorious problem with expensive Japanese rope. To be honest, I have yet to beat some of the rope I have bought in Japan but sadly it never seems to survive regular use. Bikers might appreciate an analogy with Italian exotica, which does a great job but requires constant maintenance and is not for day-to-day use, against the ‘gas it up and ride’ it Japanese competitors, usually at a less eye-watering price.
My only criticism is the consistency of the ply sizes is not as good as the Tossa, which is the gold standard in that respect, by which I judge all others somewhat harshly. However, this was certainly less noticeable after some use so it might just settle down completely due to its softness. Where Ichiban Light scores massively is its super softness from day one. This is not the sort of rope that just feels soft because it is insubstantial, it has body yet compressibility, a rare combination, that makes any tie look better. Not that it needs it by any stretch of the imagination but I’ll be curious what happens when its is washed. Will I be comparing it to a baby’s posterior and extolling it like a toilet paper ad voice-over?
Finally, the cosmetic bits. It comes it a retail pack consisting of a card wrapping band, all sealed hygenically in a ziplock bag. The ends are, as usual, finished with a simple knot and the ends are whipped. I’ll be honest the whipping is far from functional. I’ll be having a word with the suppliers as I lost several in the course of that first session. If they can’t improve on tenacity of the whippings, I won’t bother in future.
Overall, I’m delighted with Ichiban Light. I think it will be a winner,. For those who want a ready to use, easy to work with, jute rope that won’t break the bank, you’ll find it hard to beat. A follow up report in a couple of weeks will be really interesting after it’s had more use. Hopefully, customer reviews will be coming back by then. Check it out in action in the header image.
PS Thanks, Mo, for the proof-reading and giving me the heads-up, as the first draft was peppered with typos. What do you expect at 3:30am? Doh! Just found the proof-read button 😀