Spider Silk MK5

Description

Say hello to our all new hardy 20mm high tech webbing - Spider Silk MK5. With this new iteration of Spider Silk, we are returning to the roots by bringing back Vectran fiber. Spider Silk MK5 is made of mostly Vectran material with a bit of polyester mixed in for color and aesthetic. This webbing is as hardy as it gets!

Sporting a narrow width of 20mm, a low weight of 40 grams per meter, and a burly 40 kN MBS, this stuff is built to be abused. You can grip it, you can weblock it, you can rig it pretty much however you want and this stuff will withstand the abuse.

It's wonderful weave pattern gives it high visibility, a very soft feel on the foot and hand, and absolute confidence in grip on your foot - barefoot or not. This stuff is a dream for longliners and for high traffic zones on big lines (the end sections). Being that you can use any hardware with this webbing, it's ideal as a last and first segment on a monster line, or a biggish line that you know will see countless whippers.

Made in the US

For your sewn loop selection, please see the sewn loop details listed below.

For custom configurations, main/backup combos, or large orders, please reach out to us for a custom quote.

Launch Video

Durability to the Max

World class durability and longevity

Spider Silk MK5 is made from an extremely durable material known as Vectran. Vectran is a Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) and is the only fiber of its kind. Vectran has amazing durability properties that make it fantastic for long highlines and lengthy permarigs.

Not only does Vectran offer superior cut resistance compared to other high tech fibers, but it resists bending, flexing, and fiber-on-fiber abrasion quite well. These features combined make Vectran webbing exceptionally durable.

Stacking on to these features, Vectran Yarn has a surface feel that is very high grip. This makes Spider Silk MK5 exceptional for highlines where grip is needed. This might be a longline in a park, the end segments of a big line, or any beginner-friendly big highline.

High Vis Design

Bright edges make this webbing pop!

Spider Silk MK5 blends Vectran and Polyester yarns together to make a beautiful and highly functional highline webbing. The body of the webbing is made from 100% Vectran yarns. The edges, the filling, and the marker line are all made from colored polyester yarns - orange on the edges and filling and blue on the marker yarn.

The bright edge band makes this webbing highly visible from afar, which is great for spotting the ends on big lines and for safety on more permanent rigs.

Bigline Composition

Connecting segments in a proper order

Although Spider Silk MK5 is quite lightweight at 35 grams per meter, it's definitely not super light like our Silk 99. We built Spider Silk MK5 with the intention that it would have a number of uses. One of these uses is a part of a big highline compostion.

What that means is that typically a big highline operates and goes up better if you minimize the weight of the line. However, most ultralight webbings are not super durable and typically don't do well when mixed with hardware, like webbing anchors and webbing grips. So, to remedy that, we have begun to suggest that folks use a low-tech webbing at the ends of the line in order to have more durability at the locations where rigging is the heaviest (gripping, handling, locking, etc...).

However, now we have Spider Silk MK5, which is 100% compatible with all slackline hardware. You can grip it, you can lock it, you can handle it just like any low tech webbing. It really is the ideal webbing for those end segments on big lines.

So, when purchasing high-tech webbing for your bigline projects, we recommend at least 2 segments of Spider Silk MK5 to use on each end. It's a good idea to have one that is 50-60m long for the static side and one that is 100m long for the tensioning side. If you plan to tension on both sides, go with 2x 100m segments of Spider Silk MK5.

Dimensions

Cross-section

40.0 g/m

Width: 20.0 mm (0.79 in)
Thickness: 2.78 mm (0.11 in)
Weight: 40.0 g/m (2.69 lbs / 100 ft)

Strength

MBS: 40 kN (8,992 lbf)
WLL: 13 kN (2,990 lbf)
Alpine WebLock: 39 kN (8,768 lbf)
MightyLock: 35 kN (7,868 lbf)
Sewn Loop: 38 kN (8,543 lbf)

Material

Material: 95% LCP, 5% UHMWPE
Weave structure: Flat
Weave features: Dual-Layer Weave
Weave zoning: Dual Strength Zones

Walkability

Style: Optimized for bomb-proof big lines
Optimum tension: 1.0 - 4.5 kN (225 - 1,000 lbf)
Preferred lengths: 200+ m (660+ feet)

Highline

Highline approved

Yes

Backup length

How long should the backup be with a Spider Silk MK5 mainline?

Mainline	Backup
50 m	53 m
60 m	63.6 m
100 m	106 m
120 m	127.2 m

For any other length, make the backup 6% longer than the main.

Compatible hardware

Webbing Anchors

Webbing Grips

Sewing

Now offering Naked loops!

We exclusively sew our sewn loops on Spider Silk MK5 with Dyneema sewing thread. This gives us the ability to shrink the sewing patch to just 50mm long, making the sewn loops VERY compact.

We also offer Naked sewn loops, which are sewn loops without a protective sleeve. Since this webbing lives in the middle sections of highlines, the sewn loops will likely always be used at a segment connection. These spots in a big line are prime suspects for unwanted oscillations, mainly due to the regular frequency of weight hotspots. Skipping the bulky protective sleeve brings the weight of your connection down by a staggering 50+ grams (assuming naked loops on main and backup), and allows us to fold over just 175mm of material, giving roughly a 125mm opening in the loop, plenty to assemble a segment connection.

Please note: we are continuously working on our sewn loop designs, so the sewn loop you receive with your webbing may differ from older product photos. Whatever you receive is our current best/strongest design.

Sewn Loop

Pattern 504

Diamond ramp for 20 mm webbings

38.0 kN MBS

Pattern dimensions: 160 × 16 mm (L × W) (6.3 × 0.6 in)
Opening size: 140 mm (5.5 in)
Webbing fold: 305 mm (12.0 in)
Sleeve length: 200 mm (7.9 in)
Bobbin thread: Amann Xtreme Tech with Dyneema · 220-tex · Yellow
Needle thread: Amann Xtreme Tech with Dyneema · 220-tex · Red
Stitches: 200

Join Stitch

Pattern 2x504

Double diamond ramp for 20 mm webbings

Pattern dimensions: 325 × 16 mm (L × W) (12.8 × 0.6 in)
Overlap length: 335 mm (13.2 in)
Bobbin thread: Amann Xtreme Tech with Dyneema · 220-tex · Yellow
Needle thread: Amann Xtreme Tech with Dyneema · 220-tex · Red
Stitches: 400

Stretch

An ideal line for big lines.

A fantastic feature of Vectran fiber is that it has no creep whatsoever. Once the initial bedding-in occurs with your webbing (initial stretch resulting from the fibers aligning within the weave), your line will remain the same tension throughout the rig. No need to worry about your webbing growing over time with more and more usage.

Vectran in general also has very low stretch. However, due to the thick, dual-layer weave of Spider Silk MK5, it does experience a bit of stretch on the initial few rigs as the fibers align and straighten within the weave. After a few sessions, the stretch minimizes.