- [Adam] This is the titanium Ridge wallet,
which you can get in black, gunmetal,
or the one I have here
which is described as burnt titanium.
You can also get the Ridge wallet
in a choice of aluminium finishes,
which cost a little less,
or you can get a real carbon fiber Ridge wallet,
which costs a little more than this one.
I specifically wanted to
show you this exact build,
the burnt titanium, with cash strap option,
instead of the money clip.
I couldn't get the cash strap option
with this design from Ridge wallet,
as they'd sold out,
so it's obviously a popular combination.
So how cool is this?
They give you a nifty Torx screwdriver.
You need this if you ever
want to change or replace
the expandable elastic track.
That's the piece that keeps tension
on your cards to hold them in place.
We'll take the wallet apart with this in a moment.
I'll show you the Ridge wallet's construction,
how to change the elastic track,
and offer a top tip for modifying your wallet,
to make it more practical to use.
Let's take a look at
the Ridge wallet’s finish plates.
It's hand torched and hardened grade 5 titanium.
Of all of the wallets I've featured,
this one definitely looks the most impressive.
I've seen well used Ridge wallets
in this titanium finish,
where they're a little scratched up,
which makes them look even better,
it adds character and reminds you
you've bought something that will last.
Taking a look at its basic function,
cards are pushed out like this,
placing the ones you use the most at the top,
or the bottom of the pile.
This part here is so that they can only be ejected
on one side, which helps keep them seated tidily.
The elastic track keeps firm pressure
to hold your cards securely, it works well.
It holds one to 12 cards.
The Ridge wallet blocks RFID,
preventing wireless theft of your cards data.
On the back, an external strap for cash, receipts,
or anything else that fits.
The Ridge wallet will hold one to twelve cards
in the center section.
Here I'm placing eight cards,
one flat card, and seven with embossed writing.
If you put too many embossed
bank cards in the Ridge wallet,
you'll end up with something that
resembles an accordion.
They are held securely, but it's not great.
What you'll want to do is take them out
and reshuffle them so that
they're organized better.
Here we see all of the writing
on the same side of the cards,
rotate a couple so that it's better balanced,
put them back,
and even with a big stack of cards like this,
it solves that problem.
When you use the recess
to push your cards forwards,
it can be tricky to get at the
ones in the middle quickly.
You could pull all of the cards forward a little,
and then pinch the bottom of the wallet,
which fans the cards out.
The Ridge wallet has a tapered edge,
which makes pushing cards in,
a lot easier than taking them out.
This means you don't have
to prize the wallet apart
like you saw me doing earlier.
This way is a lot better.
On the reverse of the wallet
you have a choice of a metal money clip,
or an elastic cash strap.
The cash strap gives you a thinner wallet,
and I think it looks better.
However, the addition of the metal buckle,
called the cash strap plate,
makes it really difficult for me to find anywhere
to grab hold of it.
You almost need to have three hands,
to lift it and push some cash in here.
Imagine trying to do this
with a handful of groceries.
I'd give it a six out of 10 for practicality.
It doesn't make it any less desirable.
If you're going for a minimalist wallet,
you sometimes have to expect some compromises.
I can see why they may have this buckle.
If you look at the reverse of the cash strap,
you can see it's got little rubber feet.
The buckle helps put a uniform pressure
on all the rubber grips,
and your cash is very secure once it's in place.
So let's see the Ridge wallet’s component parts,
and how to change the cash strap.
There are seven stainless steel T5 screws
on both sides of your Ridge wallet.
Be warned, you don't get any spares,
and if you drop one of these suckers,
you're not going to find it again.
You can get spare screws sold separately.
With one finish plate removed
you can see the channel that the elastic sits in.
With some of these minimalist wallets,
you don't always get much more than a stretchy
band wrapped around some kind of fascia plate,
which I don't consider a wallet at all,
you may as well just buy an elastic band.
But there's some real engineering and thought
which has gone into the Ridge Wallet,
giving you a special product.
So with the titanium plates removed,
we see the two aluminium RFID blocking plates.
Removing the strap is easy now
if you need to replace it.
Notice this outer loop.
The cash strap would not be present
if you ordered your Ridge wallet,
instead, with the optional money clip.
I promised you a top tip.
With the cash strap removed,
you may want to remove the pesky metal buckle.
I'm not sure if the Ridge wallet
always came with this buckle.
I've seen pictures, and older online reviews,
where it's not present.
You can see it's designed with a gap at each end,
which enables the strap to be pushed through.
Assembly is just the reverse of taking it apart.
I've seen the cash strap pushed under
the finishing plate before reassembly,
but this will make a bulge,
and I don't recommend that.
So as you might have guessed,
I've reassembled my Ridge wallet
with the buckle removed.
I think it looks less fussy
and it's a bit flatter too.
Now you can see it can be lifted easily,
and if I try and put some cash in,
it's a lot easier than before.