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animal
Feb 5, 2003, 2:02 AM
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i read somewhere in one of my climbing books that there is such a thing as an automatic biner...it basically stays locked open until preasure has been put on the gate then it shuts...mainly used for desperate clips on sport climbs...just curious if anyone has any links for pics of these things..just curious to see how they work...i'm a very visual person
thanks
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jerrygarcia
Feb 5, 2003, 2:09 AM
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Sure they werent confused with the auto lock function most manufacturers make now?
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benkiessel
Feb 5, 2003, 2:12 AM
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i think you are talking about the kong frog
http://www.kong.it/doc302.htm
you would have to be a HARDCORE SPORT CLIMBER to need these.
[ This Message was edited by: benkiessel on 2003-02-04 18:14 ]
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animal
Feb 5, 2003, 2:16 AM
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yep ben found them....or at least it appears to be them...they look way to heavy and complicated to be worth while and not only that i'm mostly into the trad scene
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caughtinside
Feb 5, 2003, 2:19 AM
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Yeah, I saw one of those things climbing with a guy I met at owens a couple weeks ago, he got his in italy. Pretty funky, a claw that clamps shut when touched to a bolt, but they guy said it was great for desparate or juuust out of reach clips.
We didn't use it, he was just showing me a few oddities in his substantial rack. I checked out his two and four cam splitters, and a few other odds and ends.
Looks like it's expensive and of very limited use. Neat though
Dave
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davidji
Feb 5, 2003, 2:27 AM
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They should solve this occasional unclipping problem:
http://www.climerware.com/unclip.shtml
Anyone here actually use 'em? I've only seen them in the store.
[ This Message was edited by: davidji on 2003-02-04 18:29 ]
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alpnclmbr1
Feb 5, 2003, 9:54 PM
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they are not for a hard sport climber.
they are made for someone that is to short to clip the bolt from a good stance.
like a mini cheater stick for a person on lead. this is the only way i have seen them used. the old way was to tape a gate open and reinforce the draw so that is is stiff and non flexible. It lets you reach a bolt from a lower stance.
If your climbing with a short leader it is a good trick
d
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jomamazaho
Feb 7, 2003, 12:39 AM
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Those things are goofy, just go hard core with the standard ones man. If you can't clip it with a standard biner then your not worthy.
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flying_dutchman
Feb 7, 2003, 12:52 AM
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i saw some of those funky draws at s store in canada but they are a ripoff; $39. I could get three good draws for that price. As for giving you a little more reach, i fail to see how that could happen. The only difference is the end piece where instead of a biner, you have a jaw like piece which is more secure on a bolt then just a gate on a biner.
Interesting idea but its not gonna be a hit anywhere im sure
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no_limit
Feb 7, 2003, 1:52 AM
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[small]This topic was moved to the Gear Heads forum by no_limit[/small]
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tenn_dawg
Feb 7, 2003, 2:35 AM
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Mine only cost like 17 bucks.
I use it for stick clip, sport weenie type applications.
Really though, it's mostly a conversation starter. Everyone loves to play with it.
Travis
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rprp
Feb 7, 2003, 4:41 PM
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Ahh, this Frog is for the bolt end. I've never seen or used it.
I have a used a biner that was designed for the rope end that had a lever that could be cocked to hold the gate open. The weight of the rope would trip it and the gate would shut. The lever was then supposed to hold the gate shut so that it couldn't bounce open. A couple of Chech climbers were using them. It seemed ok, but not great.
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eclarke98
Feb 7, 2003, 5:15 PM
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It sounds like you might have read about the Stubai Genius and not the Kong Frog. You would place this biner on a quickdraw preplaced on a route where you know you would not have much time to clip. The gate stays locked open until the rope is set in which automatically closes the gate. The Genius never became very popular, but here's a scan from an article in Climbing mag back in 1995.
http://www.aidclimbing.com/stubai.jpg
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ktwo
Feb 7, 2003, 5:20 PM
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hmmm... looks like one of those pieces of gear you could buy and then leave on your coffee table to confuse guests.
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aarong
Feb 7, 2003, 5:33 PM
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I hate to admit it but I bought a couple of these biners back in the early 90s (during the sport-climbing rage). They were junk. Over-priced junk. Most of the time you had to delicately place the rope in the biner and then tug it to make the gate close. Forget putting one finger in to steady the draw and then clipping it with your other fingers - you were sure to get your finger caught in the gate. And the spring on the gate was strong - felt like a damn mouse trap!
Anyway - I sold them to a friend who was equally fascinated by them.
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