Rigid Stem Friends?

I am building up my first trad rack and I have noticed alot of low-priced old rigid stem friends, probably back from the '80s. I already bought a size 1 and 1.5 for ten dollars from a local climber.I don't mind weight at all, just function and cost. There are many more out there that wont cost me a fortune as modern cams would, but would you recommend them for leading on? Twenty or thirty years seems like a long time, but they seem fine. So are they good for Leading or no way?

The Rigid Friends are awesome and last a long time. Get them reslung and climb away.

Lot and lots of people climb with the older ones.

Heck, I will sell you exactly what you need. 1, 2, 3, 4 with fresh slings.

Just make sure to use the "gunks tie off" when necessary!

wildcountry.co.uk/HintsandT…

I have tons of them and still use the first three I bought in 1979. As for weight, they are actually one of the lightest cams. Buy them up, you can't go wrong with them.

Thanks for the info guys, How much for them michael? Ill PM you

Awesome Cams, I still climb on my originals from the late 80's. The only reason Wild Country Quit Selling them is because of lack of sales. I think they are some of the most durable cams out there. buy them up...

Ten bucks a cam! What a deal. For the record, all my friends are rigid stem.

No, it was ten bucks for TWO cams! Great deal eh?

Thats cheaper than the trigger kits that Wild Country still sell.

Yeah, I don't have any, but have climbed on many and they are light and super durable. Most importantly, they're cams that work and are cheap, and are manufactured by a reputable company. Go for it. When you're poor, gear is gear, and then, when you have money, that gear becomes part of your desert rack.

The only drawback, I would argue, to Rigid Friends is that the smaller sizes (e.g. 1, 1.25, 1.5) seem to fix more easily than the larger ones; part of the reason for this, I believe, is the fat that the stem is pretty much as wide as the lobes, especially on the #1.

forged friends are bombproof... climb away

A friend once told me some dude at Camp IV offered to sell him some rigid Friends for $5 each. He said "how about you give me $5 per cam and I will throw them away for you?" That's about how I feel about them. In all seriousness, if you're mega hurt for cash, sure you can use them. But if you have some wiggle room and know you will want legit cams later, buy right or buy twice.

20 kN wrote:A friend once told me some dude at Camp IV offered to sell him some rigid Friends for $5 each. He said "how about you give me $5 per cam and I will throw them away for you?" That's about how I feel about them. In all seriousness, if you're mega hurt for cash, sure you can use them. But if you have some wiggle room and know you will want legit cams later, buy right or buy twice.

I agree. I climbed on a set for a long time. Was happy to finally get rid of them. Most people who say they're awesome also reminisce about how awesome EB's were. If you already have a set, fine, use them. If you're super strapped for cash and it's that or no climbing, go ahead. Otherwise, I'll pass.

Say what you will, but buying a rack of rigid-stem cams for the price of one new cam certainly beats the crap out of the much promulgated idea of purchasing hexes that is dropped like steaming piles of advice nuggets all over the beginner forums.

The old rigid friends are bomb proof. Sure, the new cams are a lot nicer but for $5 each, I would buy them. Heck I still rack up a few that I bought back in the early 80s.

Colonel Mustard wrote:Say what you will, but buying a rack of rigid-stem cams for the price of one new cam certainly beats the crap out of the much promulgated idea of purchasing hexes that is dropped like steaming piles of advice nuggets all over the beginner forums.

+1
as a poor highschool student trying to build his rack i wish i had found the deal first