Trad gear pricing
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Hi there! First time poster here. My boyfriend and I are sport climbers looking to break into some trad gear. We are lucky enough to have a community of climbing friends willing to teach us! I was approached by a friend who wanted to sell his rack as he no longer has interest in climbing. He asked me to make him an offer and I thought I would reach out for some expert opinion! My friends have looked it over and they all agree it's super sturdy and climbable. What would you pay for this, considering it's used and kind of old school? Thanks! |
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Don't |
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No more than $200. $100 is closer to a fair price, imo. Any of the slings older than ten years should, according to manufacturer’s recommendation, be replaced. Many people disagree with this, but it’s just generally a good rule of thumb. My guess is all of those slings are older than ten years.
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$25 each for the Metolius cams, $15-20 for the friends, $10-15 for each tricam. |
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I think $300 would be a fair price for both parties, but personally I wouldn’t buy it. If you have friends that trad climb and are willing to teach you you can start by using their rack. Spend that $300 on some more modern gear and continue building your rack as you decide if trad is your thing. |
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If I owned that gear I'd pay someone $100 to take it off my hands, but if I were you I'd probably pay $100 for it. |
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Those Metolius Power Cams are great! I actually prefer them over the modern BD C4s. I'd say $35 per Metolius Power Cam. I'm unfamiliar with the single stem, single axle cams with the plastic on the stems, but I've used similar ones and I think they're generally less desirable. I'd say $30 each for those. Maybe $50 or something like that for the set of tricams, and $30 for the incomplete set of nuts, and $20 for the old biners? That would be $210 for the Metolius cams, also $210 for those plasticy ones, plus $100 for everything else, so $520 might be reasonable? But sometimes it's reasonable to get a lower price for old gear sold in lots, so ~$450 wouldn't be unreasonable either. Somewhere between $400-$700 would reasonable I think. Edit: people are suggesting much lower prices. I think Metolius Power Cams still go for at least $35/each though, a lot of people like them. Others might be more spot on with the other gear, though. |
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Brandon R wrote: $25 for the metolius that needs a new sling for $10 if you send it back to them. You can often find new Metolius for $45. |
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So to sum it up. I guess anywhere between $700 and they should pay you $100 to take it. I hope we were helpful! |
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If you buy it, pick your price assuming it's a see-if-we-like-this-sport solution. If you do want to become a trad climber after a few sessions, you will definitely want to retire and upgrade every piece in that photo before you get on something that is challenging for you. I don't generally recommend this path for most activities because you're more likely not to enjoy the sport if you try it with substandard gear. You say you have friends, so you're probably better off climbing on their gear for a few sessions. You will be ready to buy new, quality gear long before you are genuinely comfortable climbing without a more experienced friend nearby. |
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$250 would be a fair price for that kit. It's a good mix of gear and should get you started trad climbing. I would not feel the need to re-sling any of that gear. It looks barely used. |
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Maria Schriver wrote: I'm taking that attack on the Metolius Power Cams and tricams personally. Metolius reslings their gear for silly cheap, something like $3/cam, and for $7/cam they clean then and lube them and they come back like new. Source: could not believe how nice my cams came back from Metolius nor how little I paid. And they're definitely better than C4s. Also team tricams for life |
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"One dollar, Bob" |
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Ricky Harline wrote: While I am also a tricam lover (and super jealous of the MP Member with the name Tricam Evangelist) I believe the evos are far superior to old tricams with floppy slings and lacking the tapered sides/flush roll pins. I think people are less likely to become fellow tricam lovers if they don’t start with evos. |
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If you have a lot of people willing to mentor you then won't you be climbing on their gear? |
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People on here acting like people that used that gear back in the day didn’t climb harder than they do now… the gear is fine. Because of the slings I’d do $20 a metolius and like $15 the rest. It’ll serve you well and if you start climbing a ton of trad sure it might be *nicer* to have newer gear and upgrade but not at all necessary. Gear is gear and if it allows you to get out it’s worth every penny (and honestly the slings look fine for now). I’m stoked that you have the opportunity to get into trad without paying $700+ like everybody else that’s a huge blessing! |
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The Metolius U cable cams lever themselves out of scars when you actually fall on them. $0 - dangerous rubbish - nobody experienced and current is using them. $100 for the 5 largest flex friends - toss in the nuts for free. Otherwise - really - +1 - pass on these relics until you get some mileage on someone else's modern gear and know what you are buying. |
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Buy it, it's a good deal no matter the individual prices, resling in a few years if you like plugging gear, consider double slings if you do, I have almost all that old stuff in a box, I have upgraded to multiple sets but also reslung most of it! The DMM Wallnuts are alive and well on a friend's rack. The curved sides stick great, but I don't much like transverse tapers. There is something to be said for reusing durable gear instead of junking it. The main advantages of newer gear are lighter weight and greater expansion range; TCUs and Friends finished the cam revolution in the 1980's. Purple #0s held us on many falls and takes. You could have a great time with this gear, say, leading 5.7, 8 and 9 at Squamish. 'Specially if you only place the tricams with 2 hands ;-) |
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My #1 advice to trad climbers buying their first rack is to climb with a few people and try out their gear and find out what you like before buying even one piece. But, I received that advice, and I didn't listen (I wish I had, because I spent a lot of money on stupid stuff). And nobody I tell that to, listens. So, assuming you're going to ignore my #1 advice and buy gear: I'd say the Metolius cams are clearly the most valuable things there. Metolius stands by their products and if you send them in for a resling they'll send them back refurbished, as good as a new cam. That said, they are old, and reslinging them isn't free, so I wouldn't pay more than $10/cam for those. That puts you at $60. The nuts seem fine, but you can get a nicer set of nuts than that brand new for $70 without a sale, and easily $50 on sale, so I wouldn't pay more than maybe $30 for that. That puts us at $90 total. The friends are going to be harder to resling, and the results won't be as good. Probably only $5 each, so $35. That leaves us with a total of $125. I honestly wouldn't even buy the tricams. Don't get me wrong, I love tricams, but they're only useful in certain kinds of rock, and reslinging them will probably cost as much as just buying them new. So, that puts the total around $125.
Well, I know some experienced and current climbers using these, so that part is just wrong. Any pictures or explanation of the levering themselves out of scars bit? You didn't give much explanation, but what you did say makes me envision a situation where I would never expect the cam to work in the first place--not so much "dangerous rubbish" as "doesn't work if you place it wrong". |
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An argument can be made that the cams you'll end up liking are worth $30-35 each in this condition. But I would guess 1/3 will disappoint in some way. Not knowing up front which 1/3, I'd offer $20-25 a piece. My best guess is you'll be disappointed with the small cams having long axles - small cams can be found with much shorter axles these days. https://www.mtntools.com/cat/rclimb/cams/mt_camresling.htm will resling the Wild Country friends if it comes to that. The nuts look to be DMM - not the cheapest kind. But while some of us love them (more secure placements), others hate them (harder to clean) and prefer the cheaper (BD/WC) nuts. So, with that uncertainty, maybe $7 for the smaller ones and $4 for the larger ones (large nuts tend to be less useful). Note that the smallest sizes are missing here, so if you end up having to buy those separately, they'll be more expensive than as part of a standard DMM set. |
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Starflower Earthchild wrote: please update us on how much you offered your friend? and did u buy it? |