FS: Silent Partner

Silent Partner, used, still feeds and locks - $875

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I bought this from Chuck Clance in 2006 who had purchased it some years earlier (2001) but never used it. It was still in the package with the manual, no scratches or anything. Chuck insisted on meeting me in person to make sure I wasn't going to kill myself. We met at a pub early one Sunday morning. Chuck must have been a regular there as the staff treated him like he was family. And although I don't believe they were open for business I'm pretty sure Chuck was served. One of the first routes I climbed with it was a Clance route, Skull Queen.

Other than three short intentional falls I took on it to see it work I only fell on it once or twice. No big whippers.

I never really took to the Silent Partner despite using it a bunch. Rope management was kind of a PITA in my experience. One time I was using it in Yosemite Valley to climb Bishop's Terrace and Mark Blanchard, the designer of the SP, showed up at the base with friends. My slightly fuzzy rope jammed around the device down low on the route and in frustration I nearly took a knife to the rope. Using the SP definitely requires some technique and patience.  But for free climbing the alternatives I tried were inferior.

If $875 seems like a crazy amount (and it is) I will also offer a framed photo of my Silent Partner for the low, low price of $35, shipping included

Or buy them both for $900

Curious to see if this sells. I bet there's a bunch of apes out there who overpaid for a SP and don't want to be stuck as the last guy holding the bag.

Patrick Becerrawrote:

Curious to see if this sells. I bet there's a bunch of apes out there who overpaid for a SP and don't want to be stuck as the last guy holding the bag.

This is still the best device for LRS... can you put a price on freedom? 

dahigdonwrote:

This is still the best device for LRS... can you put a price on freedom? 

Freedom costs a buck o’ five.  

Following to see if it sells...i also have one (slightly more scratched) I will sell eventually. 

I posted this here a couple of years ago and got zero interest. But they do sell on MP once in a while. It looks like two did quite recently. And they also sell on ebay, slowly. There is one seller who almost always has one listed. If you look at the chart I posted almost all of the sales over $1500 were by that one seller. Often they were previously sold on ebay for less. In fact there is one listed right now for $1895 by that seller that was sold on ebay several months ago for $1055 by another seller. I think that translates into about a $500 profit just for flipping it. It's a shame since they are useful devices and intrinsically worth just a few hundred bucks at most.

Imagine what you could get someone to pay for it if you claimed Alex Honnold used it to rope solo sections of his record breaking ascent of the Salathe Wall. 

Did Honnold use a Silent Partner? That would be a great advertisement for the company making them, if someone were making them.

Frankly I wouldn't want it. I'd rather be selling a normal piece of gear for more or less what I paid for it. But if I did that with an SP I'd just be gifting someone hundreds of dollars as they could turn around and sell it for a lot more.

I hear ya, I’m the same. I don’t like to sell just so others can flip it for a profit. I find some pricing unfortunate.
And yeah, in one of the articles I read Honnold said he had borrowed an SP which was used on a couple pitches of his Salathe Wall trashing of the rope solo record. 

There also seems to be a few folks on MP who have made it a cottage industry to buy gear, raise the prices, then sell the gear— driving up prices.  Searching histories, looking at their forum posts, is a fairly easy way to identify them. Searching other sites, a pattern can emerge also because they cross list or buy there and sell here at a markup. Part of me wonders if these folks should be identified on MP— they’re dealers, obvious from their actions, which at least for me, is not in the spirit of MP.  

You interested in trading for it? What you like? Haha. 

No, the price is $900 + shipping. If you're not interested that's fine. I'm not counting on it selling here but sometimes SPs do. And it's free to try. Ebay tacks on a fee of about 13% which means I'd ask for over $1000 there. Plus most buyers have to pay sales tax as well. So on ebay the same device would cost something closer to $1100 + shipping.

Most likely my Silent Partner will simply gather dust in my closet. But it's here, if there's someone who really wants it.

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

mbkwrote:

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

There's already one in a museum.

Others are still in use. If I were still climbing I wouldn't be selling mine; I'd use it. But to be fair, if I didn't have one there's no way I'd spend more than a couple hundred bucks for one.

Major price reduction 

Crack Me Upwrote:

There also seems to be a few folks on MP who have made it a cottage industry to buy gear, raise the prices, then sell the gear— driving up prices.  Searching histories, looking at their forum posts, is a fairly easy way to identify them. Searching other sites, a pattern can emerge also because they cross list or buy there and sell here at a markup. Part of me wonders if these folks should be identified on MP— they’re dealers, obvious from their actions, which at least for me, is not in the spirit of MP. 

Up to sellers who are giving reasonable prices to somewhat vet who they're selling to. Pretty easy to tell if they're flipping. The other side of that is just not to buy it if the price isn't right.  Also not sure that we have a dealer here. Seems pretty on par with what I've seen others asking for the SP (actually a bit less than the max I've seen across mp and ebay) 

TLDR: If you want an SP and have the dough buy it, if not don't.

dahigdonwrote:

can you put a price on freedom? 

The fed sure does a good job

I appreciate the graph! I do think it's entertaining to see these pop up quite regularly with the associated price-tag, but there must be the demand (as the OP has indicated).  Can't blame any seller for trying if that's what the market rate is.  

Matthew Bellwrote:

Up to sellers who are giving reasonable prices to somewhat vet who they're selling to. Pretty easy to tell if they're flipping. The other side of that is just not to buy it if the price isn't right.  Also not sure that we have a dealer here. Seems pretty on par with what I've seen others asking for the SP (actually a bit less than the max I've seen across mp and ebay) 

TLDR: If you want an SP and have the dough buy it, if not don't.

There’s still room for you to improve your reading comprehension Matthew. Jim C, the lister, and I were having exchanges about processes for setting prices— not talking about him as a dealer.  
Back to the TOP for Jim’s listing!  

Crack Me Upwrote:

There’s still room for you to improve your reading comprehension Matthew. Jim C, the lister, and I were having exchanges about processes for setting prices— not talking about him as a dealer.  
Back to the TOP for Jim’s listing!  

You caught me! I don't always read the entire thread. Totally thought you were calling OP out my bad. Bump for a partner that can't read at all!