Brand new rigid stem

Jiggs Casey wrote:

This is the dumbest old guy take I’ve read in a long time, perhaps ever. Who needs aliens and totems and z4s when you’ve got RIGID STEMS!

This dumb old guy has probably placed more rigid stem friends in more climbs than you've placed of any other sort in your life.  Where they're good, they're really good.  I never said other sorts weren't useful: but where they fit, rigid stem friends are my favorites.

Ben Zartman wrote:

This dumb old guy has probably placed more rigid stem friends in more climbs than you've placed of any other sort in your life.  Where they're good, they're really good.  I never said other sorts weren't useful: but where they fit, rigid stem friends are my favorites.

They can be your favorite, but that doesn’t make them THE BEST which is what you said the first time. Longevity and tenure is entirely overrated when it comes to gear and getting with the times. Tucker tech has also placed a ton more cams than me but he cuts the leg loops off of brand new harnesses he gets. Just cuz that’s how it used to be done doesn’t make it the best way to do it today. 

I mean dude, you said it yourself, they don’t work in “weird/small/horizontal/specialty placements” so that leaves splitter cracks. You know what other cams work great in splitters? Literally every single other cam, except they’ll also usually work in those weird/small/horizontal/speciality placements that exist everywhere except for the Creek. 

Jiggs Casey wrote:

They can be your favorite, but that doesn’t make them THE BEST which is what you said the first time. Longevity and tenure is entirely overrated when it comes to gear and getting with the times. Tucker tech has also placed a ton more cams than me but he cuts the leg loops off of brand new harnesses he gets. Just cuz that’s how it used to be done doesn’t make it the best way to do it today. 

I mean dude, you said it yourself, they don’t work in “weird/small/horizontal/specialty placements” so that leaves splitter cracks. You know what other cams work great in splitters? Literally every single other cam, except they’ll also usually work in those weird/small/horizontal/speciality placements that exist everywhere except for the Creek. 

Hi Jiggs,

I agree with you entirely, as far as getting with the times.  And strangely, I also agree that THE BEST is not always subjective, but often measureable.

I've been trying to get people to get with the times and use spliced Dyneema gear for ages now, but there's resistance to the idea, even though it is objectively better. Hard to account for.

But back to rigid friends: they work in more than splitter cracks, and I'd still rather see a well-placed #4 rigid stem than a silver Camalot or any other brand.  But to each his own, I suppose.  This thread was, after all, about rigid stem friends--it would be weird if their fans and users didn't chime in with some support.

Jiggs Casey wrote:

This is the dumbest old guy take I’ve read in a long time, perhaps ever. Who needs aliens and totems and z4s when you’ve got RIGID STEMS!

most old rigid stems aren't small enough to compare to those cams lol. I will say, the small rigid stems that I do have (not common) are 100% certified garbage. the stems are as big as the cam lobes, so anything other than a perfect vertical splitter and they work like shit. I have a .4 and .3 equivalent and almost never use them. However some of my most trusted pieces are my #2 and #3 rigid stems. I have never taken a fall on a flexible stem in those sizes, always rigid stems. Another thing is that I don't climb on perfect sandstone splitters very often. My local rock type is quartzite, which has plenty of funky cam placements. I've never had a problem with them. In fact I wound up selling my modern camalots in favor of tech friends and rigid stems. They're bomb as hell brah!

timothy fisher wrote:

First gen hard stems had nuts. Big nuts on 3 and 4. Half sizes came out about 82. The riveted axles over a washer was 85ish about the same time the tech friends came out. The riveteted axles were recalled and the button head screws were the solution. Late 80s hard stems have slightly different cams and are more narrow with the removal of spacer.

Set of number 2 Friends with different nuts.  I think oldest to newest bottom to top:

Here's the 1/2 size Friend with the Ti stem (1986 vintage?):

Set of three different #4 Friends:

Kinda nutty, eh?  Ha ha.