Rack Question

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Rack Question

Postby Scott McCrea » Oct 25, 2005 2:29 pm

The following thread was rescued from the cache of the NSS Discussion Board, version 1.0 at Archive.org. For more info on Rescued Threads, go here.


Rack Question

Posted by Keven Williams on October 11, 2000 at 21:51:52:

I bought a new SMC six u-bars rack Sat. at the TAG Cave-In. I read in "On Rope" that the best set up for a rack is to arrange all of the bars so that the eye on each bar is on the long arm of the rack. I understand that this will allow any unclipped bars to slide down the long arm and out of the way, allowing also more room to spread bars if necessary. I guess my main question is why dont racks come rigged this way from the manufacturer??? I think every rack i have seen for sale is rigged with every other bar eye on the long arm,(alternating) Also are there any drawbacks from having all bars rigged with their eyes on the long arm? Thanks for any help. Kev

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Posted by: Daryl Greaser on October 12, 2000 at 15:42:21:

Keven,
No, manufactured bars aren't "typically" "rigged" every-other. Usually, looking at the rack, one bar opens AWAY from you and the next bar opens TOWARD you. "Rigging" the bars on the long arm of the rack is as simple as unclipping all the bars, and sliding them around the "U" bend in the top of the rack. I realized this right away whenever I bought a new rack, and was quick to notice that they all needed to be on the long arm, allowing greater potential to drop bars as you have mentioned. There are no disadvantages of this setup; the rack was designed to be used this way. Some racks (like my BMS mini) have several bars "permanently" mounted, meaning they can't be unclipped, and really increases the idiot-proofness factor as far as I'm concerned. Also, longer racks make it a hell of a lot harder to change over from ascend to rappel than shorter ones. Hope this helps. Daryl

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Posted by: John Hickman on October 12, 2000 at 10:15:58:

Kev,

There are several different varieties of brake bars (aluminum, titanium, steel, hollow, u-shaped, round, etc.). It is easier to sell bars and racks separately. You want to put all your bars on the long arm. If your top bar is too large to slide around the top of the rack, it goes on last.

Hope this helps. In any case, don't use your rack until someone who correctly (which can be difficult to tell) knows how to configure one looks it over.

John Hickman
Nashville, TN
Scott McCrea
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