UKC

DMM Mambas

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 beardy mike 30 Sep 2014
I had one of these years and years ago and it was an ace product. Very niche yes, but ace. So why do you never see them anymore? The still make them and sport climbing is increasingly popular. So what makes it not the extender of choice for more people? Yeah, it's not been updated since I was 17, but come on... its a work of art. You can't make perfect better can you?
 jimtitt 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:
Expensive, only one length, can´t change the slings, can´t rotate the bolt-end krab, hooked nose. There´s plenty of "better" out there.
Post edited at 16:00
 whenry 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann: Because the Alpha Sport quickdraws are better. I still see Mambas as in-situ draws on walls occasionally.
OP beardy mike 30 Sep 2014
In reply to jimtitt:

How much were they? All I'm saying is that as a sports draw (which you don't need to rotate your crab or change the sling or length) its a very decent design. Is a petzl Spirit really a better crab? As for Alpha sports, well they only came out last year, the Mamba's been out for 20 odd years.
 Rick Graham 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:

Hi Mike

I remember Hugh Banner enthusing about his new product which had similar design characteristics to the Mamba at a trade show.

They came out at the same trade show as I recall. Not sure if folk had sussed out then that rubber bands could hold a krab in the correct orientation.

Hugh was apparently trying to design stronger gate open strength krabs.
He was delighted when a trip to the reference library showed that this had been extensively researched for crane hooks in the nineteenth century!

Anyway , as discussed to me, a lot of heated arguments in the trade as who thought of which design tweek first.
 Rick Graham 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:
Also at the time, some manufacturers were unsure how the align the two captive krabs on a double Mamba like quickdrawer.

The gates aligning or opposite discussions had not started.

Folk had not even realised the implications of krab damage on the bolt hangers.
Post edited at 16:51
 Ciro 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:

> All I'm saying is that as a sports draw (which you don't need to rotate your crab or change the sling or length) its a very decent design.

I bought my first set of sport climbing quickdraws probably 8 or 9 years ago - if I couldn't change the slings they would have had to have been retired by now, as it stands most of them are still on my rack.
 whenry 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann: Alpha sports might be quite new, but they've been around longer than that - at least 3 years.
In reply to mike kann:

> How much were they? All I'm saying is that as a sports draw (which you don't need to rotate your crab or change the sling or length)

I'm always changing the direction the krabs face on my sport draws - often krabs sit well in a bolt hanger in only one orientation (or can only be clip-sticked from one direction), so to avoid the possibility of back-clipping you have to rotate a krab. A fair few routes also have poorly positioned bolts that are best addressed by linking draws together. Mambas have both krabs captive, so if you had a rack of them, that wouldn't be possible. Mambas just seem to be an unnecessary restriction of your options (an over-the-top solution in search of a problem).
OP beardy mike 30 Sep 2014
In reply to Rick Graham:

That's interesting. Hugh was in my opinion far ahead of the curve on a lot of things but I think the company lacked the soft design skills making things look slick and pretty which DMM had in abundance. I knew he also did a mamba version, but as I remember it was rather blocky and just lacked a bit of finesse... there were so many first done by HB that really haven't been followed up to their full potential IMO...
OP beardy mike 30 Sep 2014
In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

Yeah I can get that, although they did do a single ended version which you could swap round. I don't know if it was that over the top a solution really - look at the recent accidents with rubber bands on quickdraws...
 jimtitt 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:

> How much were they?

A look at a well known climbing shop tells us they are the most expensive quickdraw out there. £20.00 to you sir. A Petzl Spirit draw (which IS better) for £17.50, DMM Alpha Sport £19.00 and a perfectly serviceable modern draw like a BD Freewire is £9.99. In between there´s almost ,an infinite choice, stuff like a WC Nitro for £11.00 and so on. Something like th Edelrid Pure sport draw with keylock solid gates and a 16mm nylon sling is £11.50 and none of the problems we´ve mentioned. Even petzl´s top-of-the-line Ange is only £18.90.
As also noted the karabiners are incorrectly orientated for most sport climbing in my opinion.
 Rick Graham 30 Sep 2014
In reply to jimtitt:


How much were they?

Sorry to be pedantic , Jim

When they came out, a similar price to other top brand products, an alternative choice. Probably not much cheaper than now, not the cut throat competition as nowadays.
 Rick Graham 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:

Not saying this is the case with HB and DMM/Mambas but

A lot of new products were first shown at the mid summer European trade shows, the UK show used to be in November.

At one November show everybody suddenly had a bent gate krab highlighting their hardware display.

I do not believe they all had the original idea independently
 TobyA 30 Sep 2014
In reply to Ciro:

You can resling them yourself! http://instagram.com/p/cBxILYrvNV/
 Rick Graham 30 Sep 2014
In reply to TobyA:

Do you need to tighten the knots a bit more ?
 Ciro 30 Sep 2014
In reply to TobyA:

Nice, that is old school!

Do you get people at the crag telling you you're gonna die?
 John Kelly 30 Sep 2014
In reply to TobyA:
good god man - buy some new kit - can't you get some to review?
Post edited at 20:24
 BenTiffin 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann: Still got mine but binned the slings 10 years ago. Bought them in 1992 for £10 each although that may have been trade price - I forget as I did work in a climbing shop in Burnley at the time.

These days, one is acting as a garden gate latch, the others are floating round the garage as clips. I tried the re-slinging with tape knots but they wouldn't lie straight so replaced.

 Morgan Woods 30 Sep 2014
In reply to mike kann:

> Yeah, it's not been updated since I was 17,

so like....ages :p
 TobyA 30 Sep 2014
In reply to John Kelly:

They are part of my second rack (used to be my UK rack until I moved back here) so I don't use them all the time but they actually work great. The Mambas and the Cobras are probably easier to clip that Alpha Sports because of their noses, but current thinking is that allows them to self unclip more easily too. Never had that problem myself though.
 IainWhitehouse 30 Sep 2014
In reply to whenry:

> Alpha sports might be quite new, but they've been around longer than that - at least 3 years.

Nope, over three years. I left CragX only just over three years ago and they certainly out then. Three years absolute tops and I'd have guessed at two.
 John Kelly 30 Sep 2014
In reply to TobyA:
don't really do sport (far too scary, bloody bolts are miles apart) so happy to accept any version of 'the best biner for sport is....', its your slings that let you down - I thought you were a bit of a gear wizz - you've gone very retro with your tape knots
Post edited at 23:07
OP beardy mike 01 Oct 2014
In reply to Rick Graham: From the couple of shows I've been to now, there does seem to be a theme as everybody brings out their version of the latest thing - belay plates at Outdoor Messe this time... Be interesting to see what it is next time!

OP beardy mike 01 Oct 2014
In reply to mike kann:

So basically what we're saying is that the product had too narrow a market because it was so specific. I just wonder if it had hit the market now with all the features and gizmo's that current products have and was marketed as agressively as the alpha sport and other current market leaders, whether it would have done better in todays market with more sports climbers around, especially the half version with only one sewn in crab. To me at least it seems like a product that came a bit too early in a market that was too new and fairly anti sport climbing to do well... I get that they're not right for trad so 20 years ago they would have just been an expensive ornament to most climbers...
 CharlieMack 01 Oct 2014
In reply to mike kann:

I got some 'new' draws (2years ago). Bolt end is an un captive alpha sport that works amazing with clipsticks, and rope end is mamba in captive sling. The perfect draw perhaps. Think I got the set of 5 for £60 dmm cosmetic seconds.
 Fraser 01 Oct 2014
In reply to jimtitt:

> Expensive, only one length, can´t change the slings, can´t rotate the bolt-end krab, hooked nose. There´s plenty of "better" out there.

Spot on! I have a quite a few I got 2nd hand about 18 years ago, and the crabs are now too worn to continue using. The tapes are also rather faded and frayed!

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...