UKC

I've just been messing around with my Grivel G14's adjusting the fit to some new boot. Noticed that one of them the heel clip adjust doesn't work. Nothings broken, just the metal bar has pulled out of the black plastic block that moves up and down to adjust tension and is now resting in the bottom of the slot. I've messed about trying to get it back in to block but failed miserably. I guess at some time its been to tight and pulled through. Anybody had this problem and managed to fix it, or is it time for replacements?

Lee

In reply to thlcr1:

I had the exact same problem with my G20s. Had two or three instances of a crampon falling off mid route before I realised what was happening (metal bar pulling past the black plastic adjustment piece). If I were you, I'd take them back to the shop you bought them from or contact the UK distributor and ask for the heel clip to be replaced. It's a design issue in my opinion and not due to misuse although likely stems from us fitting them too tightly at one time or another. I haven't sent mine back because I had an old pair of Petzyl Darts (snapped the mono point off one of these but that's another story). The dart heel clips seems to work OK, so I'm using those.

In reply to thlcr1:

I had the same on some BD Cyborgs. Some fiddling with a leatherman and several pairs of hands fixed it and it's been ok since. You might be lucky if you warm the plastic up in some hot water and then flex it enough to put things back where they should be?

In reply to thlcr1:

Needlesports sell replacements heel clips for most models of Gravel crampons, see http://www.needlesports.com/535/products/grivel-replacement-heel-clips-pair...

In reply to thlcr1:
Thanks for the input. Interesting to hear other people have had similar problems. Might have another go at getting the Grivel bar back into place, but noticed the other Crampon of the pair look like the bar is almost about to come out of the plastic block. Bit of a rubbish design IMO. I checked my spare crampons, a pair of fairly old Camp Ice Riders, and they have a machined aluminium block to hold the bar. Supposedly a very basic crampons, but looks much more durable than the Grivel design. As the G14's are only a couple of years old, I'll see what the shop says. If no joy with them at least spares aren't to drastically expensive.

Lee

In reply to thlcr1:

Try fitting the Ice raider bails [complete] to the Grivels........................most of my crampons have a mix and match component collection to achieve the best fit.

In reply to top cat:

Excellent idea, just rushed out and tried it. Unfortunately the bar in the Camp bails is slightly larger diameter than the Grivels, and won't fit into the holes in the heels. It would need a bit of filing to fit them which I don't fancy doing in case I can take them back. Ironically and rather unhelpfully the Grivel bails fit on the Camps just fine :-/

Lee

In reply to thlcr1:

Look carefully: you may find that the wires have a wider spot / crimp. If the rest of the wire looks ok to fit, filing the crimp rather than the crampon hole might work.

In reply to top cat:


Ok, good idea i'll take a look.

Lee

In reply to top cat:


Damn its not the crimp that's the problem. The wire is thicker. No way it's going on without filing the Grivel heel.

Lee

In reply to thlcr1:

Had the same issue. It takes 2 minutes to fix. There is a thin metal bar that holds the adjuster and the strap in place at the top of the yellow plastic bit. Get a small nail and use it and a hammer to knock out the bar. You can now remove the adjuster, re-fit it correctly and then replace the metal bar with a bit of a tap from the hammer. Hope this helps.
Phil

In reply to thlcr1:

I've got a spare G14 crampon you can have if you want? I lost the other one years ago. Postage & some beer tokens. Might even have some spare front points but I'm not suren

In reply to 1philjones1:


Cheers for the info. I'd seen the pin but wasn't sure how easy it would be to remove, or that matter if I got it out if it would go back in. I'll give it a try

UPDATE: wow that was easy, took about 5 mins to fix. I think took longer to find an appropriately sized nail than to do the fix. Surprised how easy the pin came out, make you wonder what would happen if it fell out in use! Don't think the whole thing could fall apart and come loose while its actually in place on the boot, but I'm still not convinced by the durability of the design. Still I guess a lot of people use them and haven't heard of loads of climbers falling to there deaths when their heel bails fall apart mid route. Although "petesdavies" clearly had some near misses.

Lee

In reply to Alasdair Fulton:


Thanks. I'll see how I get on with the repair advice I've been given and get back to you if that fails

Lee

In reply to thlcr1:

As Phil suggests above as long as you don't drop the pin between your shed floor boards you should be fine.
I have done the same repair (after recovering said pin).

In reply to starbug:



I can imagine how easy that would be to do. I managed not to do that. Not by good planning I might add, just that the nail I found wasn't long enough to drive the pin all the way through, just long enough to knock the pin out of the way.

Lee