Forged Friends??

[westernbackcountryskier]

I was wondering what the impression of most was of the Wild Country Forged Friends. I picked two of them up at MEC last weekend for 25$ american a piece. A hell of a deal compared to a tech. Friend, or a BD camalot. I realize that when placed in a horizontal crack you need to tie it off closer to the cam lobes, but is that the only disadvantage?

[dbb]

I like the larger sizes (2+) because they work well and are usually *half* the weight of a camalot. They also make good cheap "doubles" for all sizes..

[jordop]

For routes that feature a lot of stright crack work (the Valley), forged friends are no worse than flexies -- plus they're lighter. But for routes that wander and are much more featured (Squamish), I find that flex stems are a bit more reassuring.

[Retrosaurus]

Forged friends are totally bomber and will last forever. The trigger wires and cables are easily and cheaply replaced with fat nylon guitar string (G-string), and you will never have to straighten the wires again. I am still using first generation friends (vintage 1979) and they are as good as the day they were bought new. Ditto for dbb's comments, although I prefer them down to 1 1/2 now that the shaft width is narrower near the cams than it used to be.