The Akimbo 2

[oceans]

Just been playing with AK2 for MRS in the Cave of Wonders (has AC on!). It works for me with same settings as SRT kinda - depends on what I used as a branch saver/ friction saver up top. If it's a pulley, not that much diff (say a Teuf Pulley Saver). If it's a leather cambium saver or bark, you might have to go down a bit in friction on the AK2 settings - mine was kinda collapsed fully to get it to move down with increasing friction introduced up top at times. Doable, but I'd want the two AK2 legs further apart, esp. if you had sap on the rope. I couldn't believe I could get the AK2 to work on ropes as different as KM III and on Tangent but it does for me (different settings of course but it's still eminently driveable). I did find that tending in MRS, if you pull on the moving leg of rope to advance, because of the larger eye/ hole on the AK2, it tended to slip down the straight leg of the biner (even got it to work side by side kinda on a flat topped HMS biner - with slipping). This was with not a lot of rope below me tho. This wouldn't be ideal for production. The two rope legs could be separated a bit on same biner using a DMM pulley saver spacer ring say, but rubber grommets (like DMM's) didn't stop the AK2 from moving around eventually, and down it went. It does work with a spacer plate on your bridge and no doubt could be made to work with triple connection pulley as recommended - I didn't like the this idea 'cuz it can be kind of a nut banger, at least for me. The AK2 seemed quite happy side by side on the biner descending. That's kinda where my experiments sit for now. Amazing device and so small . . . .

For MRS, I am now running a DMM Rhino and terminating the splice alongside the Akimbo. I was using a RE Pirate with a rubber grommet on the spine to keep the Akibaki from falling down and potentially side loading, but the Rhino is doing a great job and the stopper (former rubber grommet) will never slide out of place.

 

[ghostice]

I had tried the same but with a wiregate Ceros (same kind of horn but not HMS) - maybe my grommet wasn't big enough but I still found it flopped around more than I like (esp. on return from nether regions out on a limb). Suggested to DMM they come up with a biner with a BIG horn for the AK2 maybe but haven't heard back (crickets from RE with same suggestion). I just thought there must be a more elegant solution somewhere. Kinda wondering now if Arbsession couldn't 3D print a bigger slide on for the Ceros/ Rhino HMS? Sigh

 

[oceans]

I had tried the same but with a wiregate Ceros (same kind of horn but not HMS) - maybe my grommet wasn't big enough but I still found it flopped around more than I like (esp. on return from nether regions out on a limb). Suggested to DMM they come up with a biner with a BIG horn for the AK2 maybe but haven't heard back (crickets from RE with same suggestion). I just thought there must be a more elegant solution somewhere. Kinda wondering now if Arbsession couldn't 3D print a bigger slide on for the Ceros/ Rhino HMS? Sigh

I have an idea!

 

[Maplegeddon213]

Struggling to get the Akimbo 2 to work on Kalimba. I weigh 170ish lbs and have tried a lot around the C friction settings but had to put it down and go back to the akimbo 1 since I had a big spready silver maple to cable and prune. Going to try A1 next and B2 seems like it worked for others on kalimba. Trying to remember if figuring out the akimbo 1 was this hard... I think it wasn't as new so there were videos of recommended settings to try and I'm just throwing stuff at the wall with the AK2 and hoping lol.

 

[southsoundtree]

Mi Akimbo had a break-In period, IIRC.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Always surprised to hear of people having problems with usage since my A1's and my A2 all ran well right off the bat, switch between rope types and different sizes, and I'm not great at reading directions for adjustment of settings.

But isn't there a specific order to adjust the settings as well as a rule of thumb to follow to get best results?

 

[Maplegeddon213]

Always surprised to hear of people having problems with usage since my A1's and my A2 all ran well right off the bat, switch between rope types and different sizes, and I'm not great at reading directions for adjustment of settings.

But isn't there a specific order to adjust the settings as well as a rule of thumb to follow to get best results?

It would certainly be reasonable to expect any good arborist to have read the user manual on their life support device... I'll have to look next week

 

[ghostice]

I'm still playing around a bit with AK2 settings on a buncha ropes - one thing I've found for me is that if a rope is very tight trying to go into the AK2 cams, then the friction setting will probably be too high for me. It should go into each upper and lower cam pretty easily to be on the right path to a usable setting for that rope and my climber weight (my emerging rule of thumb). When the grandkids have been playing around with it indoors (winter here) I find I go down one setting each on top and bottom and that is about right for them to be able to descend comfortably (they love pulling themselves up with a CRIC and a 3:1, go figure). I still like the AK2 over almost any other mechanical except the ZZ/friction saver for DdRT/MRS or whatever. Haven't tried the new ISC kit yet though.

 

[pcpTR33]

The vertec is finally starting to grow on me but the form factor and more consistency with the akimbo 2 still holds its ground as my go to device currently.

 

[Acerxharlowii]

Akimbo2 has been my go to for the past few months. All of the improvements on the device has made it top notch. I love everything about it!! easy on and off, being able to rope walk with a hard attachment point. The three to one is beautiful! ascent, descent, and in the canopy is super smooth. It’s a great fucking device.

 

[Analog]

These are currently 15% off at Monarch Rope with code NY2026. I'm so tempted but I rarely climb anymore.

 

[ghostice]

So, had my first not so hot experience with AK2 and sap to any degree on a 70' black spruce. The tree was kinda dry till about 2/3 of the way up when the branches started to have sap covered cones. The top had masses of cones, all with glistening sap. Up until the uppper part of the tree, all was normal until the rope (11 mm kernmantel - yeah I know) started to get a few daubs of sap on it. Coming down tho, the AK2 stopped in it's tracks. Only made it down about five feet when the AK2 became literally stuck to the rope, so much so I had to twist it to break the bottom cam free (second climbing line taking weight off). So really same as a bound up hitch. Post climb, the AK2 showed very little sap anywhere - maybe a litle streak on the bottom pulley wheel. Rope did show some, maybe, two or three inch sap slicks, I suppose where the AK2 had compressed the rope before jamming up. So the AK2 pretty much still doesn't do well with sap at least on a non-spec line - I was hoping! (I came down on my trusty old ZZ/ leather cambium saver/ DdRT with it's usual silky smoothness). Maybe an 11.5 or bigger (a rope size spec'd for the AK2 anyway) wouldn't have jammed up so much? Dunno. Interesting experiment tho. Cheers all.

Addenda: Shoulda mentioned this session was again on KM III - which worked fine previously (post 4 above) even thru a bit of sap. This time though the temperature was lower - does sap get more viscous at ~+5C? Probably.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Good info. I do a lot to avoid sap as a result of using the A1 for years. And I am fortunate to have almost all of my work light on sap. The one time I did get into some when newly trying the A2 I went past it with relative ease. That would have been on Tachyon or Safety Blue.