This is the Akimbo
- Thread starter JMerritt
- Start date
evo
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- My Island, WA
Check the upper cam spring action, mine was smooth then as you described. The upper cam spring took some effort to move manually, a drop of oil took care of it.
I have mine dialed well, and have found it’s there is almost a delay with the sweet spot.
Pull down on the upper cam just till it starts to creep, the it almost opens up on its own. Kinda the opposite of feathering the breaks when coming to a complete stop.
God gawd that thing is beautiful. Like water in a stream, or a breeze blowing through the tall timber. Wabi Sabi.
I think I might need a little private time fella’s!
I must confess that you are one of the last people I would have thought would have troubles with the Akimbo. I don't even think it is technically possible to go from jammed to freefall in one pin change. I sure hope you can determine what is going wrong.
Steve Connally
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Suffolk, Virginia
Of course i'm being dramatic but I can't find the sweet spot on any rope I have. I can't wrap my head around the adjustments and the reaction to the adjustments. I appreciate the compliment but i'm obviously not nearly as savvy as you give me credit for. LOL
CanadianStan
Branched out member
- Location
- Western Australia
In my experiments ... a higher or lower combination may be more effective ; it’s stupid but the combinations don’t scale linearly. Dropping bumping up or down settings further than you think
TimBr
Official Well Known Greeter
- Location
- Northern Virginia
@JMerritt; Does this type of action with the Akimbo ring any bells for you? As in, have you seen this circumstance before? Might you have a hint you can provide to Steve, and any others that might experience something similar in the future?
I just want to say thanks to you in advance for how helpful you are being with regard to answering the questions people have about your device. Seeing you post videos on YouTube that answer questions that have been posted on the forums, seemingly within days of the questions being asked, is just amazing to me. It is a very powerful combination, this forum and YouTube used together in this way. Thanks again.
Tim
JMerritt
Branched out member
- Location
- santa cruz
If you haven’t already tried this, start with the settings wide open on top and bottom. Move the bottom setting one tighter and test, then the top, then the bottom again. Keep going until it holds you on a bounce test with minimal slipping. Now, it should be close and you can play with the feel by alternating tightening and loosening the top and bottom settings. Remember that your not looking for it to come to a hard stop on a descent, it slides to a stop when it’s set sweet. Hope that helps
TimBr
Official Well Known Greeter
- Location
- Northern Virginia
Bam! There it is! I'd love to hear back from @Steve Connally about how well this methodology works for him as far as dialing in the Akimbo is concerned. Maybe Jaime has already told us this before, maybe even in this thread. It's easy to lose track of important bits of information when a thread gets this long.
Thanks for taking the time to answer, @JMerritt. It is greatly appreciated. It looks like the Akimbo is off to a great start in the marketplace. Congratulations!
Tim
Thanks for taking the time to answer, @JMerritt. It is greatly appreciated. It looks like the Akimbo is off to a great start in the marketplace. Congratulations!
Tim
Steve Connally
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Suffolk, Virginia
JMerritt
Branched out member
- Location
- santa cruz
of course. i owe a lot to this site and the people on it. without the treebuzz and the treehouse i most certainly never would have come up with the akimbo. i really want people to enjoy it and if i can help with advice or direction im thrilled to do so. ive been meaning to make a video going over rope adjustments, but i havent found the time yet. hopefully ill get to that soon.
John@TreeXP
Branched out member
- Location
- Bainbridge Island
@JMerritt when you get a chance to do a rope adjustment video and if applicable, please demonstrate rope adjustments for overweight climbers too.
JMerritt
Branched out member
- Location
- santa cruz
What I hope to do is go over some basics of getting the adjustments right. It should apply the same for any weight climber.
Acerxharlowii
Branched out member
- Location
- Greensboro
I think we all look forward to this! I feel people are having a hard time “dialing” it in. Some even giving up on the device before seeing how it shines and selling it.
I truly value your opinion and thoughts DSMc. Would love to hear a quick rant by you on the Akimbo. I'm sure its here among these 130 pages, but who wants to do that?
Merle Nelson
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- SF Bay Area, CA
Rico. ......requests the man who would never own one of those trendy little devises. One thing that seriously screws with the Akimbo Rico is pitchy sap. Fir, pine, especially I strive to keep off my rope by using friction savers even on takedowns.
One thing that seriously screws with the Akimbo Rico is pitchy sap. Fir, pine, especially I strive to keep off my rope by using friction savers even on takedowns.
I have plenty of expensive, shiny, trendy devices laying around here that I very rarely use, and I certainly don't need another one. I'm a hitch guys. Thats what works for me, and thats what I use. Wrench or a HH serve my need wonderfully. As DSMc seem to have some substantial experience with the Akimbo, I wanted to hear his thoughts. Fuck how awesome it is while hanging from a rafter in the shop. Plenty of tools that felt great in the shop were quickly sent packing after a while in the real world.
As I said earlier, I have already formed an opinion on mechanicals. One of my big issues was their less than stellar performance around sap. Seeing as half of my work are Fir removals, that makes them a no-go for me. Sounds like the Akimbo suffers from this same problem, which is to be expected.
The Akimbo does look like an incredible tool, and I have no doubt that its a big step forward for the industry. If I was doing a different type of Tree-work I would probably already own one.
TimBr
Official Well Known Greeter
- Location
- Northern Virginia
Hey, rico! You might know about this forum search technique, but I'll mention it just in case. On my laptop screen, at the top of the page is a bar of options that seems to always stay available. On the far right side is the "search" function icon, which looks like a magnifying glass. When I left click on that icon I get a drop-down search box, with options available within it. To the right of the search box, where you would normally enter a text string to try to find info on a particular subject, is a box that by default says "Everywhere". If you click on that item you get more choices, one of which is to search "This thread". If you select that, and then enter DSMc into the box that says "By", you will generate a list of every post that DSMc has made in this thread only. It is still three pages of results, but a lot less than trying to read through 130 pages of stuff. It allows you to read everything Dave has had to say on this subject in this thread, in a much more efficient way.
I hope this helps, and is not offensive. It is not meant to be.
Tim
Tree-Taylor
Branched out member
- Location
- Canada
When I first bought the Hitch Hiker I found it to be very finicky. I hated it actually. Almost sold its ass. But after about 3 months of scratching my head it finally clicked and I found what worked for me. I now use that device for 99.5% of my climbing. I'm still hoping for that device to evolve. HH3 please!
I tried my Akimbo out yesterday. There were some awkward ups and downs for sure. I have it almost wide open (A2) on Imori and Rocket Line, both non-approved ropes. It's smooth on the way up, although the tether attachment required a slightly different body position. The initial release is a little tougher than I'd like, but once it was cracked it was very easy to modulate. I was initially testing with an ASAP as a backup but after a dozen or so ascents I feel comfortable taking this thing out for a spin and continue dialing it in. In other words it's a work in progress but I'm loving it. Big thanks to everyone who had a hand in this. I think it's so cool that this community came together to support this type of innovation.
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