# climb right wire core flipline left me in trouble...



## torinocobra (Jul 24, 2010)

I am a recreational climber, and bought 2 of these to use for pruning firs on my property. After climbing a total of 150' on 3 different climbs, the fabric sheath pulled out of the cheap plastic shrink wrap and allowed my rope grab to slip, as the rope grab only grips the fabric sheath. Later I had the opportunity to talk to an arborist who was working on a job I was at about what had happened, and he said the sheath should have been bonded to the wire core. This should have never happened. But it did happen again to my second flipline on the next climb. The only thing holding me in the tree was the friction between the sheath and the bark. I called Baileys, who I bought them from, and they told me that the warrantee had just expired, so I was outta luck. They look brand new!!! Now I have to buy 2 more fliplines in order to keep climbing, which I seldom use anyway. What did I do wrong? This is equipment that you arborists use daily, right? I am not using Bailey's or Climb-right again, so which should I buy?


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## JeffL (Jul 24, 2010)

A rope lanyard.


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## treemandan (Jul 24, 2010)

If you are talking about the shrink wrap coming loose, well, hey, that's to be expected. Cut it off and toss it, you'll be fine without it. Now if you are talking about the outer rope coming apart then that is not good. In fact if that is the case then we will gang up on Bailey's cause that sounds like pure bull####.


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## TrillPhil (Jul 24, 2010)

I know what you're talking about but I'd like to see a picture anyways...


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## fishercat (Jul 26, 2010)

*i bought one.*

Pure junk! Carabiner is nice.lanyard and grab are crap.chalk it up to a learning experience and get a Yale lanyard and a Gibbs grab and move on.I have found that you have to watch what you buy from Bailey's. Some good,some not.


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## voxac30dude (Jul 26, 2010)

0_0 im a regular baileys customer. oh god i hope they are not selling this dangerous crap. im deff in, to gang up on baileys if they are selling you defective life support equipment ! please put up some pics so we can see what you are talking about.


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## freeweight (Jul 26, 2010)

our MAIN climber has gone through a crap load of wire cores and never had this happen ,they have a "crimped" piece of metal at each end and even when the thing wears a bit he can still use it on smaller trees

actually i have one of the older ones outside ill try and get a pic of what happened to this one but like i said it was old


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## Grande Dog (Jul 26, 2010)

Howdy All.
I just heard about this issue. It definitely could have been handled in a different manner. Looking at the history, we were notified about the issue 3 months ago. Keep in mind that we've sold over 1100 of these with only 1 returned for warranty (I'm not sure of the reason), and now we have 1 person have 2 go bad at the same time. Now what should have happened different is to have them sent to the manufacturer for evaluation. I'm not saying that they would automatically replace them but, at least we would know why 1 person had 2 fail. We have a good enough relationship with Climbright that if we told them to replace them they would no matter what the reason but, that's not the point. One of the women that were involved with the disposition has already gone home for the day so I don't have all the info yet. I'll get the rest of the story tomorrow, and post again.
Regards
Gregg


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## pdqdl (Jul 26, 2010)

I'm inclined to think that something must be wrong with the usage also. Every rope grab I have ever seen would crush through the cover rope and bind to the solid wire beneath.

But then I'm not that much of a wire-core user, either.


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## tree md (Jul 26, 2010)

Not sure if they are the same flip cords that Wesspur sells (I was thinking they were one in the same) but if so I had climbed on one for three years. That's everyday. Mine only had to be replaced after I nicked it with my saw and bared the cable. The generic rope grab works fine on it and has never damaged the covering in any way. They are crimped in a manner that will not allow them to fail. If the cable is bared of the covering then the rope grab absolutely will not work.

I would think with two of them going bad it is either a problem with the lot sold or something the user is doing to damage them or storing them in a manner that is damaging the cover allowing the shrink wrap to slip (stored outdoors?).

In any event, I think the manufacturer should be made aware of the issue and be given the opportunity to inspect the flip cord and assess whether it is a manufacturing issue or user error.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Jul 26, 2010)

torinocobra said:


> I am not using Bailey's or Climb-right again, so which should I buy?





Bailey's has *earned* a reputation for doing the right thing, but even the best companies (and Bailey's is one!) make mistakes. Give Grande a chance to sort this out.


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## Grande Dog (Jul 30, 2010)

torinocobra
We"ve been trying to reach you since Monday. If you see this, please contact us as soon as you get a chance.
Regards
Gregg


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## Defender (Jul 31, 2010)

Was just going to say, I ordered one of the climb right 5/8 wire core sets with rope grab from Bailey's. They have a good sale on these sometimes. I have used mine for 6 months with no problems, in fact still looks new in spite of almost jaming a gaff into the slack a couple of times.


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