New Aliens by Fixe

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waltereo

climber

Jul 4, 2011 - 11:00am PT

So when will these babies will be available again here in N.America ?

Chinchen

climber

Way out there....

Jul 4, 2011 - 01:57pm PT

There is a large number on order and should be available soon. Outsourcing to China is not going to happen.

waltereo

climber

Jul 4, 2011 - 02:01pm PT

They'll likely be available when manufacturing is outsourced to China.

@Fattrad : my question is very serious :)

russellg

Sport climber

Malibu, CA

Jul 20, 2011 - 01:25pm PT

Heck yes!

Moof

Big Wall climber

Orygun

Jul 20, 2011 - 02:13pm PT

^^^Spam Troll^^^

Chinchen

climber

Way out there....

Jul 20, 2011 - 02:27pm PT

I saw the sample set yesterday. They look and feel so good. Not sure about available date.
This pic (from CCH website after drop test)is how the new ones are constructed

http://www.aliencamsbycch.com/images/blueCamDrop7.jpg

MTucker

Ice climber

Arizona

Jul 20, 2011 - 02:42pm PT

That image of the pulled Blue is from 2007. Question is the weight that that cam was pulled to. Small cams really deform at the full rated strength, not just a few groves from the pulling jig.

http://www.aliencamsbycch.com/images/

Weird that Fixe bought all the old material that is known not to meet spec.

That is a serious problem.

mtnguidebill

Trad climber

colorado

Jul 20, 2011 - 04:03pm PT

To correct two things.. Having known Dave for many years,used his aliens for nearly 20 years, and visited his and Nada's production plant on several occasions, I'd like to point out that his production and offices were not Colorado for the past ten years or so, but rather in Larime, Wyoming. He told me of his plans to move it all to Chile for reasons I won't go into here.
Another note: Aliens are already produced in offset sizes and have been for a number of years. They were known as "hybrid aliens" and came in several sizes including blue/green and green/yellow.
I always preferred the aliens to any other brand and have many times tested the sizes through my own slips and falls over nearly twenty years of climbing and never had a single problem. I'm elated to know that such a fine product is still going to be around.

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Jul 20, 2011 - 04:08pm PT

I'm elated to know that such a fine product is still going to be around.

Hear, hear!

John

Splater

climber

Grey Matter

Jul 20, 2011 - 04:46pm PT

In the past it was mentioned that a weep hole for the braze might help assure a quality braze. Is Fixe planning that?
Or would a hole create a weak point?

something like this- (or smaller)
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=387761&msg=387761#msg387761

Seamstress

Trad climber

Yacolt, WA

Jul 20, 2011 - 05:05pm PT

Finally - I have been procrastinating on replacing a couple that went missing.

Chinchen

climber

Way out there....

Jul 20, 2011 - 09:02pm PT

Pretty sure they are not using the old stock.

adatesman

climber

philadelphia, pa

Jul 20, 2011 - 09:42pm PT

In the past it was mentioned that a weep hole for the braze might help assure a quality braze. Is Fixe planning that?
Or would a hole create a weak point?

No idea what Fixe has in mind, but FWIW CCH actually used a weep hole for a while but eventually abandoned it. I'd have to dig through my notes to see if I can narrow down when the change happened, but I want to say it was back when they had plastic trigger bars.

On a related note, I never understood was why they opted to drill the weep hole perpendicular to the stem (and thereby weakening the head) rather than simply continuing the hole drilled for the stem through to the axle hole (with a smaller diameter drill, obviously). That would cut out a setup during manufacturing and if you tracked down a multi-head Burgmaster drill you wouldn't even have to swap drill bits and could knock them out quick and easy. In any event, I'm really hoping Fixe decides to swage that connection rather than braze it. Much easier to do, easier to inspect and less prone to unseen problems.

Matt M

Trad climber

Alamo City

Jul 26, 2011 - 05:02pm PT

Bump for pricing and street date. The Euro Outdoor Show is over with, there should be info out now...

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Jul 26, 2011 - 05:28pm PT

On a related note, I never understood was why they opted to drill the weep hole perpendicular to the stem (and thereby weakening the head) rather than simply continuing the hole drilled for the stem through to the axle hole (with a smaller diameter drill, obviously). That would cut out a setup during manufacturing and if you tracked down a multi-head Burgmaster drill you wouldn't even have to swap drill bits and could knock them out quick and easy.

Probably because they were using off-the-shelf cable eye terminations as heads for the cam, they weren't manufacturing the heads themselves, so they weren't doing any drilling of that piece..aside from the weep (i.e. they weren't drilling axle hole or cable hole). These are fairly std bits for cable work, and Aliens only used, IIRC 3 cable diameters and 3 or 4 axle diameters throughout the entire range. The only mods they were making to the heads from an off-the-shelf configuration were to cut down the sides parallel to the cam lobe faces on the very smallest units so that they didn't protrude beyond the narrowest range of the cam. And I'm not even positive that they modded those, because I've seen those pieces with "flat" sides on two sides like those cam heads have, rather than a completely round profile.

While they did make a lot of screwy homemade pieces on those units (for example: a couple of the units' piece where the lobe wires and cable sheath interfaced and they were creating dual-color on the plastic clip-in loops for the hybrids by dipping clear tubing into a couple vats of dye, by hand), but the heads were bone stock AFAIK.

couchmaster

climber

pdx

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 26, 2011 - 05:29pm PT

Come on. Lets all try and treat each other a tad better. We are all better than some of those posts up there seem to indicate.

Question asked more than once up thread:

"I wonder how much these new Aliens will cost?? "...

I heard from someone I'd consider reliable that they will be trying to hit $65 retail. As far as the availability question, after watching Black Diamond drag ass on getting the Gen 4 Camalots out, and Malcolm take months longer than noted in pre-production news releases to get the first expanded range Trangos out: they say a month but it's all just words till you see the cams. That means next year if history and other companies are a guide. The Metolius Mastercams cams are awesome and in this market now. I'd pitched a bitch and raved to these Spanish guys earlier suggesting that they make the offsets, but it sadly appears that they will have a reduced lineup of the smaller of the standard cams. The most popular sizes for Dave would be my bet, although I never saw the books to confirm that.

A note for anyone who may be unaware: Karls cam above (scary pic Karl!) was crushed when a loose refrigerator sized granite block followed it's gravitational urges and rolled off on Karl doing the Zodiac: crushing the cam under it and almost doing that to Karls face in the process. The cam, as he said, wasn't in anyway at fault although there might be a speculation thread that had it been a Metolius cam it would have supported the block, turned the tables and crushed it before it could strike and try to kill Karl. (I'm kidding: just making an internet speculation is out of control joke, LOL)