Has anyone seen (or seen reported) failures on BD Cyborg stainless steel crampons? There was a rash of failures in the metal of the front points on stainless BD Sabertooths a few years ago but I don't recall anyone reporting problems with the Cyborgs, which have non-stainless vertical front points. I've had the Cyborgs for a while and have been keeping an eye on them for cracks, but now that some time has passed am wondering if the problem was limited to the Sabertooths.

I have followed the issues involving BD SS crampon failures, which extended to Sercas as well, but I have yet to hear of Stingers or Cyborgs failing. I think due to their design Cyborgs and Stingers not prone to failure in the way others are. I was convinced enough to buy a pair of Cyborgs, which I returned because they were such awful crampons.

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2013/12 ... mpons.html
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/08 ... ss-or.html
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2012/02 ... nless.html
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... mpons.html

We just had a long talk about it, "boots for Aconcagua and Denali" page two. I'm switching to grivel g14's

ChristopherFranklin wrote:We just had a long talk about it, "boots for Aconcagua and Denali" page two. I'm switching to grivel g14's

I was reading that thread which is why I started this one (didn't want to hijack that thread which was primarily about boots). I've owned G14s but I didn't like the way they fit on my LS Nepals (which were my ice climbing boot at the time), specifically the angle of the front points with regard to the sole of the boot and the amount they extended beyond the toe made it harder for me to climb water ice with them than with the Cyborgs.

Why are you planning on using the G14s as general mountaineering crampons? G12s (which I have and like a lot) are probably a better choice for that, and will work on hard water ice. They are cheaper, lighter and horizontal front points are arguably better for snow and alpine ice than vertical front points (G14).

JHH60 wrote:Why are you planning on using the G14s as general mountaineering crampons? G12s (which I have and like a lot) are probably a better choice for that, and will work on hard water ice. They are cheaper, lighter and horizontal front points are arguably better for snow and alpine ice than vertical front points (G14).

G-14 is better for water ice, alpine ice, and mixed climbing and works just as well as G-12s for general mountaineering. The idea is it is an all purpose crampon. If I were forced to own only one crampon, it would be the Petzl Sarken or the Grivel G-14 because of their all around utility. That said, an ideal quiver would be G-12s or G-10s for general mountaineering, Air Tech Lite (in aluminum) for ski mountaineering and use on approach shoes for alpine rock, Rambos for pure water ice, G-20 for mixed routes, and the G-14 for technical alpine routes.