Yesterday my girlfriend's Grivel G10 crampons arrived in the post, they're her first crampons so when it came to the business of adjusting them to fit her size 5 (38) boots we got stuck. The instructions say for smaller boots take the linking bars out and turn them 180 degrees and swap them over from left crampons to right and vice versa (which seems daft cos both bars are identical) and then do a little dance and shake them over your head....etc etc.
Here's a picture of how we ended up sorting it. This seemed to be the only way of shortening the length of the bar, by taking the springy fixing bit and attaching it to the the front part of the crampon and turning the linking bar the other way round. It seems to be ok, fits the boots fine - is this right or are they going to fall to bits as soon as we head up the first icy slope? Any help appreciated!
If memory serves me well you can get a better result by leaving the spring out (the crampons are only going to be used by one person, so don't need to be adjustable) and using the screw and nut supplied to bolt the fixing bar to the back part of the crampon.
Edited: Yep, just checked my wife's (shes a size 6). Bolt is the way to go. Left bar in it's original direction.
<lecture> That's prolly the reason why so many people say to take the boots into the shop when buying crampons and to get the crampons that fit the boot best, not the "recommended by xxx because they're best and I'll get them a bit cheaper by mail order" crampons. For the slight bit of extra cost incurred by going into a shop, you not only get expert advice about adjusting them to fit your boots, but you're sure that the crampons you get are the best ones for you and your boots. The crampon that is ideal for a size 41 boot isn't necessarily the ideal combination for a size 36 in the same boot, for example. </lecture>
I had the intention of getting Grivel crampons but ended up with Troll ones as they had the most secure fit on my size 4 SLs and Meindl Mountain Cracks. They were also dead easy to adjust to my size without the "use a hacksaw to reduce the length of the bar" destructions that come with some crampons to get them to fit a size 4....I also had to do some adjustment with a nut and bolt but they're as secure as anything could be.
All you can do before trying them out in snow and ice is to fit them, grip them firmly, and try to force them off the boots. If they won't come off, you should be OK.
I'm a great believer in a hacksaw and bolts, that's because I use them every day though :o) The only worry I have is that when walking, because the G10s have the flexi bars and allow a normal-ish walking action, the spring clip mechanism will stick out towards the ground as the boot and crampon flexes as you wgo through the stepping motion. It's just a thought like.
ALS - with the bar in the original direction they were just ever so slightly too long to fit the boots, the first thing I reached for was the bag of screws but then it seemed that fixing with the screw wouldn't actually make them any shorter, cue head scratching. There's no hole on the front bit section for a screw so with the bar the other way round we left the spring on.
JJ lecture received and understood. Sorry Miss it won't happen again! My girlfriend's boots are Scarpa Mantas so I'd assumed they'd be fine (Grivel website says they fit down to size 35). I also just can't resist a bargain I'm afraid. Plus I could always send em back! ;)
With the current set up they are really secure to the boots, just wanted to check. As PTC has just mentioned I wasn't sure about all of that linking bar and spring hanging out over the front section.
stouffer .. the bar is the same length in both directions, so by getting the spring out of the way and using the bolt you can get the crampons very short indeed. You have 5 holes showing in your picture, so if you flipped the bar, junked the spring, and bolted through the 5th hole, wouldn't it work? Or does the bar stick out the back too far?
Surely, if you use the bar the 'normal' way round then, unless you take a hacksaw to it, the excess is going to need to stick out between the rear 2 points behind your heel? (It does on my my G12s if I try to reduce them below a size 8, and the gap between the points is barely wide enough, regardless of being unsatisfactory for the sticking out part). So, without sawing, it seems to me that the bar must go the way your picture shows.
After that I don't really see much difference between the spring clip and the nut and bolt. The only issue could be whether the spring clip interferes with the flex of the crampon at all, or whether either the bar or clip cause trouble with the anti-balling plate. My own guess is that they won't but it's hard to know for sure until you try them. So no doubt the hacksaw and nut and bolt method will work but it looks to me like the way you have them will be ok too.
Or am I missing something?
Edit: ALS, I see your comment about the bar sticking out the back appeared while I was writing this... :)
Aye you're right Matt .. from stouffer's picture it looks like the bar would end up between the rear two points. Whether it would stick out is hard to tell. Apart from being trivially lighter and arguably more secure, the bolt fixing gives a slightly different range of fittings so can help get a snug fit. One other thing to mention is that it is worth retightening these crampons after you have taken a few paces as your bodyweight will bed your boot into them.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's confused. Yeah we'd gone as far as we could with the bar before it started to stick out the back of the crampons (removing the spring doesn't change that) and that's one thing the diagrams do say not to do. I could always email Grivel the photo, failing that then a hacksaw might actually be a fairly simple solution!
right, i'll try and explain......... you have purchased new G10flex which is now delivered with the flex bar as std, to fit to short boots, you leave everything as original, but put the bolt through the first hole in the bar, so it stops the bar going to the end, then adjust accordingly with the clip at the rear, (this is how it was done a few years back)
last year grivel delivered these crampons with a std bar, which has a punched locking bit on the bar, to utilise this you took the bars out turned them over and swapped sides, (the reason for swapping is to keep the strap closing on the outside of the crampon, the metal bits are identical) this made the bar lock shorter, just like using a bolt in the first hole on the old style or new flex bars, grivel have not re-written instrunctions accordingly
i hope this reads correctly and you understand, i dont foresee a problem in the way you have done it but i would of hacksawed and bolted the rear, but i'm safe like that, and i have experienced the springs flicking and adjusting on their own accord, and they are awkward to re adjust on the hill in a blizzard!! hth
Ah right I might just have grasped it. You mean the bolt goes through the first hole of the bar inside the front section of the crampon taking out a bit of the length there. Yes looking at it that would shorten it by about 2 inches. But looks like I might have to poke a hole in the anti-balling plates to get the bolt through there so yeah I might just go with the hacksaw anyway!
But cheers for clearing that up about the instructions too - badly translated out of date instructions don't help much! I'm glad I've got kahtoolas...
