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Durabone
climber
Santa Cruz Mountains
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 22, 2007 - 02:32am PT
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I still have my two TCU's from the company "Wired Bliss"
Many moons later (20 years), I have had nothing but satisfaction.
Who were they, what happened to them, can I get some MORE???
Thanks
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climbrunride
Trad climber
Durango, CO
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Aug 22, 2007 - 03:02am PT
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I think they were from Flagstaff and pretty much developed the TCU. They were revived for a bit in the late '90's, but seem to be gone again. They made really good stuff.
EDIT:
Here's a link to the Nuts Museum:
http://www.needlesports.com/nutsmuseum/camsstory.htm
The part about Steve Byrne/Wired Bliss is about half-way down the page.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Aug 22, 2007 - 03:05am PT
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Still the best TCU on my rack. Steve Byrne was the grey matter behind Wired Bliss and as many claim, the entire TCU invention. Good units.
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rick d
Social climber
tucson, az
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Aug 22, 2007 - 09:57am PT
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Steve worked for Metolius way back in the early, early 80's making sliders then left the company to pursue Wired Bliss & TCU's in Flagstaff in 84/85. TCU's were his idea 100% but saw 4 conflicts with WC Friend patents and thus could not control production. I believe Duece suggested that he solo an el cap route to bring his name to light. Steve went up on Mescalito and 11 days later topped out- his first wall & solo. Bliss under Steve later went on to produce big friends (a #5 and #7) and the ideal Ball nut. Ball Nuts or "jingus things" were in three main sizes although a "zero" size existed but was only loaned out for el cap use. Lowe bought the patent but then failed to get them out. Tim & Lovelace @ Pirate tried to make them off patent, but I never saw them produced.
In 91/92 he sold to Tony Cosby (as in "Bill") while Steve finished up an engineering degree and went to work for WL Gore. Metolius,HB, and some others were producing TCU's at that point so competition was getting stiff.
Later, Babbitt's (the Edge?) bought Bliss and faded out.
I can't name any of the 1980's Flagstaff climbers who did not work for Bliss or A5- they all seemed to rotate through (except maybe Bob Dubois? and Tim). I just remember buying "seconds" from YB for $15, a TCU or "unit" that had some minor flaw. Ball nuts were also $15 each and a good friend blew off the opportunity to buy aa bunch and return to the east coast to introduce the world to the jingus thing....
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Durabone
climber
Santa Cruz Mountains
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2007 - 11:33am PT
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Wow, cool!
I remember now. I bought them in JT out of a van that
I believe would have been Steve's. I think he may have
sold them to me. An absolutely icy Christmas in JTree.
89?
Thanks for that museum link. I have the smallest one
and another two sizes up. The thick wire and nice job
on the swage is always comforting when I place them.
I seem to remember placing them well under some flakes
in JTree, like on Quickdraw McGraw. A little graphite on
the wires every now and then an then - good to go.
I also bought some ball nuts back then, and though they
were also solid pro, they did not last like the TCUs. But I
say that bringing them back would be very cool. The metal
sort of bit the rock reminiscent of a copperhead, and they
definitely filled a void. Where your stoppers don't have
quiet enough of a flare to hold, where your cams are too
big, and where you can't see under very well....
The Jingus Thing. So Lowe "dropped the ball?" They're fired.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Aug 22, 2007 - 11:38am PT
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Best TCU's ever, hands-down.
Superb craftsmanship & ergonomics, smoothest operation, and great rock fit.
I still have a couple from '87 & the action is still smoother than anything else on my rack.
I want some more... oh well.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Aug 22, 2007 - 11:43am PT
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actualy, steve developed the first prototype tcu's while in bend using metolius' shop equipment. i remember jeff ellington showing me one of the first in '83 or '84 while on a trip to smith. he (byrne) moved to flag a year or two later and set up wired bliss.
in my multi-pitch thin-crack-climbing heyday, mid-80's - mid 90's, i had no less than 20 wired bliss tcu's. still got 'em too, but they are so old i'd be afraid to use 'em for free climbing. those suckers sure could halt a whipper though, that's for sure.
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G_Gnome
Sport climber
Everywhere, man...
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Aug 22, 2007 - 11:45am PT
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I still have doubles of the 1 and 2 and they were still my main tcus until 3 weeks ago when I bought some ultralight Metolius units. They still work great and are definitely the oldest pieces on my rack.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Aug 22, 2007 - 11:49am PT
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BVB: you are right. Those old ones under your bed are super sketch. You should send them over here for some real world testing. I'll pay shipping. You have my address, right???
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atchafalaya
climber
California
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Aug 22, 2007 - 11:53am PT
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Still have a full set. They are pretty tweaked from holding some long falls, and my "friends" using em for aid in horizontal cracks, so I dont use em for free climbing anymore. But definately the shyte for thin cracks in the 80s/early 90s...
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Aug 22, 2007 - 12:00pm PT
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My friend Brigid lived in 'Staff and was friends with Byrne and others. Just saw her a couple of days ago, she still has her Mini-Bliss on her key chain. A TCU unit that's about the size of your pinky. Steve made is special for her & claimed it would hold 250 lbs. Totally cool...
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Aug 22, 2007 - 12:11pm PT
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I can still visualize the number 0 placement in Mayflower Direct, which comes right when you can almost get your fingers in and above some really small wires.
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susan peplow
climber
www.joshuatreevacationhomes.com
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Aug 22, 2007 - 12:33pm PT
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Russ, didn't you (along with others in the industry) receive a letter a few years ago stating that the business was up for sale and he was looking for buyers?
Chances are that offer is still on your desk somewhere under Milwaukee's Best Cans and Harbor Freight catalogs.
~S
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Aug 22, 2007 - 12:37pm PT
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hahaha.
Way to bust on 'im Sooze.
I vaguely remember that up for sale bit.
(could be a shallow market with a lot of players)
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aug 22, 2007 - 01:07pm PT
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I bought the two smallest sizes for my '88 ascent of The Nose. I still have them, but the wires have broken, and Tucker Tech told me that they couldn't be fixed, so they're in my museum along with various straightened hooks and busted heads.
It is interesting to hear you guys speak so highly of them, but perhaps you mean the bigger sizes? I bought the tiny ones to fit in pin scars, and looking at them these days, and comparing their ultra-stiff stems to the flexible Aliens, they seem pretty crappy. Of course, I use small cams almost exclusively for aid climbing, hence my preference for the flexible Alien stems.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Aug 22, 2007 - 01:14pm PT
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My buddy Tim had a couple of them and liked 'em, so I picked one up to give it a try. I musta got the sole sorta not-so-great WB piece. Never did like it because the cams on it went more than perpendicular (did they have cam-stops back then?) when it was relaxed and there was always this bizzare catch in the action at first pull. Hard to describe. Got that piece around somewhere, though.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 22, 2007 - 02:29pm PT
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I still use the #1 and #3 on my rack. WB used a softer aluminum alloy on the cams, so they had better friction/holding power than the contemporary Metolius powdered metal cast cams (a harder and slipperier gray cam). The more recent Metolius are back to a softer alloy on the cams, so no need to prefer WB at this point. But I still have a pretty new WB set 1-4 for backup when my old ones wear out.
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G_Gnome
Sport climber
Everywhere, man...
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Aug 22, 2007 - 02:33pm PT
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All of mine have cam stops and I have never had one break. They still pull really smoothly but that might be because they haven't taken much abuse because I hate to fall.
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N0_ONE
Social climber
Utah
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Aug 22, 2007 - 04:14pm PT
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Russ,
I've got a grey (no # on unit .75 BD size) WB four cam unit I found at the base of Parodical Son a few years back you can destroy. I've never had the balls to use it. Poor guy that dropped it must of had a bad couple of days; I found a couple of nuts and biners all separate with the same turquoise paint on them.
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deuce4
Big Wall climber
the Southwest
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Aug 22, 2007 - 04:18pm PT
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Here's some pics of the Wired Bliss shop in the good ole days (1985 or so). I bought the milling machine in the photo and finished my first batch of hammers there. I also managed the shop when I sent Steve off to climb Mescalito with all the gear he needed. Them were fun days....
Bonus points if you can name all the characters, and double bonus if you can tell us what they're doing now!
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