tomatkins wrote:edt wrote:tomatkins wrote:Thanks...looks like $33. plus $15 shipping for a pair... $48....YIKES! .
what is wrong with the antal 7mm aluminum sliders, they can be bought at any sailing store, $12 for per slider
Answer: Salt water
That is why they went to stainless steel for the bar hole inserts. The salt water corrodes the aluminum with a type one or type two pitting corrosion (maybe both types) and in time this causes a rough surface... which is the last thing you want for any kind of line or rope to slide against.
Did the aluminum stay shiney and smooth, when only used in fresh water? If so, then, maybe aluminum sliders would be OK for fresh water use only.
Dude, if you're so knowledgeable, why don't you dig out what kind of material is used to coat the Titanium rings on high-end fishing poles and enlighten us?
That being said, these Antal/Gin rings:
will most likely outlast the tear-trop-type sliders:
for the simple reason that being a ring, you can rotate it every so often - thus, evening out the wear. Doesn't matter what the slider is made of, it will wear out with time as sand gets trapped in the bridle and acts as sand-paper. So in long-term a stainless still tear-trop-type slider will get groovy and destroy the bridle way faster than an aluminum Antal ring.
In terms of safety however, a tear-trop-type slider is a safer solution due to it's shape and smaller footprint. Theoretically, with these you have a lot less chances for things to get wrapped around and stuck than with larger/rounder Antal rings.
And like somebody has suggested, pulley/ring/slider-less kites with bridles do exist, so instead of worrying you might just take some time to check these kites out. Kite's evolution is a perfect example of the theory that everything works in a circle. The whole bow-revolution after 6 years came back down to C-kites with bridles - go figure why.