Unknown

Technical details:

I acquired this eight on eBay in 2007.

This eight is milled from aluminum alloy plate and then soft anodized. Mine is 176 mm. tall, 100 mm. wide, and 13 mm. thick. The rope hole is 69 mm. high and 49 mm. wide. The top center thickness is 13 mm. The shaft length and width are 66 mm. and 40 mm, respectively. The auxiliary hole is 40.4 mm. high and 15.4 mm. wide. The eye measures 19 mm. by 19 mm. The ears are 33.5 and 42.8 mm. long. This eight weighs 215 g.

There are no markings on this eight.

Comments:

This is another T-side eight. The ears are on the side where they provide a convenient place to loop the rope for tie-offs. This is a nice place for the ears, since they can actually serve a useful function here. In addition to the SBCI Sidewinder, several Russian Eights have similar ears on the side.

This slot is larger than a typical slot for belaying with 11 mm. rope, but the Bigger is Better crowd might find that it fits the hawsers that they prefer. I'm not sure why the slot is slanted on the shaft, since the angle is small and does not seem to affect its performance to any noticeable degree.

The shaft attachment at the base of the rope hole is asymmetrical. If the standing line is run on the ear side of the eight, it will ride up somewhat. This does not seem to affect the friction much, but it does interfere with tying off - but only slightly. Normally, I would run the standing line on the side opposite the ears.

Although this is a large eight, the eye is too narrow to accept two full size locking carabiners. This eight is too heavy for my taste.

The hard anodizing makes this eight quite wear resistant.

When I saw the eight listed on eBay, I suspected that it was another Version of the SBCI Sidewinder (the Blitz eight is another similar design). There is certainly a strong resemblance. Comparing the two side-by-side shows that the SBCI Sidewinder is 18 mm. longer, 8 mm. wider, and 75 g. heavier. This eight does not have the massive frame that the SBCI Sidewinder has; on the other hand, the ears have similar dimensions. Although I still suspect that SBCI made this eight, for now, I'll just list this one as "Unknown."

This eight, SBCI Sidewinder