Comments

SMC made may different brake bars. Some are shown here, while many more appear on my SMC open-frame and closed-frame rack pages.

• The first three bars in the top row fit the old standard-size aluminum oval and D carabiners as well as 1¾ inch racks.


• The two larger bars on the top right only fit 1¾ inch racks. Their extra size makes them a good choice for the second bar. The second bar receives the greatest heat input, so putting a large bar in the second-to-top position helps keep the temperature of that bar down.
  
  The rightmost bar has a straight slot that fails to keep the bars from swinging open while carrying the rack. Straight slots were invented by and for people who do not know the way to attach a rack to a rope while eliminating the possibility of running the rope across the wrong side of the bar. They are a bad solution and a poor substitute for proper technique.


• The first two bars in the bottom row are variations on the rightmost two in the top row.


• The middle bar in the bottom row is made from stainless steel tubing.


• The final two bars in the bottom row are stamped from stainless steel sheet. The fourth is thicker than the fifth. These U-shaped bars make it obvious if you run the rope across the wrong side of the bar and shows everyone around you that you don’t know the technique that makes this impossible.