CMI Kirk’s Kamms – 1976
Sometimes refered to as the “swivel of death”, these first generation Kirk’s Kamms were one of the interesting first steps into cam design and workable active protection. All though these pieces seldom inspired much confidence as lead protection they did see some subsequent improvements in the 1980s when they were marketed as RokJoxs. At that time a spring trigger was added and the cam surface was modified.
We called these “Swivel Of Death” – they totally sucked in every respect.
Yes they did! Even when the design was changed and a spring and trigger were added (renamed Rokjox) they were notoriously bad.
So, I have a #1 and a #2. Any guess what they might be worth? Surely don’t want to climb with them…
The market is a little weird right now but I’d say you could get $70 or $80 (or so) for the pair on eBay. It always depends on finding the right buyer of course. Most of the collectors I know have a set but I certainly don’t know everyone out there.
I used them in limestone pockets. They were not completely stable, but beat the alternative. We didn’t like to bolt, so you did what you had to.