Bi-Color Rope Fraying At Center

Hey Everyone,
I just got a brand new Sterling Velocity 9.8 Bi-Color and I notice right where the new pattern starts theres a bit of fraying in the sheath, it appears to be the new colors introduced b/c of the bi-color. Is this normal? has anyone else experienced this? I haven't used the rope at all.

Fraying at Midpoint

take a pic ... if its actual fraying .. no new unused rope should be fraying anywhere

Just added a pic, it sort of hard to see but if you zoom in you can see it in the blue addition.

I have a bicolor kosmos (10.2) that has the same thing going on. I've been using it for a year and hasn't gotten any worse, although I do find it annoying......

Have the same rope and same thing. I believe it is normal and hasn't frayed more over the last 6 months. I actually like it because you can feel the halfway point while belaying.

I don't have one, but my understanding is that it's fairly normal. To change patterns in the rope they need to splice some of the yarns in the sheath, they usually step the yarn changes out over a space of a few inches so they don't all occur at one spot. The splices may have some loose filament ends in that section. The method i've heard of is they use air jets to mix the filaments of the old/new yarn before they twist it to minimize the loose filaments. You might be able to tell that the sheath is a little bit thicker around there too. I believe it's fine, but it's your life, so check with the manufacturer if you have any doubts.

that doesnt look like fraying ... just a bump when they changed over the yarn for the pattern ... if thats what it is, perfectly fine

what you may notice if when belaying or lowering that the rope may catch for a second because of it ... its useful to be aware of this to insure a smooth belay/lower

I found the answer on their website :)

See #21

"21. Why does my BiColor rope have fuzzy bumpy yarns at the middle mark?
Air Splices.are those fuzzy bumpy spots. An air splice is the joining of two yarn ends by means of
high-pressure air forced around the ends causing them to entwine and snarl together. Air splices
are essential to join strands into usable lengths. From a life safety perspective two yarns air spliced
together test out to be 50% stronger than continuous straight fibers because they have twice as
much yarn in the section that is air spliced. "

sterlingrope.com/media/docu…

Thanks for all the replies!

The more you know...

Andrew williams wrote:I found the answer on their website :) See #21 "21. Why does my BiColor rope have fuzzy bumpy yarns at the middle mark? Air Splices.are those fuzzy bumpy spots. An air splice is the joining of two yarn ends by means of high-pressure air forced around the ends causing them to entwine and snarl together. Air splices are essential to join strands into usable lengths. From a life safety perspective two yarns air spliced together test out to be 50% stronger than continuous straight fibers because they have twice as much yarn in the section that is air spliced. " sterlingrope.com/media/docu… Thanks for all the replies!

Nice response found. The pic seems to show a bi-pattern rope, that stays mainly yellow for its entire length? I had a very dramatic bi-color that changed from solid orange to solid purple. There were splices and dead ends to each color where they made the pattern shift from all orange into all purple. Never had a problem with it, maybe a spot might have caught an edge of belay device but nothing serious ever happened. Loved that 11mm rope!,,,,circa 1975'.

YER GONNA' DIE!

Look at the air splice: sterlingrope.com/faq

My sterling did that on day 2, or 3? or 1? Pretty normal, as long as its only minor, surface fraying...

but...

YER GUNNA DIE!!!!