Any one close to or have a different way of contacting riley rods besides what is listed on the website.
Thanks
Ryan

Email, phone #, address what else do you need?

I need a way of contacting him other then what is listed on the website. Please see 1st post. I have tried multiple times with email and have left a couple voice messages through the phone. These are not working and i have been waiting for 5 weeks for product that i have ordered. I live in Washington so its not as easy as driving to the address and talking to him. was hoping that maybe someone knew him personally or had a BETTER way of getting in contact.

Ryan,
There are other sources of materials if your making your own, if you would like to go that route let us know and someone will help.

At this point im open for anything. I will say this i am very new at rod building having only built a couple dozen rods. I may just have bad luck but I have never had so much frustration from dealing with businesses then in this hobby.

A bunch of good suppliers to the left. I've had great results with mud, get bit, anglers, utmost, etc. Call one and if they don't answer or respond withing 24 hrs move on to the next but I'm sure you will get an answer from those businesses. What do you need? Good luck. MH

Hello Ryan,

I'm in Washington as well, please feel free to email me.

Your best resources in our backyard are Batson Ent and Utmost up in Sequim. Great bunch of folks.

Try Soller Composites for the sleeves. Western epoxy can be gotten from many sources, some may be local to you, anywhere fiberglass supplies are sold.

I have an order which is paid for via PayPal for some handles for some customers. I have
never made these handles and I need them pretty quickly.
Could they have been hit by the Hurricane Mathew? I know the business is in North Carolina.
I have done the same as Ryan. Called every number I could find, sent emails to all their
company ones.
I also know he is a fishing guide but I doubt there is a lot of guiding going on right now.
I have had this problem before but never for this long.

Dave in TX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2016 03:06PM by dave schaub.

Who else is in the business of selling pre-made carbon fiber handles like Riley Rods does? I have not seen another
business but I am open for suggestions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2016 08:18PM by dave schaub.

Depends on what you want but mudhole does sell some foam core carbon fiber grips.

[www.mudhole.com]

So does Get Bit.

[www.getbitoutdoors.com]

I have used the CFX grips from mudhole, they are quite nice. Have not used the forecast grips. Hope this helps.

Norm

Makes a difference what weight foam is used under the graphite sleeve. The foam used under the Riley grips is 6 oz. some of the foam sold by the other grip builders has been reported to be heavier, negating the weight difference reported to be a major benefit of foam grips, I believe one of the manufacturers has reported that they use 18 oz. foam. Might be a bit of important information if your using the grips to maximize performance as the difference in the lighter foam and cork was in the 30% area at best. The other foam it appears would be at least twice the weight of cork.
That said the original reason for graphite sleeve grips was purely cosmetic, it was used to improve the looks of lower grade cork material that was laying around. It can still be used that way.
Foam material formed by the user is cheaper than cork, but is offset by the time involved making it, there probably isn't much difference if you build your own cork grips from cork rings.

The densities of urethane foams are measured in pounds/cubic ft. The foam cores used by Riley mostly have a density of 6 lbs. The CFX foam cores are advertised as 4 lbs with the strength of 7 lb foam. The density of the foam used for the Bateson forecast grips is not given, but I assume it is also very light. I know the CFX grips are very light. I think these alternative foam core carbon fiber grips should be a suitable substitute for the Riley grips, especially if you can not get the Riley grips in a timely fashion. The CFX grips come with a matte finish but can be top coated with Permagloss or Rod finish depending on the finish you want. I like the CFX grips very much, but I have not used the Riley grips or the forecast grips, so I cannot make direct comparisons.
Norm

Thanks Spencer and Norman,
I have looked at what is on the market from MudHole and others. It just is not the same. I have used 6 grips from Riley in the
colors of Orange, White, Black/White, Black, and Purple. The ones from Riley can be make in about 8-12 colors depending
on what you want. I have had rave reviews from my customers and I also have 2 of my own that have been far superior to
cork. In the past, I have turned my own cork handles and was quite happy with them until the cork quality dropped. Then
I looked for a substitute. These carbon fiber grips are in my opinion prettier than cork, less costly in the end, and lighter than
cork. I was going to base my base offering on having this handle. But if I cant get them, I would be in deeper trouble than I
am right now since I have 2 customers who want rods with those handles. .
Take a long look at the Riley website and tell me if you know of any other vendors that make them like that. I have looked
and not found anyone. There is my problem.... I don't have the time or money to learn to do this. I have watched the videos
and it is not a simple process. Eventually, I wanted to learn so I could make my own. But then I don't know where I would get
equivalent materials to even do that. I may be forced to make cork handles for these 2 rods, but I really don't want to...

Soller listed above has the colored glass/graphite and the camo pattern (multi-colored) grip sleeves, if that was what you were talking about. The colored glass/graphite has always been available.

Yep, if you want colored ones you buy them from Riley or you make your own. Soller composites sells the sleeves, epoxy, and shrink tubing for making your own, they do not sell the foam cores.

[www.sollercomposites.com]

Batson Forecast does sell foam cores that can be turned and used for making grips.

[alpsforecast.com]

Hope you get your order soon.
Norm

Thank you for all the info. It looks like i will be putting in an order to soller for some sleeves

I build a lot of these grips for myself and other builders,and yes you can outsource much of what you need. If you are just wanting to see if you like this,then Riley's kit is the best way to go even if you have to wait a little bit. I now of course buy my materials from other sources and the only thing I get from Mike is the molds for the cores. I save money in the long term but I also have to put out more up front. I have learned how to mix foams to get the density I want. I found a slow cure,non blushing epoxy I like. Soller Composites is great. If you go with the Mudhole grips and want to gloss finish them, use either Permagloss, spray spar urethane or two part automotive clear spray. As Tom has also said epoxy is too soft and mars easily and rod epoxy is even softer.

Thanks Dick, I have just about resigned to the fact I am going to have to learn to do this and make my own. It would be a lot cheaper and a whole lot less frustrating!
I am looking at Sollar Composites for a lot of the materials. Where do you get the clamps to make the ends the sizes you want?
Can I just buy the cores from Mudhole and do the rest myself?
Thanks everyone,
Dave

Riley Rods Contact:

Riley Rods
6604 Chesapeake Ct
Wilmington, NC 28411

Capt Mike Pedersen
910-352-2715