Poles - alu or graphite/carbon ??

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I prefer carbon poles I've had a pair of Giprock (Italian) poles for about 7 years now, supposedly unbreakable. Much lighter than Alu. more flexible, do not bend, what more do need, but of course more expensive.

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David@traxvax, is the steel point and basket ferrule moulded into the carbon shaft, or is it a plastic piece glued on afterwards? I ask because of this experience, CTM's fears well-taken (at bottom). I've heard of Gipron, I think.

Agree with your reasons for carbon and use them myself (Scott Taperlite, Scott Pro-Taper)

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Comprex, moulded. I was recommended to use Giproc as there are reputedly more robust than Goode. However my son and daughter both use Goode carbon poles and thus far, no problems.

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I've a set of Goode poles and whilst very good I sometimes think they're too flexible, I got a set of Scott carbon poles this year and found them a little better, not quite so flexible and better grips, the lack of flex is very handy when using them to get out of bindings

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I've been using goode carbon poles since I got my own skis, must be 5 or 6 years now - in fact its 5 as I bought my skis just before I met mrs NBT which is 5 years ago this thursday

bought a pair formrs nbt for her birthday just after the ski season ended ( for us, anyway) so she's ben using hers for four years.

no problms with either. they are heaier than alu poles, but they dont bend / break as easily. you pays yer money and makes yer choice

After all it is free

Carbon poles, but make sure you can get suitable baskets fitted for deeper snow.
The trend for the small racing types are of little use off-piste and you need a good grip and strap.

JT, most of the ones with the stuck-on plasticky basket ferrule will accept a retrofit LEKI powder basket system by mere stripping the existing ferrule off (lino or hook knife comes in handy) and a bit of Araldite. 13cm across, the webbing allows it to pack flat and adapt to the angle of the snow.

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nog, Welcome to SnowHeads! In conjunction with your request, I have ordered up a pair of these LEKI poles to collect when I am next in Tignes

http://www.leki.com/html/ski_alpine_6858.asp

Does anyone have experience of these, or indeed any views on them?

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Bernard Condon, a friend of mine had a pair stolen in NY state, does that count? The pole equivalent of the Salomon PR in that regard.

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comprex, Theft is sometimes an indication of quality! Did your friend reckon they were any good before they were stolen?

Yes, once he'd puzzled out the hand leash. There was at first some annoyance in not being able to palm the top of the handle for skating on flattish sections. Goode has something similar, the Interloc. He tells us the replacement Scotts are nowhere as good; we think it is a fish story.

PS do tell us how you like them. I had thought that carbon poles entirely supplanted the '80's-'90's corrective bend style, but Leki is apparently holding the line on these? And why is it we can have curved carbon forks for bikes and not curved carbon ski poles?
Much cheaper to drill the grip at an angle, I guess.

You know it makes sense.

I really like my Leki Triggers. The adjustable part isn't as good, though (it does slip sometimes). It is nice that it's part carbon (which I prefer for swingweight and for shock absorption) and part aluminum (for rigidity and resiliency). I love the Trigger grips. Highly recommended.

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Ah, just the person I was hoping would glance through this. ssh what do you think of corrective bend poles in situations such as spoken of by beanie1 in the Moguls thread

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comprex, I don't like "corrective bend" poles. I think they tend to cover over errors that are more easily corrected.

What do you think that the "correction" buys you? Being able to put the tip farther downhill? What does that buy you?

Sorry, I don't see the value...

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The reason you don't see many carbon ski poles with curves in is probably down to what the carbon is bonded with, in cars and bikes that tends to be a resin which hardens in the curing process, in poles it tends to be a nylon which stays flexible, my guess is that most poles will be extruded out of a machine and then chopped to the right length, so they come out as straight runs, to get a curved pole you'd need a different mould for every length

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ssh, a quieter upper body? By relieving the temptation to thwock-plant or stab each plant? I do actually agree with you (having disposed of my Marker M26 twincam monstrosities) but I thought the primary, hmmm, engineering justification for a bimaterial shaft such as the Leki Vision Trigger was to keep the bend at the grip.

D G Orf sounds good to me; the only objection I might raise is that aerodynamic bend poles (DH, SG) would have a differently positioned bend for each length anyhow?

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comprex, Ally poles are bent to shape after they have been extruded but carbon poles have to be moulded to shape

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

ssh, I now wonder if the 'pole engineering design' really has more to do with brain software than anything else. For example, I can almost justify corrective bend if, say an intermediate skier is more concerned with marking the spot on the snow (visually or with the pole) than the sensation of balance during transition, the 'touch and go' nolo spoke of elsewhere.

DG, yep. Just wondering when the cost of the hydraulic press and bending jigs will come close enough to the cost of layup that the in-use advantages come to dominate choice of material. I am just after playing with some of the new Swix race poles, Ally with diamond cross-section. Not trivial to form and hence higher cost.
They were very nice, swing weight comparable to carbon, shock absorption at the bend -> I can't really justify CF as a materials choice for my own use except maybe through environmental cost?

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ssh, I am hardly likely to know more than you, so I tend to pick your brains more than most. My apologies for being pesky. Embarassed

I have seen and used an all-CF adjustable trekking pole (by Leki), 3 telescoping sections, also Lifelink Variants, so I made the assumption I did.

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comprex, ah! I hadn't seen any like that. Here is the one that I have. As I mentioned, my only issue is that the adjustment sometimes slips. I'll likely return them to Leki this spring to have them check the adjustment system. I are a engineer. But, I know a lot more about computers, the Internet, radio technologies, skis, and boots than I do about poles! Laughing

comprex, the hydraulic press and bending jigs for ally ski poles would actually be quite cheap, probably not more than £2k, carbon fiber moulds are notoriously expensive, one reason nylon seems to be used as the bonding material in ski poles is its flexability but the other is that it flows better under heated conditions, the carbon fiber panels used in say the car industy are seriously expensive to produce, resin is rollered onto the arranged sheets of carbon fiber before it is stuck inside a large oven where the air can be pumped out, pumping the air out causes the resin to fully saturate the cloth (at least that's the idea) and the whole lot is then baked to cure it, small chambers run into thousands of pounds, the biggest chambers used in the aerospace industry cost millions and you still expect to throw away a number of finished pannels due to air voids in the panel Shocked

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ssh, I'm guessing but the adjustment system probably consists of a three or four jaw chuck that is tightened by a sort of nut being turned, these always fail after a while for one of several reasons:

1. one of the jaws snaps off due to fatigue and/or over tightening

2. the male part distorts/wears over time so is smaller and cannot be held any longer

3. the nut which is sometimes made of plastic strips its threads or cracks

I used to have a culman monopod with a similar arrangement but its joints all failed eventually due to a combination of the above factors. I now have a manfroto version that uses cams to lock the poles but the materials are also much thicker so less likely to fail but heavier and more bulky

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D G Orf, I don't doubt that. We'll see what Leki says. BTW, the reason I got this particular Leki pole is two-fold: first, it was available through the PSIA, and second, it was adjustable so that I can easily have 51" poles. Of course, I skied bumps on them yesterday when they were more like 45" poles! Laughing

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My understanding is that generally carbon poles are harder to break than aluminium poles, being more flexible. My carbon poles can flex to 45 degrees with no problems. They are stiff enough that this is not a problem in everyday useage. They can shatter if it is a cold day and you hit them with a ski edge, but this is unusual. Aluminium poles tend to be stiffer, but are easier to break. In terms of weight, there is not much to choose between the two types.

As they say, you pays yer money, yer makes yer choice.

@foxtrotzulu, with a set of black carbon poles you will find you ski better cos you have to ski faster in order to escape all the women chasing you down the piste. Combined with a set of rad full rocker 120mm extreme deep pow skis and an ABS airbag with shovels and probes n' professional stuff attached to the bag you're going to have to ski like Shane McConkey...
Just sayin.

You know it makes sense.

for those wondering why @Steilhang has replied to a ten year old thread with a random comment, he was replying to a comment which was binned - this thread was spammed and I got rid of loads of "junk"

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Quite a bump, though!
The name 'david@traxvax' brought back some memories Toofy Grin

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And Kramer come back, all is forgiven....

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Help!!

Poles - alu or graphite/carbon ??

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