New BPL carbon Stix

[Andrew Richard]

Anybody else gonna order these? (or at least contemplate buying them, like me)

[Christopher Chupka]

Very nice stix, but my problem is that I am always adjusting my poles. For sidehills, downhills, uphills. I would not know what length to get.

I am thinking about trying the tarp/bivy combo this summer and I think it would be easier for me with the adjustable poles until I can master the setup.

[Adam Rothermich]

I gave it serious thought, and still am. I just bent one of my Lekis and was kind of looking for a new pair of something lighter. I definitely like the price. If I can't have the Mech. Eng. department on campus bend my pole back I may pick up a pair of these.

Adam

[Greg Mihalik]

Bend them back?

The next event for work hardened aluminum is catastrophic failure.

Unless you are heating the sections in a high temperature brine solution to facilitate straightening you may be heading down the wrong trail :-0

[François Lederer]

I am quite surprised about BPL to introduce products no longer really committed to the (hard)core lightweighters.

For almost the same weight, I use the following foldable poles:
http://www.raidlight.com/boutique_us/fiche_produit.cfm?type=71&ref=RAQ010&code_lg=lg_us&pag=1&num=0
Those sticks are used by lot of ultra runners doing the UTMB (ultra trail mont blanc, 160km).

For a comparable price, I would either try the lightrek3 from GG.

Unfortunately, shipping costs and nature of this product makes I will only be able to get hands on them once I visit the states again (snif!).

[Steven Evans]

Not heavier by much, but the fixed length is a show stopper for me.
I routinely adjust my poles depending on what I am doing, setting up tarps, uphill, downhill, bushwacking, or on my pack…they don't even ship these outside the U.S., so I'm a no go even if I wanted them!

[Hiker 816]

I'm really excited about them too. Finally, an UL pole with a real wrist strap. Take these and make them two-section adjustable, and I don't think you could have a more perfect pole. Now if I could just get the grips & straps on these poles, and stick them on a pair of the Titanium Goat poles. . .

[Ross Bleakney]

It would be nice if you could choose your grips. If they are roughly the same size, I think the makers could just sell the grips separately (you would have to glue them yourself). I should mention that it looks like Titanium Goat has an optional strap now: http://www.titaniumgoat.com/poles.html (look for "removable wrist straps").

[Mike Saxton]

The straps work well on the Titanium Goats and their company provides exceptional service. I recently broke a Ti Goat pole (my understanding was this was only the 2nd they had seen broken) which they not only promptly replaced, but they performed some additional maintenance on the poles I had not expected. The BPL poles look tempting, but if you want adjustable poles and a company that is confident enough to replace them if broken, then for an extra 2 grams, you get both with Ti Goat.

Other than the handles, I would be curious how the BPL poles differ from the new stronger version of GC's Treklite poles.

[Jed Augustine]

I'd like to hear 1. explained and 2. and 3. substantiated:

1. "we've commissioned an industry leader in carbon fiber ski pole manufacturing"

Who?

2. "weight ratio unmatched by other multi-piece trekking poles made of aluminum or carbon fiber, or by non-tapered thin-walled shaft poles"

3. "both stiffer and stronger (in terms of bending resistance) than other aluminum or carbon trekking poles on the market"

No doubt they really are tip top of the line; BPL offers great stuff. It would just be nice to be clear on these few things.

[Hiker 816]

"The straps work well on the Titanium Goats and their company provides exceptional service."

Mike, can you provide any more info on these straps? Photos maybe? The photo on the Ti Goat webpage was a little blurry. In the Ti Goat photo, it looks like there is a metal screw sticking up out of the top of the pole, presumably for an expander. Does this stick up far enough to cause an abrasion issue if used to support a shelter from the inside (like the MLD superfly) with the handle pointing up?

[John S.]

Why hold BPL to such explanations when you don't do the same for Leki, BD, Komperdell, etc.?

[Mark Bishop]

I'm on the waiting list for a pair of AGP's and also interested in the new straps. I agree the picture on the website is difficult to see clearly and it's not possible for me determine how the straps are attached to the pole. I'd be interested to know if there is a metal screw head on the top of the grip. I noticed Ti-Goat is selling an insert for camera mount as well.

[Gregory Doggett]

I've been using the 2nd generation GG LightTrek poles for 14 months and have become completly comfortable with non adjustable poles. I adjust the length on the fly by using them with a normal grip for level or moderate uphill/downhill, choking the grip near the bottom to shorten them on steep uphills and palming the top of the grip for steep downhills.
A 1/4" strip of duct tape on one pole marks the location of the correct height for the foot end of my poncho tarp.
I have been thinking of getting the Komperdell Featherlights when I saw the Stix on BPL today.
Ordered a pair for my wife and I.
She will keep the straps on (a big reason she isn't a LightTrek fan).
I'll be removing mine.
The Stix seems to have the same Grip/strap system as my Komperdell made REI Peak UL poles, which I've found very complementary.
Nice price too if your a premium member.
Greg

[Brian James]

I bought adjustable poles for my first set and have never once adjusted them.

on the flats or going uphill I put them out behind me to push myself forward

going downhill I put them in front of me to slow my descent and reduce the pounding on my knees

on uneven terrain I just reach a little higher or a little lower

For me, stopping to fiddle with poles kills my cadence. And I know that the terrain will be changing soon enough anyway. I set them at their max. of 140 cm (I'm 6' tall) and they can always reach the ground. I'd give anything to trade them for a pair of 135/140cm fixed length poles, but unfortunately they look like they've taken a turn in a cement mixer thanks to the cosmetic fragility of Carbon Fibre.

I keep looking for opportunities to adjust them, but never find them…

[Dylan Skola]

My first pair of adjustable trekking poles (REI Peak UL) made me into a fixed-length convert. Just the initial process of extending them to the same length, screwing down the expanders, etc. was enough for me, let alone stopping to change lengths every time the terrain changed (of course it didn't help that these were the first-gen ones with the balky locking mechanism). So I returned them and used the refund as a down payment (ouch) on a pair of the previous generation of BPL Stix. I figured how to choke down and palm the grip on uphills and downhills which made a lot more sense to me then stopping and playing with expanders and wrist straps.

One of the things I like about ultralight backpacking is the simplicity and low-fiddle factor. Fixed length poles delivered that to me in spades, plus leaving off the expanders and associated ferrules saves a ton of swing weight, which makes placement easier, etc. The Stix are solid as heck, never felt hesitant for a moment to put all my weight on them, pole-vault, etc. Just gotta be careful not to wedge the tips, like with any pole.

Never had a problem with tarps, since I just use a clove hitch in the guyline over the inverted poles. With a tapered profile it doesn't slip at all under tension, in fact the more tension you put on it the tighter it gets, yet you can still slide the hitch up and down if necessary. The SMD Gatewood is a little trickier, though.

I put some heat-shrink tubing on the bottom sections of the shafts to help with rock abrasion.

Cons:

A. 4' poles strapped to your back have a way of finding low-hanging tree limbs. But they're so light you can just carry them in the flats, and when if I have to scramble it's usually over rocks with no tree cover.

B. The old models didn't have a conventional wrist strap. At first I enjoyed the feeling of not being "strapped in" which I disliked about conventional poles, but after a long day the hands definitely get a workout. The removable wrist strap on the new ones seems like the best of both worlds. of course, the wrist strap might interfere with the ability choke up / down on the grip.

C. Not very convenient for air travel. Rather than check them separately I picked up a new pair of the Peak ULs I started with, for times when I really need the collapsibility.

[Ryan Jordan]

In response to Jed and others about the new Stix.

1. They are made by Komperdell in Austria, who manufactures poles for a number of brands and markets.

2. These are only slightly less stiff than the old Stix, but have a significantly thicker wall (especially at the tip), so their durability at the tip is vastly improved. The only other pole we've tested that is stiffer was the old Stix. This one is on par with the Komperdell Featherlite, which uses a similar shaft.

Hope this helps!

Ryan

[Jed Augustine]

Wow! Komperdell! Man I hope I can wrangle the funds to get these…

[Doug Johnson]

I can substanciate Ryan's claim #2. This is taken from my recent review of the LuxuryLite poles:

Pole make and model Amount of deflection (cm)
LuxuryLite Big Survival Stik 1.1
Bozeman Mountain Works Stix Pro (no longer available) 2.1
Pacerpole 2-section aluminum/carbon hybrid 2.5
Komperdell Featherlight / Bozeman Mountain Works Stix prototype 2.6
Komperdell Nature Stick Carbon 2.7
Gossamer Gear Lightrek 3 5.1

Here you can see that with our new deflection test, the original Stix had a deflection of 2.1 while the new Stix (which are identical to the Komperdell Featherlight) are 2.6. That variation on the trail is extremely minor and would be unnoticable by most.

Enjoy!

Doug

[Al Shaver]

Adam – I just bent a Leki pole (through egregious abuse) and they warrantied the bent section promtly and gratis.

I also have found that one length works for me. Even with my adjustable poles I rarely take the time to adjust lengths on the trail.

I coughed up almost 200 simoleons for a pair of BMW STIX carbon poles from BPL a couple of years ago. I knew from the start that they would have to be modified as they came without a strap or attachment to agressively drive up hills with. Both handles were so poorly glued on they both popped off within 2 hours of use allowing my precious CF tubes to clatter to the granite trail. That's when I discovered that the tube ends were not cut off at a right angle making the loosening foam handles exposed to being cut into on each thrust by the advanced section of the tube ends. Haven't used them since.

I plan to epoxy t-nuts in the end to attach proper straps. Haven't gotten around to it yet. Ryan suggested buying standard handles and glueing them on. I checked it out. Leki shipped their lightest handles out to me. At (5.5oz/pr.) they weighed more than the BMW poles (4.3oz/pr.). So I'm going to attempt to incorporate the light foam stock handles (.95oz/pr.)with my added strap.

Wish me luck.

[John Haley]

Mark…
There is a slot headed mini bolt holding the straps on the TiGoat Adjustables. I wasn't sure when I added them on whether I was going to use them, but have found that they are convenient for most applications. Don't get the idea that these straps, on their own, are going to hold a person's entire weight via their wrist. They're an assist for the hand grip only, and keep the poles, in my case, from occasionally coming out of my hand. I've used the straps for about the last 100 miles of the 600 miles I have put on them since last spring.

[Sven Klingemann]

I also have been using non-adjustable poles; the reason I would go for the TI Goat adjustable ones is that I need to be able to bring my poles on a plane … which is not an option with one-section poles, if I am not mistaken (?)
S.

[Rob Blazoff]

Can't you check them? They would need protection like a sportube or a cardboard tube.

[Bob Bankhead]

Yes. Trekking poles can travel in checked baggage on aircraft. I usually just strap mine to the outside of my bag, with the tip guards in place and the entire pack in a light, home-made duffle. Out of sight = out of mind, or at lest it cuts down on curiosity and potential hand-holds for baggage handlers. I don't want them grabbing a pole as a handle.

You will definitely want to protect them, especially the CF varieties, from side blows. Use a heavy mailing tube.

[Jonathan Ryan]

Ryan/Doug,
What is the durability of these poles in comparison to the Life Link Guide Ultra Lite which is my usage have seemed rather bomb proof? I have used a pair of these for the last 4 years and the only reason I am changing it up is b/c I want a longer reach with the pole. Thanks for the feedback.

[Author]

Posts