Leki vs Black Diamond Trekking Pole Tips for MYOG poles

I can't comment on the pros/cons of the tips, but I have some Gossamer Gear tips for a MYOG pole project that I bailed on that I would send you for cheap . . . PM me if you're interested.

EDIT: Just noticed you're in Australia . . . so I'm not sure how cheaply I could ship them to you after all.

I used Leki replacement tips for my MYOG poles. Went right in with no problems and still there to this day. I think I went with them solely because I knew they would fit and wasn't worried about ever wearing them out. The tips still look brand new about 600mi later, but we have a lot of dirt here in the East.

Ryan

Thanks for the offer Nick, might not be worth your hassle to ship them, I can probably get either the Leki or BD ones locally (waiting to hear back from a mate in a local store).

Ryan-any idea how much length the tips add to a pole? I presume somewhere around an inch?

The carbide wearing out does worry me slightly. Conditions are often pretty rocky for me here in South Australia. But then I guess its not like I'll have to swap them every week…

Adam – Looks like roughly 1.50"- 1.75" on mine.

Ryan

Cheers Ryan.

Think I'll order a pair of the BDs through amazon…half the price I can get for any of the others, anywhere else (bearing in mind shipping to Aus).

I'll bank on 1 inch of height from them. If I have to cut a little length off the tube that's not an issue.

:-)

Should work fine. Have you decided what grips you're going to use? I would love to find something equivalent to the expensive(and great) GG grips, but haven't found anything.

Ryan

Yeah I'm not decided on the grips yet.

My current poles are these:
https://www.helinox.com.au/fl135-walking-poles.php

I really like these grips. The bumps and everything makes them quite useable for me.

The easiest option is a simple straight foam grip, they are very cheap. I could probably go to a good fishing store locally to get them. But then I lose the ridges, which I currently lever off. I could perhaps put some tape or something under the foam grips in one or two places to provide a slight ridge.

My other thought is to go for a cycling or tennis or hockey stick wrap as a grip. I've wrapped plenty of hockey sticks and bike handlebars in the past, depending on how I do it I can have more or less ridges in there. Bonus is its easy to remove back to a bare shaft if it really doesn't seem to work out for me. Downside is, not sure how it will hold up long term on the trail in that vertical direction…

Also I currently use the straps a lot, I seem to like putting weight through them. Straps are probably more challenging again.

I can see the benefit of having either ridges and or straps…it reduces the total amount of grip strength and grip endurance required to put weight through the pole. Though with a lighter overall pole, perhaps my grip will benefit enough to make it a non-issue. Perhaps my technique will adapt too?