Leki vs Black Diamond Trekking Pole Tips for MYOG poles

[Adam Kilpatrick]

So, there are three options I've narrowed down to (personally) for trekking pole tips.

1. The ones from Gossamer Gear.
2. Leki replacement tips.
3. Black Diamond Flex Tech Tips.

The former two look very similar. The carbide tip seems to be built in (like my current helinox poles).

The latter has a screw in replaceable tip…meant to be easily screwed in/out eg for a rubberised tip if you want. I kind of like this idea as I don't really want to have to cut off a whole tip once I've made it just to replace the carbide. The BD tips are also cheaper.

Anyone have suggestions as to which is better?
My main concern is internal diameter-all reports suggest the Leki takes a .370 diameter Golf Shaft no worries. Same for BD?

[Nick Smolinske]

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.

[Ryan Smith]

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

[Adam Kilpatrick]

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).

[Adam Kilpatrick]

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…

[Ryan Smith]

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

Ryan

[Adam Kilpatrick]

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.

:-)

[Ryan Smith]

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

[Adam Kilpatrick]

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?

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