Any ergonomic trekking pole grips besides Gossamer Gear? What happened to the “Backpacking Light” grips?

[Rusty Beaver]

I posted in the main forum and received no responses. Thought I'd try here. The GG grips look great! But they are more than twice the price of the older "Backpacking Light" grips that look identical. Of course, the "Backpacking Light" grips are out of stock. :( Are these BL grips going to be sold again? Any other ergonomically shaped grips, cork or foam, available?? I'm wanting to replace the grips on my Locus Gear CP3s. I'm not terribly keen to make my own though….at least yet.

[Ken Thompson]

BPL store has been closed for many a year now. Not coming back.

[Tom D.]

I saw the post in the main forum, and I think the reason you didn't get any response is because there doesn't appear to be any others. The BPL store is no more, it was gone before I started on this forum more than 4 years ago. I looked for other options for grips as well a little while back, but was unable to find any UL ergonomically shaped grips similar to the GG ones. There are some from Leki, etc, but they aren't any cheaper and I like the GG shape better. There are ski pole grips that may fit the bill as far as shape, but are either too heavy (plastic/rubber) or much more expensive (cork) than the GG grips. A few days ago, I ordered some bicycle foam grips on AliExpress that are very cheap, very light, and have at least some individual finger shape to them. I'll have to wait a few weeks for them to arrive. I bought them to try on my MYOG bamboo trekking poles. I have some other foam grips that I used on some carbon ski poles that I picked up in a thrift store, those feel nice and while not ergonomically shaped, they do the the job. Because bicycle handlebars are a bit larger in diameter than ski or trekking poles, I used athletic tape to make up the difference.

[Rusty Beaver]

I thought that was the case with Backpacking Light….but when I googled "trekking pole grips", I found the following and it gave me some hope that they were back to business. http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bpl_cork_pole_grips.html#.VeCTrJe23Yg Thanks for the additional info, Tom. If you think about it, let us know how you like the bike grips. In the mean time, I'll keep searching. Would love to have a pair of those GG grips. I just can't bring myself to spend $30+ (w/ shipping) for them.

[Tom D.]

Ok, I got the foam grips, took about 3 weeks to arrive. At just under 4 1/2", they are about 1 1/2" shorter than the GG grips. I'm 6'3", just under 200 lbs and my hands are on the larger side. The grips are just big enough without a lot of room to spare. I went ahead and mounted them on my thrift store composite ski poles. The original grips were ergonomic and comfortable, but hard plastic and heavy, weighing 2 oz each. They also got slippery as my hands got wet with sweat. They came off fairly easy with a heat gun. The foam grips weigh 8 grams (.3 oz) each. Because bicycle handlebars are larger than trekking poles, I used athletic tape around the pole to increase the diameter and slid the foam grips on. I have some cork tape on order that I plan to use under the grips in place of the athletic tape to reduce weight. They are temporarily mounted now. I also adapted some plastic handlebar end caps to finish the top of the trekking poles. I took them on a hike and found them to be quite comfortable and they handled perspiration very well. If I had found them to be too small, I would have mounted the second pair as well, or cut down part of a second one, but I didn't end up needing to do that. My main concern is that I question their durability. They showed some small signs of wear after only a single 9 mile day hike. They were cheap at less than $2 per pair (including shipping), which is nice. Bottom line: I like them and I plan to continue using the foam on my spare poles. But on a sweet set of poles like the Locus Gear CP3's, I think I'd just bite the bullet for the GG grips, I don't think you'll find a comparable set for much cheaper, if at all. I plan to do that when my GG pole grips wear out.

[Steven Paris]

Just a couple of ideas about replacing the grips: I just put some GG grips on a pair of carbon ski poles. I've seen some people cutting and scraping the old grips off but I put each handle into a pot of boiling water (deep enough to completely submerge the handle) and left it in for a few minutes. This dissolves the glue and the handles basically slide off, so no residue to clean. The grips were a plastic material, so it might be different for foams grips but it's worth a try. Next, I used a bike spray-degreaser to install the new Gossamer Gear grips. This cleans the pole but also evaporates very quickly and leaves no residue behind. For the first pole, I lubricated and cleaned the carbon pole and had to work to get the new grip on as the diameter of the pole was larger than the grip, adding a little of the degreaser to the pole as I SLOWLY twisted. For the second pole, I sprayed a little degreaser into the grip first and the whole thing went together very easy. FInally, I did order a pair of fishing pole grips that I was planning on using, something I saw on another thread here. They would have worked except they didn't have an end cap and I like putting my hands on top of the poles sometimes. I can look those up if you're interested (they are almost straight foam, with a slight bulge. I thought they would be comfortable to use, but they would probably need gluing).

[Rusty Beaver]

Thanks for the info, Tom and Steven. Though it will make the already smallish (for my preference) LG grips even smaller, my thoughts now are to work on smoothing out their sharp ridges/contours with sandpaper and seeing how they then feel. If that fails to satisfy my hands, I may bite the bullet and get some GG grips. Other grips I don't mind at all are those that come on the Komperdell's CP3s. Not sure where I could get them though…and then I'd have to build up the LG shaft so they'd fit….

[David Hoyer]

A bit late probably, but fwiw i’ve used these EVA fishing rod grips very successfully on my myog ultralight carbon fibre poles: Exclusive Tackle “M” Eva Grips (pattern E-M2)

They are nicely tapered, weigh just 11g (0.4oz) each, and are available with either 9.5 or 12.5 mm bore. They may be a bit small if you have large hands.

[Sam Farrington]

If planning on changing grips, the cork handle on the GGs is a big plus.
Bought a pair of ‘Scott X-Plor Series 4’ alloy backcountry ski poles at a discount store because of the 14″ long and very hard foam grips that allowed a large ribbed area below the handle for choking. But, the lowest of three sections was not adjustable and the push-button was hard to disengage from the hole at the juncture with the middle section.

Later, bought a pair of Yukon Charlie carbon poles with alloy covered lower sections, and durable flick-lock adjusters. They were stiffer and bowed much less than the Scotts, and perfect in every way, with one major exception: the foam on the grip and shorter choke section of the handle was flimsy – the kind of stuff that might even melt in your hand on a hot enough day. So it was a matter of transferring the Scott grip to one of the Charlies.

Purchased the tallest cook pot at W-mart and when feeling courageous, commenced the boiling. The cheap grips on the Charlie came right off, but the long, one piece Scott grip took some doing to remove, maybe because the bottom of the much firmer and durable grip on the Scott was not sufficiently submerged in the boiling water. Guess I was hoping the steam would fully melt the heat-release adhesive, but no.
All this made the hard foam on the Scott a little soft. But went ahead and put it on the Charlie with high viscosity clear epoxy, and voila, it was firm again after it dried and cooled off. When the grip wears out, another transfer between the two remaining poles can be done.

The result was a 7.5 oz pole that compared to the Locus, had much beefier grips, straps, flick-locks, mud baskets and rubber pole tips. This is the only pole I use now, but if planning to transfer a grip with a long choke section, the whole length of the grip must be fully immersed, and once the adhesive releases, removed from the pot before the foam becomes mucky. ‘Timing is everything,’ as the comedians say.
The lightest Black Diamond flick lock carbons appear to be the “Alpine Carbon Cork,” at 8.5 oz each with a much shorter choke section, not including a durable rubber tip – $175 list when they get it in stock.

[Rusty Beaver]

I recently noticed these responses to this thread I started 2 yrs ago. Thanks, David and Sam. Great stuff!

As far as what I did, a kind member here sold me his old foam GG grips. I liked the shape but they were still a bit small for my liking. So, I put two strips of minicell foam (about 3/32″ per strip) that were about 1/2″ wide down each grip and held it on by wrapping Coflex around the entire grip. I have ~100 miles on them and one wrap is still in great shape. I replaced the wrap on the other. Amazing stuff. Sticks to itself and provides a nice textured surface to the grip I really like. This mod is super light and the Coflex was under $3 at the local D&B farm store.

Here’s the grip before I added the foam and wrap: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/rattle-free-locus-gear-poles-with-gg-grips-myog-straps/

[William N]

The use of degreaser. Never tried this but I think it’s like using Windex (or ammonia). Windex is a Base (opposite of acid). One of the qualities of a Base is that it’s slippery. but only when wet…. So sliding on something tight like a grip onto an aluminum shaft: Windex should work really well. Slippery when wet, not slippery when dry.

Also, bicycle handle grips. We used to put these in hot water to put them on. Most materials expand when heated, so the hole gets bigger. (I’ve done this with metal, you can get it on, but you will never ever get it off. — it being almost impossible to heat up the outside without also heating up the insert. Some router bits are made this way. No welding, 30,000 rpm. 1″ diameter–890 miles per hour. )

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