CP3 carbide tip replacements?

OK – Yuki just returned my email.  He can sell me the tips for $4 each (plus shipping) but says they are really hard to replace, that I have to cut them off (?).  Or he can sell me the end poles for $20 apiece.

Now, these poles do have a lot of miles on them, but they are totally fine.  Scratched and chipped and all that (especially that lower section), but fine.

Now I’m asking for advice: should I spend the money (against my new religion) and replace the as-of-now-ok bottom sections that may indeed extend the life of these poles overall, or just try to figure out how to replace just the tips for about a third of the cost (more in line with my new religion)?

I watched some you-tube videos on how to get these tips off and sheesh…that seems scary to do with these carbon poles…….

Do you really need carbide tips? Can you put a rubber tip cap on each pole?

My hiking staff staff has a sharp steel tip that could probably spear a fish with a screw-on rubber cap. I always use the rubber cap. I have a bag of them and replace every five years or so.

now THAT is a really good idea.  I didn’t even think of that – especially since most of my regular hiking is on quite a lot of rock.

I’ve been using these Leki rubber tips and quite like them.  Rarely come off unless caught in a crack in the rock or a hole full of roots. A whole lot quieter than the metal tips.

Hey Jennifer

i had the same thing happen to one of my CP3 tips. Lucky for me, Yuki had a cosmetically defective bottom section and mailed to me for free. I lost the tip after 200 miles on them. Before that I tried to wrench and twist them off with channel locks and then vice grips. I wasn’t able to get them off but I didn’t try to hard because I was worried about crushing the pole.

I read somewhere about putting the pole tip in boiling water for a few minutes. I’m guessing 10 mins would suffice. Then try to twist them off again. Hopefully this would be enough to soften up the adhesive they use. I’ve been meaning to try this with my extra section. I think Andrew Skurka was the one that posted it.

Hey!

I might actually be of a little use here.

I posted on November 28th, 2015 that LG would sell the tips, and bottom replacements (with installed tips).

Dan Durston replied that he was able to get the tips off his CP2 poles pretty easily by leaving them in boiling water for 5 minutes. He swapped on some Black Diamond tips he had handy.

So, as long as the shafts are a similar diameter, you could probably do that.

It sounded a lot easier than the way Yuki explained the cutting process to me.

Hi Jenn… I replaced both lower sections of my CP3 poles with the lower sections off my aluminum Leki poles… same weight, aluminum holds up better to all the rock bashing that the lower sections get, and greatly reduces the ‘rattle’ of the CP3 poles. So if you have some old poles lying around perhaps the diameter is similar and you could swap them out… or maybe go to your local REI and they might have a ‘bone pile’ of broken poles you could pick up some lower sections from. BTW… boiling water to remove ski tips and hand grips has been a standard thing for as long as I can remember… maybe 30 or 40 years or more… billy

Jennifer….Give this a try as it has worked for me on several “makes” of poles.

If you want to replace the whole of the plastic lower tip section this is done either buy using a a hot air blower (paint stripper type thing) or placing the whole tip into boiling water. This process will heat up the glue and break the bond. Now twist carefully with a set of pliers and the plastic section should come off fairly easily. If it doesn’t then you probably have not heated it for long enough. A new tip section can be glued in place using epoxy adhesive. Make sure to clean the surface first. Have use Leki Universal Carbide Flextips.

If it just the metal tip section you want to replace then pull with a set of pliers and again glue in (after cleaning) the new tip with epoxy adhesive.

I use rubber caps over my carbide tips until winter when I replace them with snow baskets.

Right now I need to replace my rubber caps B/C they have worn through after 2 seasons, the usual life of the caps.