Trekking poles, Cabon upper and Al lower. 4.5oz per

[James Klein]

I recently finished a new set of trekking poles using wrapper carbon fiber upper section and Aluminum lowers.  Am interested in the Al lower for “toughness” against impact type damage and cheapness of replacement and, of course, carbon uppers for general strength/weight payoff.  Flicklocks have always been my strong preference for adjusting mechanism due to lower fiddle-factor.  Overall, I am very happy with these – the studyness seems just right for my needs (hiking and shelter support).

Pole specs:

4.4oz/127grams per pole

54″ (137cm) max / 30″ (76cm) collapsed length.

Uppers are .5″ ID and .56OD unidirectional wrapped carbon fiber tubes from rockwest composites cut to about 27″ long

lowers are .49″OD (~.433ID) Easton tent pole section aluminum with insert. (trekking pole tips fit over the reduced diameter inserts with only a slight amount of sanding).

trekking pole tips were purchased here:  Wilcor replacement

Hand grips are 6″ long with a .5″ID from mudhole  EVA with slight taper from Mudhole

Flicklocks are  16mm replacements from black diamond

A few notes/pointers on assembly:

• The lower alumimum insert was trimmed to a length of slightly greater than .5″.  The wilcor replacement tip is just to small and therefore was bored out slightly in order to slip the aluminum lower in the .5″ (still tight enough to require hammering).  Dremmel was used to increase the tip bore.  Gorrilla glue for joining.

• To allow for clamping without cracking a 9/16″ hole has drilled through the carbon fiber upper  (just above where the flicklock hardware rests).  Two, 1/4″-3/8″ slots were cut from these holes to the bottom of the pole.  Standard drill/bits for the hole and dremmel with cuting wheel – all surfaces being cut were first covered with tape to prevent chipping, peeling, etc.

• The flicklock end requires mild shimming to accept the flicklock (carbon ID is just slightly too small)…4-5 wraps of clear tape was used.
• Grips are slid over the opposite end of the carbon pole with gorrila glue – tapper oriented so that the larger OD points downward.
• The ID hole on the grip end of the upper is left open to allow for and insertion type dual pole extender (more on that later).

 

 

[James Klein]

Correction to the above: 1/4″ holes were drilled through the carbon fiber tubes (for flicklock clamping) 1/8″ slot was cut from these hole to the tip of the pole.

[John S.]

Thanks for sharing that James! Nice poles.

[Bob Moulder]

Very good idea to mix CF and aluminum, James! The trick is finding compatible ID/OD and you’ve done that for us. I really like the price of the Al pole sections

Have you used them yet? Do they rattle? Do you like the grips?

Why did you decide to go with Uni vs roll-wrap? Looks as if you used the 0° uni. I’ve been using 3K roll-wrapped only because “I read it on the internet” and don’t really know the technical arguments for or against.

Also good idea for the DPTE… which shelter do you use it with?

It’s hard to imagine that with all the trekking poles on the market that there’s not a 2-section flicklock setup, and nice to see that there are more and more of us who appreciate the beauty of this combo when compactness is not a big consideration. :^)

 

 

 

[Jordo _99]

Thank you for posting this. I’ve been close to buying/building some trekking poles the past few months (never bothered to upgrade the 20oz poles I’ve been using for the past 6 years) and I’ll probably use this to make my own poles now!

I just had two quick questions. (1) what is the estimated cost of materials? (2) How did you order the pole tips and flip locks (tips are unavailable and flip locks have a website error when adding to the cart).

I’m sure I’ll figure all of this out in the next week as I order obtain the parts but I just thought I’d ask anyway.

[James Klein]

Bob, I haven’t used these (outside of backyard testing :)).  I have used these grips on a different set of poles for a few years and do like them.  I haven’t noticed any rattle noise.  The MYOG DPTE was designed to work with a locus gear khufu – very pleased with initial setup.  I have the locus gear DPTE and for these poles my version feels much more secure.  As described elsewhere, the Locus gear is a loose/wobbly fit over pole tips.  Also, I prefer tips down.

 

Re: uni vs roll wrapped – I have no specific insight.  When I purchased the tubes (probably over a year ago) I was interested in either option and the decision came down what I could purchase in the appropriate dimension.  Looking today there are more options.  IMO this is a secondary consideration as the carbon is probably on the order of 2X as stiff as the lower sections.  I was, in the planning stage, considering using carbon tube uppers that would slip inside the lower section (e.g. an OD of .425-.430″) to better match bending strengths but couldn’t find any at the time – I likely would have spent more time studying the merits of each if I had gone this route.

[James Klein]

Jordo, I purchased enough for two sets to save some on shipping costs, if i remember correctly, the carbon fiber tubes were 35+25shipping, everything else together was probably $30-40 shipped (each remaining individual piecepart is pretty cheap and shipping was reasonable).

Today there are poles at goodwinds(item 004011 could possible work INSIDE the Al lowers), acpsales.com also has a .5″ID option (search “TUR-07” or “TUR-07A”).  You might be able to get either of these to your door cheaper than the rockwest option I went with.  If you choose the goodwinds smaller OD one you’ll have to go with 14mm flicklocks for BD – I have an extra set of these I could ship you.

Well boo on the wilcor tips – they were a bargain.  Black Diamond has two different options: 1) flex tech tips and 2) flex tips.  I have a set of the flex tech tips and this are same/simiar ID as the wilcor tips – they are probably .5″ longer and 10grams heavier for the pair.  On the flicklocks: I was just able to add the 16mm to my cart and take it all the way to checkout.
<table dir=”LTR” style=”height: 50px;” border=”1″ width=”32″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”7″>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign=”TOP” height=”6″><span style=”font-size: small;”> </span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
 

 

[Author]

Posts