I recently picked one of these Outdoor Product fliplock trekking pole (pimped out by Eric Chan & others:)).

http://www.outdoorproducts.com/Products/trekking-pole-latch-lock-system/90

Being interested in trying the Tigoat style grips (smooth eva grips) and noticing the how heavy the stock handle felt (semi tongue n cheek) I decided to modify the poles.

Without snow basket these weighted ~10ozs (I think they were 10.2, but who's counting)

Utilizing my cheapo dremel I spilt the stock grip lengthwise and pried it off. In its place I put one of these:

http://www.mudhole.com/Shop-Our-Catalog/EVA-Grips/EVA-Foam-Foregrips
I bought the 6"long X .5"ID and trimmed the length down to ~4.5". The foam grip slipped on with some minor effort (pole OD is ~.6") but went easy enough - the gorrila glue probably helped to slide it on..

For those who might be interested in wrist straps see this thread for a great solution (thanks Greg):

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=31792&skip_to_post=271963#271963





Final weight is 6.9oz for the one pole. Collapsed length is ~24" and fully expanded this are about 54". Total cost was about $20 and time invested modifying was probably 45mins.

James

Edited by jnklein21 on 07/08/2011 19:22:50 MDT.

Did you use anything to adhere the grips to the pole?

When I first did my MYOG poles, I didn't use any glue, and the first time out, the grips wanted to slip down on the poles, and poke through the top of the grips, very annoying.

Gossamer gear suggested using gorilla glue (this is still funny to me) which I used with great success, no more grips slipping on the poles. If you didn't use any adhesive to keep the grips from slipping, I'd recommend it before taking them out on a longer hike, or you might end up frustrated with their performance.

Mat, I did use gorrila glue, you can just see where it leaked out in the second picture -- thanks for the comment though I edited the OP to show the glue was used.

James

really good. Very respectable weight for the $, makes on wonder why so many poles out there weight > 8oz each.

Is it possible to heat-mold the eva grip to the hand better? Heat in boiling water and then squeeze in a gloved hand till cool or such?

I couldn't find those poles at the local Wallyworld, but they've downsized their camping section to an endcap. I did find them at the local farm store - if you can believe that.

I can see where you lost so much weight from the grips, but the locking clasps look way overbuilt for what they are also. I wonder if any reductions could be made from them as well.

Almost picked one up, but will probably check the Wallyworld across town on Monday - farm store was a little more expensive than I expected.

C

"Very respectable weight for the $"
Yep that's what I was going for. Also, I really like adjustable over fixedlength and the fliplocks over twistlocks (always end up getting frustrated with those...but some appear to have little/to no trouble out of them). And these seem really stout.

"makes on wonder why so many poles out there weight > 8oz each"
yeah I was thing the same thing. I bet one of the cottage guys could come up with a 2section, Al pole with similiar grips for about 5-6oz.

"Is it possible to heat-mold the eva grip to the hand better?"
I dunno, I was mainly interested in trying the slight tapered grip but...the eva is really stiff. I thought I'd be able to sqeeze them down more, instead the hold their shape very well, I'm gonna try them as is first but if I don't like the fit I will probably look into trying to shape them (maybe the dremel...). Heat molding would be something to look into, maybe josh @ tigoat can give input on this one? Of course the grip I bought cost less than $3 so it be cheap and easy enought to try.

I didn't find this one at my local walmart either, bought it at walmart.com. After this project I decided I would pick up another (only bought the one for trial use). Walmart.com didn't have this one so I bought it from amazon for a little more (maybe $17+ship)

Interesting that a farm store carried them...

Edited to add: Yeah the fliplock hardwear feels very stout. Together these weight about 1.4oz / pole (about .7oz/fliplock). I bet you could easily get away with lighter ones (less material). Not sure if I am ready to pull out the drill yet, though...

Edited by jnklein21 on 07/09/2011 21:18:00 MDT.

Hi all,

I did this little project and love the poles. I came up with another way to attach the straps, at almost no weight penalty, that I think works great:

http://elkprep.blogspot.com/2012/04/diy-trekking-pole-update-straps.html

Nice job. Why do you consider straps essential? I never use mine. I keep meaning to cut them off.

I know a lot of folks don't use them, and I certainly don't profess to be an expert on trekking pole usage, but I use them every/all the time I'm using my poles. Saves my grip, I think, since with my wrists in the straps (as I tried to include a pic on there) I almost don't have to even hold onto the pole to plant it, just have to keep light finger pressure around the foam grips while the straps hold the weight.

I'm not a pole guy in summer, but for snowshoeing and skiing, straps are essential in my mind. If I did use poles in summer, I'd have straps on them.

If the strap is the right length, you can pass your hand UP through the straps and bring your hand DOWN with the strap between your thumb and hand. Now you can grip the pole very lightly even when you exert great force through it. The strap tranmits force from your wrist to the pole, and you use the larger muscles of your forearm and upper arm, rather than the small muscles of your hand and fingers to grip the pole more tightly.

My paradigm is if I'm only putting a few pounds through the pole, why bother with poles at all? But if I'm putting 20-30-40 pounds of force through the pole, I want the strap to do that for me because I don't have Popeye's forearms. "I yam what I yam."

Exactly David, that's what I was trying to say as well. And I'm like you, I don't use poles for everyday trail backpacking, but they're indispensable for rough off-trail terrain with large loads of elk meat!

I use my poles like that as well. I rarely hold my pole with more than 3 fingerstips. The straps basicly enable you to use your poles like pacerpoles, only without the weight.

Was excited to see this thread. Hope it doesn't get derailed any more with the straps vs no straps debate though.

At any rate, in a pinch, I bought these poles a couple yrs ago and ended up really liking them. Always wondered how to make them lighter though. Even thought about filling them with holes...at the expense of strength. Another idea was to retrofit the cork grips Gossamer Gear sells. http://gossamergear.com/trekking/trekking-accessories/lightrek-replacement-grips.html I really like the idea of an ergo grip...though admittingly, I have not tried poles with Tigoat style grips. They are certainly a lot less money than the GG cork grips at $22.50 plus whatever shipping would be (GG reportedly has spendy shipping too).

Pete Acker had a good idea with a simple and light strap mounting method with the foam grips. Figuring out a way to pad, or cap, the top would be good for those of us who utilize the top. Ideas, anyone?

Yes. Nice posts. I will boil the handle off tonight. I think I have some foam bike handle bar tape some where.

Utilize the top for what? There are lots of ways you could pad or cap it but what are you trying to accomplish by doing so?

As for straps, I'm more along the lines of Skurka I guess, finding them more trouble and weight than they are worth (for backpacking). I have a light grip on the poles, even going uphill, yet exert a fair bit of force on them. Of course, the OEM grip makes that pretty easy since it is contoured. Having a straight grip may cause me issues.

Amazon has em cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Products-CAP001-Trekking-Pole/dp/B002QG1EMO/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1334771363&sr=1-1

If you have prime, they show up at $20. Pretty cheap really.

How do these compare to the $27 screw lock ones from Costco? Anyone?

Edit: Link seems to not be sticking in the code. Oy.

Edited by keith_bassett on 04/18/2012 11:51:25 MDT.

Are these really the same? Note color and name at Walmart is NOT "Outdoor Products".
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Recreation-Group-Single-Trekking-Pole-With-Camlock/10928566

"Utilize the top for what? There are lots of ways you could pad or cap it but what are you trying to accomplish by doing so"?

When going downhill, I some times like to place my hand on the top of the pole.

This is great! I need poles, and this seems like a fun little modification on the cheap. Just ordered my grips.