Most Durable SL Race Poles

[cantunamunch]

The thought did cross my mind to pop the grip off of an 18mm aluminum pole, pour it full with epoxy, and then stuff a skinny 13mm carbon pole inside before the epoxy set up.

don't forget when skinning, you need material with higher elongation at rupture on the outside of the core. Your solution works for cutting/notching failure and for crushing failure but fiberglass outside works better for flexing failure.

 

[ejj]

Late, but related. Our local shop guarantees the LEKI SL poles for a year. You break it they replace it. My girls have both broken a pole. One was in training, and I suspect the other was sitting on it on the lift and it got jammed up on exit (details were unsurprisingly sparse). Both were replaced no prob.

Anyway—I just treat it as a wear item like tires on the car.

 

[cantunamunch]

Anyway—I just treat it as a wear item like tires on the car.

Yup... and I buy relatively cheap from the local guys - https://www.ziplineski.com/collections/zipline

 

[nnowak]

Late, but related. Our local shop guarantees the LEKI SL poles for a year. You break it they replace it. My girls have both broken a pole. One was in training, and I suspect the other was sitting on it on the lift and it got jammed up on exit (details were unsurprisingly sparse). Both were replaced no prob.

Anyway—I just treat it as a wear item like tires on the car.

It's not just your shop. LEKI as a whole guarantees their poles. Carbon poles have a one year warranty and any of the aluminum race poles have a two year warranty. While the warranty is nice, and we have utilized it in the past, you are still without a pole until a replacement can be acquired. Fortunately, every time my daughter broke a pole it was just at practice, but I would hate to see it happen in the middle of a timed race run.

 

[nnowak]

To close the loop... My daughter decided to switch to the 19mm Komperdell poles for this season (partly due to the color). As a bonus, she wants to stick with the standard grips and straps so I won't need to swap them for some LEKI grips. I guess she must have actually been listening to me all those time I was complaining about issues with Lekis.

 

[James]

Sometimes you lose a pole

1st gate?


Pinturault. Middle

 

[martyg]

18mm LEKI is the way to go. Call their CS.

 

[nnowak]

18mm LEKI is the way to go. Call their CS.

Picked up some 19mm Komperdells. Hopefully they will hold up well.

Frankly, I hope to never own another LEKI pole again. While they seem like a good idea in theory, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Even without the broken shafts, they have had quite a few problems.