Trekking Pole Repair

[GlennS]

No this one doesn't involve the locking mechanism. I pinned those long ago.

The foam grips on my Komperdell poles are loose. It's really irritating to find that the grips slide down when I need them most.

Can anyone suggest an adhesive that won't destroy the foam and will bond to the aluminum and plastic?

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[--M.]

I assume you've considered a duct-tape wrap underneath to block their downward movement?

Just checking....

 

[dudley]

Epoxy is the usual adhesive for use with dissimilar materials. Use regular 5 minute only if you can finish the job in that time.

I'm a big Goop fan. That's what I would use. All goop varieties (regular, outdoor,marine,shoo-goo,etc) are basicly the same. Anyone will do.

 

[DougPaul]

Epoxy is the usual adhesive for use with dissimilar materials. Use regular 5 minute only if you can finish the job in that time.

Longer curing epoxies are generally stronger, more waterproof, and several hour curing can be softened with heat. (Very handy if you wish to remove a ski binding with epoxied screws--and yes, the manufacturers often recommend epoxying the screws.)

Epoxy also isn't very flexible. I'd second the earlier suggestions of silicone caulk, shoe goo, possibly seam grip for reattaching hand grips to a pole.

Doug

 

[Lawn Sale]

No this one doesn't involve the locking mechanism. I pinned those long ago.

Thanks,
Glenn

Not to hijack the thread, but on the locking mechanism, what did you pin? I have repaired both Komperdells and Leki's, but did not pin them.

 

[GlennS]

I pinned them by locking them down using the twist locking mechanism and drilling a hole through the sections. I put a cotter pin through the hole and covered the cotter pin with duct tape. The upside to this is that my poles no longer collapse when I put weight on them. The downside is that my poles no longer collapse for stowing; I never collapsed them anyway. Also there is a loss of structural strength where the hole was drilled but I haven't found this to be a problem (I made the hole as small as possible). I only fixed the lower sections because that's where I was having a problem. My three section poles are now two section. I find it worked well for me.

I going to try the silicone adhesive today on the grips; thanks to all for the input.

Glenn

 

[percious]

At the bike shop we used to use Hairspray to put the grips on, its an old trick.

It is very likely that your grips are worn out, and you should consider picking new ones up. Once grips start moving around, they are never really the same.

-percious

 

[DougPaul]

I pinned them by locking them down using the twist locking mechanism and drilling a hole through the sections. I put a cotter pin through the hole and covered the cotter pin with duct tape. The upside to this is that my poles no longer collapse when I put weight on them.

When mine started to slip, I cleaned the tubes and put a tiny dab of silicone grease on the threads of the locking mechanism. No more problems.

Doug

 

[Lawn Sale]

An alternative to pinning...

On one of my Komperdells and one of my Leki's, I ground down the nub where the stud had broken off on the section. Then I punched it, drilled it out, and tapped it to the same thread pitch as the locking nut. Then I took a bolt, cut the end off it, and inserted that into the new threads with some loctite. This way it still acts the same as it did, and in the case of the Komperdell, is even stronger as the original threaded stud was just plastic. I can screw them in and lock them with no problem and unscrew them so they'll collapse.

I got them for free (among a ton of other stuff), because they were broken, and I figured I had nothing to lose in trying to repair them. It worked great and now I have spares.