Stratospire 1 support pole options - Bikepacking friendly

[liamarchie]

I've got my shelter sussed, love the SS1... however having recently forayed into the world of Bikepacking i've come to the conclusion that hiking poles arent very practical to carry on a bike in terms of weight and space.

I've had a look around and tarptent do a support pole, which is likely gonna cost a fortune importing. And also had a price for some bear bones carbon ones as an option.

I'm not 100% convinced on the support poles as the tent is under a lot of tension when correctly pitched with hiking poles and i suspect normal poles would flex. This is more of a worry as i plan to go up to scotland soon. Also, i'd prefer not to shell out for poles when the trekking poles i have work perfectly fine.

So can any of you bright sparks suggest a way i could possibly modify my trekking poles to be more bike friendly, or recommend suitable support poles that are known to be good for purpose?

 

[One L]

I have the Strat 1 and bought the support poles at the same time as I also wanted to use the tent for cycle touring..I've only tried the support poles with the tent pitched in the garden and found the poles sinking into the ground..As you say they are under a lot of tension and in my opinion I wouldn't bother with them..

 

[tallest of pauls]

cant you just stick a couple of milk bottle tops under the poles to stop them sinking.? Semi skimmed of course to save putting on too much weight.

you could buy a couple of these and cut the pointy bit off.

https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/3F-1...id=8a9f6074-e4ee-4eaa-b458-b994612ca75b&tpp=1

 

[Shewie]

What about carbon golf club shafts? Cheap on the bay and should be strong enough, somebody on here uses them for trekking poles

Failing that I think you can buy carbon in various shapes, sizes and thicknesses on ebay

 

[One L]

Couple of weeks ago i bought some rubber ferrules from Backpacking light to go over the ends of my walking poles..Just tried them on the Tarptent support poles..Perfect fit..

 

[FOX160]

Remove the handles and insert rubber stoppers inside the holes of the trekking poles!!
Stopping the poles from sinking. Has Tallest of Paul’s says use milk top or a flat pebble
basically anything light and supportive.

 

[Franco Darioli]

TT offers two type of substitute poles.
The lighter ones are standard tent poles (they do bend without too much pressure) but we also have the Vertical Support poles .
Those are 12.4 mm , about 3x stronger , around 120g each for the SS1/2. $18 each.

 

[One L]

I think those are the ones that I bought..$16 each...Used them once pitching in my garden and they started sinking into the lawn...I've since put those ferrules on them but haven't had a chance to pitch it yet..Works great with the walking poles though..

 

[FOX160]

I think those are the ones that I bought..$16 each...Used them once pitching in my garden and they started sinking into the lawn...I've since put those ferrules on them but haven't had a chance to pitch it yet..Works great with the walking poles though..

I had purchased the rear pole for my Tarptent. They advise to place a flat pebble/stone under the pole or
for 1gram a plastic milk top works.

 

[benp1]

Stuart at bearbonesbikepacking will make you a couple of pairs of carbon poles to fit