Best way to straighten/bend poles?

[oftpiste]

I Goodwilled (yes, it's a new verb I just invented) a pair of Smith z-bends the other day, only they're more than z-bent. Everyone in the store was looking at me like I was nuts because I was buying bent poles!

I think they can be returned to some semblance of their former shape as it's fairly evident where the original bends are (I alos have some others for comparison) and where they got sat on, but I'm wondering if there's a trick to pole-bending known only by the wizened royalty of our resident shop mags.

Heat?
Vice?
Run over with car?

Thank you.

[beer30]

be gentle

[BSS]

be real gentle. Z bends are strong, but super brittle when it comes to dented spots.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Z bends are strong, but super brittle when it comes to dented spots.

Which is why I'm on pair #4. Why do I keep getting these things?

Seriously, the Z-bend doesn't need any heat, you can pretty much straighten them with your bare hands. Just be smoov, like BSS said, and don't try to straighten out any real kinks because they'll snap.

[XXX-er]

bend em over yer knee or put em behind yer neckand pulle down ...not rocket biology

[Meadow Skipper]

If the bend isn't creased, then hold the pole by the handle and whack them more or less lightly at the outside point of the bend on a tree or wooden post. Repeat rhythmically until it's straight. Slowly, patiently.

If they're creased you're fuct.

[Caucasian Asian]

I used to work with somes guys that would race in the Velocity Challenge. To achieve the most aerodynamic shape in their tuck they would bend their poles around themselves. They would pull the grips off and fill the poles with sand before bending. The sand would support the walls of the pole like a tubing bender and if you bent them slowly, wouldn't crease.

[jondrums]

filling with sand is an standard trick to keep from kinking tubing when you bend it. Advanced trick is to fill with wax and melt it out later. I don't recommend this for bending poles.

DO NOT HEAT up the poles to bend them. If you got them hot enough to make the bend easier, you just ruined the temper of the aluminum. I repeat, heating will not help at all.

[bostonski]

bend em over yer knee or put em behind yer neckand pulle down ...not rocket biology

What the hell is rocket biology?

[vailcat]

its easy just;
1. Grab pole by its ends with each hand.
2. raise high over head.
3. bring up right knee while simultaneously bringing down both hands with maximum force
4. toss each end of old pole in garbage
5. walk in a rental shop and ask for a set of poles for the day and keep or if your honest find a lifty shack and have a lifty help you match up a pair as best you can

Thread concluded

[huckbucket]

What the hell is rocket biology?

I'll tell you what the hell "rocket biology" is. "Rocket biology" is my new catch phrase. Thanks XXX

[XXX-er]

What the hell is rocket biology?

credit where credit is due

I used to have this waterstick zen carbon fibre padddle which totally fucked both elbows probably due to being too large in grip circumfrence ,which I sold to this tree planter/RPF wanabe from U of A who paid for the stik & also wanted to buy me beers & dinner at the bar (very cool move)and he used the term rocket biology as in " this isnt rocket biology" which I always thot was kinda cool .

rocket Biology could be something real ... but probably not

[DownhillRider]

DO NOT HEAT up the poles to bend them. If you got them hot enough to make the bend easier, you just ruined the temper of the aluminum. I repeat, heating will not help at all.

Ahh I was wrong/been bending my poles the wrong way then. Deleted my first post so someone doesnt read it and go out and do what I did.

[Mathematics]

Best way to straighten/bend poles?

buy new ones, they're pretty cheap unless you're getting the neon super steezy models.

[Sphinx15]

If the bend isn't creased, then hold the pole by the handle and whack them more or less lightly at the outside point of the bend on a tree or wooden post. Repeat rhythmically until it's straight. Slowly, patiently.

If they're creased you're fuct.

Meadow Skipper has it right, a good tree and some "gentle whacks" opposite the bend will do the trick if there is no crease

[bkopp]

I've had good luck with sand too. Learned the trick when I was building bike frames and have since used it successfully for a ski pole (once).

[bornincolorado]

while skiing in the woods:
look for 2 trees that are about as close together as the basket and/or handle is from the bend in the pole (which ever is shorter). use one tree to steady one end and put the bent section on the other tree (make sure it's a big thick tree so you spread the pressure). Gently pull/push on the free end bit by bit while checking your progress every few tugs. This works well for strait poles, not sure about gay, I mean Z-bends.

Hope that made sense.

or buy CF poles and problem solved.