when buying a used pole...

[Robert schmitt]

I weigh 195 and am 6'2" if I grab a 14' on a 185 holding six inches down in optimal grip area. have a nice tall plant, jump off the ground, have good pole rotation, and because of my high angle of take off only bend the pole say 50 degrees. Did that over stress the pole?

Conversly a vaulter that is 170 grabs that same 185 lb pole. comes barreling down the runway, doesn't jump off the ground at all bends that pole to 100 plus degrees, has no pole movment because of the crappy take off, you can see and hear the pole load up as his body mass sinks into the box rather than riseing up. Did he not over stress that pole?

[Decamouse]

What you said is what I think Brian is alluding to - I have watched guys plant under - lever like crazy - bend the snot out of the pole - then get very little penetration - and brag about bending the pole - big bends do not make big vaults - proper technique - now about us semi old - semi slow guys - since loss in velocity (that infamous squared term in the force equations) has a whole lot bigger effect - many Masters will vault on poles near or below there body weight - and if you don't bring your onw poles will usually find something that works to clear some heights - even if it means holding down two foot on a lonmger pole - some even understand that it is not optimal - but - the alt. is no hgt - how many broken poles at my multi's have I seen - I bring 20-30 poles for people to use - zero - must be that velocity thing

[pvjackex]

i find it that alot of beginners think bending is so important. they make it sound like that is all there is to pole vault. my teammate bent poles 20lbs over his weight, but he only went 9'6 once. another kid in my league had a great swing he stiff poled 11ft.

[Bruce Caldwell]

I weigh 195 and am 6'2" if I grab a 14' on a 185 holding six inches down in optimal grip area. have a nice tall plant, jump off the ground, have good pole rotation, and because of my high angle of take off only bend the pole say 50 degrees. Did that over stress the pole?

Conversly a vaulter that is 170 grabs that same 185 lb pole. comes barreling down the runway, doesn't jump off the ground at all bends that pole to 100 plus degrees, has no pole movment because of the crappy take off, you can see and hear the pole load up as his body mass sinks into the box rather than riseing up. Did he not over stress that pole?

ROBERT you have presented some valid points here to discuss.
Let me ask you how high can you jump with a 14'185? and have you tried using a 13'7" 195? Could you jump higher? It might be worth testing if you can. However from other post you have stated you have jumped on 14’6â€Â

[vaultdad]

As frightening as this may sound, I agree with Bruce wholeheartedly on the subject of inspecting the pole carefully when purchasing a new or used pole.

I officiate PV for a high school here in Missouri, and this year I have seen a number of poles break. After watching how some athletes (Male and Female) treat their poles it's not hard to understand what shortens the life of a pole. Knowing how the pole was treated would be critical information for me. I've seen poles angrily thrown on the ground after a poor vault, tossed on fences as make-do pole stands, thrown on school buses under the seats,stepped on by non-vaulters with needle spikes, and young women who are seniors in high school who are still using 100# poles. You show me a 100# female senior in high school, and I'll probably show you a girl whose too belimic to vault. Whatever the reason, if the tape is 70%chewed off ,or there is dings or dents in the pole body, or has cracks at the top don't buy the pole. Why should you risk your limbs because of someone elses stupidity?

The pole tubes such as Essx ships the poles in have been excellent in deflecting shipping damage compared to the paper tubes my earlier poles have been shipped in. This year, we made more tubes to fit out the schools new Gill poles and gave each pole a nickname as well. The idea was to foster caring for the equipment instead of treating it like the rest of the schools property. After this past season ended, I inspected the poles and surprise! Very little to no damage.

Sorry about the long post, but I couldn't pass this one up

[Bruce Caldwell]

YES we think the paper tube is a poor way to ship and protect the delicate vaulting pole


I like that idea of nicknaming your vaulting pole

I will start a new thread on that one OK

[vaultin chris]

they ship $12,000 tv's in cardboard boxes. if its dmaged when u get it u can send it back and redeem the warranty. So instead of trying to ensure my with a "nice plastic" tube offer with a warranty for the poles. no matter what u ship it in it can be damaged.

[vaultdad]

they ship $12,000 tv's in cardboard boxes. if its dmaged when u get it u can send it back and redeem the warranty. So instead of trying to ensure my with a "nice plastic" tube offer with a warranty for the poles. no matter what u ship it in it can be damaged.


I agree on the shipping TV's part, but have you ever really looked at the shipping materials? Boxes like that cost the manufacturer $100 and up, and are designed with engineering testing so that you can watch ESPN on that big TV when you get it home. All I know is how badly cardboard tubes look when they arrive compared to the PVC material cases. I don't think I've seen a paper tube arrive yet with both its metal caps intact. One of my earlier poles sat on the FedEx dock for two weeks whle they waited for a reason to deliver to my area. Don't think that tube didn't get abused laying on the dock.
We built cases for $7 a piece . . . Does anyone know how much a cardboard tube costs? I think its cheap insurance for a $200+ implement.

[Decamouse]

Shipping location seems to have as much to due with damage as anything else - certain locations always have more problems - some seem to never do. We can tubes back that are marked up on the outside - so the customer did not accept - pole is removed and has no damage - can not blame customer - although if they do not sign for it until they remove it they would know if the pole was damaged - regardless - when you look at the number of damaged/returns versus the number of poles - it is very small - by the way - I have seen PVC tubes flattened as well -

[Bruce Caldwell]

You are correct;
If a forklift rolls over a pole no matter if it is a pvc tube, abs tube, or paper tube.
It is a goner.

I feel that a pole no matter if it looks ok but the packaging is damaged, it would be best to return it, as you do not know if there is some hidden damage.

The plastic tube is expensive, but worth the cost after fighting with claims and disappointed athletes because they did not get an undamaged pole to them in time.


The paper tube looks better, however we never found a good way to keep the caps on and still allow easy access to getting your pole out of the tube.

The new PVC tubes have a screw in top for ease in removing and storing and the other end has a permanent cap.

Any more than three and it is heavy so you need to transfer them to a drainpipe at that point. SO the plastic tubes have a down side and an up side to them

[Decamouse]

Ever point is a good one - I still carry some of my javelins in the PVC tubes they came in -