Flex/Weight Ranges

[RPVA03]

Some fellow coaches and I are creating a list of all poles and their range of flex for every weight. Manufacturers will not give out this information so we figured we would find it out ourselves. This will help assist us when buying poles and knowing for example if your 150 lb. pole is a stiff one or a soft one. This is done when participants enter every pole they have along with the weight and flex by brand onto a Google Spreadsheet.

If you are interested in entering your pole information. Send me a PM with your email and I will share the Google Spreadsheet with you.

[PV2020]

No offence, your heart is in the right place, but this is a waist of time.

Knowing the flex range for a certain weight does nothing. You are putting too much thought into the actual weight label.

If the softest 150lb pole is a 18.0 and the stiffest 150lb pole is 17.0 it doesn't really matter. If you have a 14' 150lb 18.0 flex, knowing that it is the softest 150lb pole they make does you know good. Knowing that it is 1.0 stiffer than the 145 you have, is what is important.

You need to buy poles depending on what you have in your bag. This is why you need to tell the manufacturer the flex you want. If you have a 14' 150lb 18.0 flex and want to buy a 145, you do not ask for a 145 because they might send you a 18.1. A 18.1 might technically be labeled a 145, but it is like a half a pound difference. Instead of asking for a 145, ask for a 14' 145lb 19.0 flex pole.

Knowing the actual cut off for flexes at each weight and if your pole is soft or stiff would only be any help if you ordered poles by asking for a soft or stiff 145. Since you can just look at the flex on the poles you already have, just ask for 1.0 bigger or smaller when changing by 5lb increments (for smaller poles... bigger poles 15+ are more like .8 for 5lb).

Just remember it is all relative to what the athlete is currently jumping on. If you do not have any pole of a certain length when ordering poles, just make sure that the series they give you is evenly spaced or close to it. If you order a brand new series of 13' poles, you want them all to be close to the same decimal place (20.3, 19.3, 18.3, 17.3, 16.3.... etc)

If you are switching from a half pole to a hole pole and are using spirits (13'6 to 14'... 14'6 to 15', or 15'6 to 16), the '6 is flexed the same as the bigger pole. So a 13'6 17.4 is pretty much the same size pole as a 14' 17.4 (one may be labeled 165 and the other 160).

[RPVA03]

PV2020:

Thanks for your opinion. However, I am already aware of everything you stated and there are reasons for creating this list that you are unaware of. So again, thanks for the input, but you don't have to participate if you don't see the value that others see in it.

[RPVA03]

We have a great list going. over 500 poles, could use more though. Let me know if you're interested.

[RPVA03]

List is growing. Could still use more people. PM me if you're interested!