Line Ski Pole Baskets are POOP!

hippy.

Active member
I recently acquired a pair of brand new Pollard Paint Brush Poles. Living in Tahoe, I inevitably installed powder basket on them before use. I am an instructor at Northstar and in the flat training area this morning they crapped out. My first few pole plants were fine, but after one too many...Half broke off, followed by 3 other chunks. I've had my one and only pair off line ski poles for years. I came to the realization I couldn't use my chopped sticks to teach. So I was really hoping the adjustable pole would be the move. Anyone have experience with this? Can I claim warranty?
 
I dont see the point in buying poles other than for touring. Shitty rental or mismatched lost poles do the trick for me.
 
Knowing nothing about these baskets I'm assuming Line is buying them directly from China for cents a piece and marking them up 1000%. Any decent manufacturer of pole baskets would be using a plastic that doesn't break that fast. Seems like our consumerist society of buying crap from China that you expect to break, chuck out, and buy a new one without fixing is catching up to skiing. Revision is a great example.
 
same thing for me on the same poles, bought a second set of pow baskets broke first few pole plants also.

have since stuck the smaller baskets on and lived with it
 
I have the K2 party pole which is also adjustable and they have done well for me, I have used them all season with only a few scratches to report. The pole baskets haven't chipped at all, which is weird because I would think that both poles would be the same thing with different graphics.
 
I have used these poles hard for two seasons with the pow baskets on em and they are mostly fine aside from one little chunk missing. Maybe your just unlucky? I would try and claim a warranty or just see if they could hook you up with new baskets. These are amazing poles so dont give up yet.

Just dont buy the fiberglass ones that they claim are "more durable than you" I snapped them directly in half pushing in the flats after only like 15 days.
 
I broke a pair of pow baskets in 1 day of just using them in the lift lines. The small ones held up for a day but I haven't used them since.
 
I'm currently using a pair of scott worldcup poles from the 80's that I found in my grandparents basement. Solid and do the trick.
 
13792139:bait said:
I dont see the point in buying poles other than for touring. Shitty rental or mismatched lost poles do the trick for me.

Agreed. Although personally, I can't deal with mismatched poles. They can be shitty but they have to be the same.
 
Dang. I've had my pollard paintbrush poles for years, and they've taken a ton of abuse, both baskets and pole itself are holding up just fine. The tip just split open the other day, but it stops at the pole basket, so I pretend it's all good
 
I've had line darts for legitimately 4-5 years now with nothing but a small bend wrong with them, and they easily have the best grip out of any ski pole i have ever used
 
ive seen pieces of the pollard pow baskets all over the line. If you ski over them in line and pull up, they will break really easilly. I tend to leave the small ones on as much as I can because I dont wanna break the large ones.
 
I cut down my old race poles, you can find them pretty cheap on craigslist. They're light, durable, and the baskets never come off or break.
 
same thing happened to my line pow baskets (the big disk shaped ones, not the large snowflake shaped ones they used to have). I ordered another pair offline for like $5 (white ones with a graphic of an old ski basket on em) and they have been perfect with 25 days+ of use. I think they just have a couple shitty batches floating around where the plastic didnt cure properly and just shatters when its flexed
 
Broke my paintbrush basket on Saturday and snapped my pole today during a fall. They have the same quality as everything else line makes. Avoiding that company like the plague for now on.
 
made in china what did you expect though...

I mean they could be made in North America but you'd be paying 5 times more
 
Bump for info. Dude same thing happened to me! The small baskets have been fine, but the first day I used the powder baskets, my first pole plant, the one basket shattered and the other broke in half. My brother was dying in laughter, and I had to ski with two poles with half a basket the rest of the day....

Emailed LINE warranty this month. They said to email them again at the end of the month and they would get me replacements as their parts come in at the end of the month. Didn't ask for receipt.
 
part of it might be your style.

I drag my baskets a lot when I'm going fast so they break pretty often.

also the cold will make them brittle.
 
Should there be issues in that whole process, email me (Hi, I'm Will) at will@lineskis.com.

Thanks!

-W.

**This post was edited on Oct 19th 2017 at 2:22:17pm
 
Sorry we missed this! PSA always just best to contact us directly. Are they red baskets? There was a random batch that had a weird plastic mixture where this would happen. If it wasn't an anomaly it would have happened to more over the years as we've built them the same so yes of course it's under warranty. E-mail josh or will@lineskis.com and we'll get you a new pair. thx - jm
 
Am I the only one that doesn't expect a cheap pair of poles to last more than 6 months? They are disposable products essentially.
 
My powder baskets broke off about 20 days into last season. Luckily it was a quick fix. I replaced them with some Leki baskets, screwed in fine and have held up since.
 
The poles in general are sweet. Cool graphics, adjustable, nice grip/handles. They weren't cheap. $80-125 depending on where you get them.

Money doesn't necessarily make a pole more durable or less likely to break. I have some $30 aluminum sticks that have taken many a beatings and are still fine.
 
I have the OG dart and although it's slightly bent from a tree in japan the baskets are mint, the grips are mint and i never want to get rid of them
 
13846875:IsitWinterYet17 said:
The poles in general are sweet. Cool graphics, adjustable, nice grip/handles. They weren't cheap. $80-125 depending on where you get them.

Money doesn't necessarily make a pole more durable or less likely to break. I have some $30 aluminum sticks that have taken many a beatings and are still fine.

Panda Poles is a company where you really get what you pay for. Check em out. Super durable and lots of options!
 
Anyone who pays more than 20 bucks for poles is seriously compensating for something, lack of skill or lack of awareness of how much of a trustie gaper they really are. Scavenge some rentals or buy 2015's from a ski swap. I was shocked before I saw the guy identify as a schooler (didnt waste any time alerting all of us non-psia plebeians to that fact)
 
13847621:chimpansteeze said:
Anyone who pays more than 20 bucks for poles is seriously compensating for something, lack of skill or lack of awareness of how much of a trustie gaper they really are. Scavenge some rentals or buy 2015's from a ski swap. I was shocked before I saw the guy identify as a schooler (didnt waste any time alerting all of us non-psia plebeians to that fact)

you sound like a massive poser trying to sound core

looking down on the people actually putting money into the industry rather than just stealing or scavenging is pretty pretentious. fucking hipster.
 
13847626:GORILLAWALLACE said:
you sound like a massive poser trying to sound core

looking down on the people actually putting money into the industry rather than just stealing or scavenging is pretty pretentious. fucking hipster.

Agreed. Sound like a douche. Unless you're buying kid size poles (hey, you might be that gaper with 24in poles), it's pretty hard to find new ones for less than $20.
 
13847626:GORILLAWALLACE said:
looking down on the people actually putting money into the industry rather than just stealing or scavenging is pretty pretentious. fucking hipster.

Poles? Youre talking about poles here? You think people buying poles is injecting such massive amounts money into the industry that not doing so would have some giant detriment? If you go for black diamond collapsibles, or whatever premium brand you prefer, for touring then yeah sure its a good call, but spending $90 on aluminum sticks is insane. Wouldn't it do more good for skiing and skiiers overall to save that money and put it towards a pair of skis from a small manufacturer, or even a pair of "core" skis from a larger manufacturer?
 
13847641:chimpansteeze said:
Poles? Youre talking about poles here? You think people buying poles is injecting such massive amounts money into the industry that not doing so would have some giant detriment? If you go for black diamond collapsibles, or whatever premium brand you prefer, for touring then yeah sure its a good call, but spending $90 on aluminum sticks is insane. Wouldn't it do more good for skiing and skiiers overall to save that money and put it towards a pair of skis from a small manufacturer, or even a pair of "core" skis from a larger manufacturer?

I don't know man I mean I guess I could try to explain economics and how the ski industry functions but it's just easier to say you're a retard and call it a day.
 
Mine broke just like described above. I wrote to line via email and they sent me a box of a dozen replacements. I was blown away. Haven’t had a single problem with the new baskets.
 
13848402:GORILLAWALLACE said:
fucking hipster

13848402:GORILLAWALLACE said:
it's just easier to say you're a retard and call it a day.

Yea for sure, you definitely sound like the kind of fella who could give me a breakdown on how "economics" work. I'm guessing you didnt read what I wrote, or more likely didnt understand. Either of which is totally fine, but doesn't change the fact you have absolutely no rational explanation of why you disagree.
 
13848677:.[sanhedrin said:
.]Mine broke just like described above. I wrote to line via email and they sent me a box of a dozen replacements. I was blown away. Haven’t had a single problem with the new baskets.

Got my replacements in today! Only got two :(, but as long as they don't break again that's fine with me.
 
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