New Xpole Brass

CD Hussey fka Jivete started this discussion · 10/3/2012

I want to get a new, smaller pole (I have a 50mm chrome, but I also bought a TG extension to test how I like it for grip), and I'm seriously thinking about brass. I have major issues with slippage on the pole and I hate it. I sweat quite a bit and while I've only occasionally been on brass, it seems to have the right grip for me to feel comfortable. Has anyone tried the new xpole brass? I read the thread about them here, but that seems to focus on the old finish (brushed not polished). I'm also waffling a little between TG and brass because I do like to spin. And I'm also not sure whether to go with xpole or PS, though I'm leaning toward xpole. Any thoughts?

15 replies

monica kay · 10/3/2012
i am a sweaty poler and have a TG xpole 45mm and I still slip. I was not at all pleased with the grip- i personally see no difference in grip between TG and chrome xpoles. I did play on azblanco's 50mm brass PS pole one day and loved it- and felt I had better grip. however, when my body got really sweaty, i still slipped. BUT i still felt the difference in grip on the brass and i really liked it. I see a visible difference in xpole brass and PS brass and judging by appearance, I believe I will stick better to PS brass and not the xpole. I have never touched a brass xpole tho, so I could be wrong.
CD Hussey fka Jivete · 10/3/2012
Thanks! I guess they recently changed the xpole brass to a more polished finish instead of a brushed finish, so it should be similar to PS. I've never used PS, so I don't have an opinion either way. I've read more negative things about PS so I'm a little hesitant purchasing from them. Hmm, decisions, decisions...
Dancing Paws · 10/3/2012
I am the same as Katana. I find TG and chrome to feel very similar. I am a big sweater and slipped on the TG. It has some good body grip, but nowhere near as sticky as PS's brass. PS brass can be a bit overgtrippy though.
inkyfingers · 10/6/2012
I JUST bought an Xpole and I vewry much hope it's the polished brass, not the brushed brass. I'd hate to spend all that money and then slip off the pole, especially since slipping has has resulted in quite a few injuries for me. When did Xpole switch from brushed brass to polished brass? Does anybody know?
X Pole Tech · 10/6/2012
X-Pole updated its Brass finnish on shipments from approximately 2 months ago. If you have only recently ordered your pole it will be the newer surface fininsh. The new finnish is now shiny and grippy. Please note that X-Pole has never had 'Brushed' Brass poles. The 1st generation Brass X-Poles used different polishing discs which gave a more matt finish but they were still polished. We will be releasing a video, hopefully now mid next week, on how to 'Makeover' Brass poles and keep them grippy. Unfortunately we have had a couple of technical issues during videoing which have delayed us. X-Pole Tech Team
inkyfingers · 10/6/2012
thank you for your quick reply. I have never owned an Xpole, so this is good to know. the new shiny finish is also for Canada, correct? I can't wait to see your video.
vickiezoo · 10/7/2012
I have tried the older style brass x pole and i couldn't get any grip on it. I find the chrome fine anyway, stainless steel is good too.
moonflower · 10/7/2012
I own an older style brass x pole as well and the matte finish did not get along with my skin. I tried to sell/ trade it but had no takers.The chrome x poles are AMAZING once they are broken in, but it takes some time. I also own a Platinum Stages brass and that finish works wonders for me and it's the only thing I can use in winter, however, my PS brass pole has already started to warp. I'm going to wait for people to review the new xpole brass, and if the finish is good, I"m getting one as well. I think I'm addicted to buying poles.
Dancing Paws · 10/7/2012
moonflower - x pole said you can have the only brass polished. Call them to find out how.
X Pole Tech · 10/7/2012
Please wait a few days and the video will be up showing you how to get your Brass poles shiny and grippy. X-Pole Tech Support
firebird · 10/7/2012
Hi dearly-beloved fellow polers, and not-always-so-dearly-beloved x-pole. So I have to chime in here based on experiences we've had at our studio w/brass over the last year -- and yes, I guess we JUST missed that 2-month-ago switch, so all below comments pertain the the old "matte" (not polished) finish... *** POLE #1 : brass x-stage *** This one got very little use initially, up until recently, as in about 3 months ago, suddenly we started to use it ALOT. In the beginning it was impossibly slippy! But THEN... well, we'd heard people say "u just have to break the brass ones in, and once u do, the grip is AMAZING". Oh SO true! We all came to crave that grip & resent other poles! That said, I started to also notice in me that my skin perhaps didn't agree w/that finish, as I would get really strange bruises from doing moves I've done 1,000 x's & that stopped bruisimg me ages ago! Weird. However, I should also add that after noticing this and also similar experiences from playing on powder-coated Lil Minx poles earlier last summer, I've developed a theory that skin tends to bruise up more from poling on a new/diff surface that ur not very used to. Maybe that sounds crazy? Can't think of any other explanation. Ok onto... *** POLE #2 : brass 45mm *** Again, great grip, even better than our 1st experience, almost right from the get-go. Even our sweatiest students got on there to confirm this, LOVING that pole! EXCEPT... THE WOBBLE!!!! WTF?!? Literally I mean, nice & securely PRESSURE-MOUNTED, u could feel like the hulk the way anyone could just go up & grab that thing & make it jerk to & fro! & unlocked to spin mode: WORSE! You could have 100lb-er on there, daintily spinning w/all the control in the world, & still that pole really bowed while spinning, holy cow! So off that pole goes, back to the -pole offices to take a look & give us s'thing better. They checked by rolling it on the floor (make sure surface is flat) to see if any wobble or other unnevenness was detected (duh! We never considered doing that!), saw a problem w/the one we had (w/only 1 week's worth of BARELY any use on it!), gave us new pieces to replace the "bad" warped ones, & off we go back to studio... *** POLE #3 (kind of): #2 w/new pieces from x-pole *** NO improvement at ALL in wobble. Upon completing the installation of it, from the very 1st spins (on static & spin mode) & set of trix, the pole was already swaying around. Ayayay... And this time we ourselves did that "roll on the ground" test to insure that it was indeed perfectly straight and not already bowed (it wasn't). All that rigamarole (& time lost?!) for NO change! We tested & talked about it to quite a degree, but in the end, it was bad enuf that our studio owner was like "no way, this is a liability & can't have such an insecure-looking & -feeling pole in the studio for general use". So (sadly) we took it down & back it goes into it's travel case... I've been keeping up w/the threads here on x-poles, stages & brass to see if I can learn more & understand better what is going on with this. I read, for instance one person's explanation of how brass is an alloy mixture of 2 (?) diff metals, I guess making it inherently softer/weaker? So I wonder if that's part of the problem? I will also add that we SWEAR the brass pole on our x-stage is NOT wobbly like this! I mean, we are pretty certain of this, even normalizing in our minds for the fact that there is some invevitable wobble on a stage pole by design. We swear we feel more secure on that stage than on this ceiling-to-floor pressure-mounted thing. Then again, maybe the pressure-mounting ITSELF is the problem? Would a permnent-bolted set-up be optimal for this alloy??? Anyway, anyone else out there have issues w/that wobble? I'm so surprised that I have not yet seen anyone mention this (unless I've just missed it). Well, I'm off to CPDC in abt an hour, & expect x-pole reps will b there. If so, get ready, bc here I come -- I'll be making a bee-line straight for your booth quite a conversation abt this!
firebird · 10/7/2012
Oh, 1 more thing (yes sorry, just 1 more thing): Our studio retails a LOT of x-poles! And we've had so many inquries abt the new brass offerings, which we don't yet stock bc of these failed experiments on our own end. So needless to say we as a policy (at least right now) do NOT recommend/endorse the brass finish to people who want to buy them. How could we confidently do so, considering how insecure they seem? They may indeed be more secure than they look/feel, but we aren't about to test that out on the backs (or necks!) of our patrons!
CapFeb · 10/8/2012
I might be a little bit behind the curve here, but last I heard xpole was not shipping brass to the USA? Or did that change recently?
CD Hussey fka Jivete · 10/8/2012
Could the "wobble" indicate the pole has been overtightened? I made that mistake with a chrome xpole early on and brass would have even more flex...
CD Hussey fka Jivete · 10/23/2012
I went ahead and bout the 45mm Brass xpole. I thought I'd give my opinion so far. The grip is really good. Not too grippy yet, but I'm still breaking it in. It is definitely grippy though. There is some give to the pole. Not much more than the chrome 45s at my studio, but definitely more than my 50 mm chrome xpole which is very stout. My ceilings are just a smidge over 8'. Overall I really like the pole. I like that when I sweat it still maintains some grip. I sweat when I dance and this is the only material I don't have to wipe down constantly.