Originally Posted by
M Rose
I am asking for advice on how to either strap my existing poles to my bike, or where to find some cheap aluminum poles (under $40.00) that are between 18 and 20” long, or where to buy stuff to make
When I cowboy camped, I'd always bring a tarp with poles in case of rain. I went cheap and heavy-ish on the poles by repurposing old fiberglass tent poles. I took out the shock cord and cut them into a length that would fit into my pannier added back the connectors when needed and rethreaded the shock cord. It wasn't hard to do. They're heavier than aluminum poles, but there's only two of them so it's not really that big of a deal. Running a ridgeline between two trees would save on the poles. You can use your bike as one of the poles if you have something for the other side.
In the picture below, I'm using my fiberglass DIY poles: I can dig them out sometime and get a picture of them if you'd like.