I want to figure out a way to use my trekking poles as spreader bars. Ive done some quick searches and found some people were able to do it on the Ridge Runner. The odd thing is, not many people actually do it. Is that because its not really as effective as youd think? I mean, saving 12 ounces or so on spreader bars seem like a big deal to me and yet i havn't seen a ton of postings on it.

So my questions are....
1. Do the people who use spreader bars for their Ridge Runner like it?
2. Is there a way to adopt a similar setup onto the Banyan?