Frequently Asked Questions

BannerFlex hardware products carry a 12-year warranty for a reason. They are virtually maintenance free, if installed according to our instructions. Wear and potential loosening of the actual bracket on the utility pole can occur if the fastening used to secure the bracket onto the pole, such as banding or bolts, is not at least the tightness, quality and strength of our recommendations in our instructions. Click here and find the Hardware Banding Guidelines for recommended fastening.

Note that it is not generally the BannerFlex hardware that requires maintenance, it is the fastening that should be routinely observed to be tight and secure. If you see any loosening of a Main Casting, the fastening needs to be remedied as soon as possible. Once the wind is allowed to “work away” on any installation it does not take long for the fastening to begin to fail and allow damage to the banner and for the hardware to become a hazard.

The BannerFlex System is not a “mechanical contraption”. Our system is designed as a flexible static system using today’s “space-age” materials to dissipate wind force from the utility pole and banner. For the ultimate in performance and maintenance-free longevity, choose our “Airow” products.

We manufacturer a “Flag Pole Adapter” that fits into our BannerFlex D3 Main Casting  to be used for typical nylon or polyester flags, such as US Flags and so on. However, we do not recommend this type of installation for displaying banners such as our 22oz vinyl or marine acrylic textiles.

Please note that for exterior installations of both marine acrylic and vinyl banners, the banners should not be allowed to flap in the wind, with such as “flag” applications or applications for which banners are not installed on quality banner brackets that stretch the banner with top and bottom brackets. Banners which “whip” or “flutter” in the wind are not installed properly and will result in damage to the material and inks

Yes. The two standard colors for most BannerFlex products are uncoated aluminum and black powder coat. The round fiberglass rods are available in "natural" off white and also in black. The premium Airow arm is only available in gray powder coat but the aluminum castings for the Airow system can be natural aluminum or black powder coat. Custom powder coat colors are available for most of the BannerFlex products except the fiberglass arms. Contact us for more information on custom colors.

Yes, each of the models can be through-bolted or lag bolted to most any type of utility pole. The BannerFlex D3 and BannerFlex Metro models already have bolt holes cast into them. The JR model does not have bolt holes but appropriate size holes can easily be drilled by Consort or by the customer - there are two little dimples or circles cast into the JR to indicate where the holes should be drilled.

Yes, the BannerFlex D3 Main Casting can easily be wall-mounted using our Wall Mount Plates shown on the kalamazoobanner.com site and the bannerflex.com site. We do not have stock wall-mount plates for the Metro or JR models.

There are three basic KBW BannerFlex models and each of those has several arm options. These are briefly explained below. For more information also see our "Hardware Banding Guidelines Chart" which shows the bracket models and suggested banner sizes. In addition, see our "Wind Force Calculator" for wind effects of banners that are 30"W x 60"T and 30"W x 94"T.

For smaller banners, such as 18"W x 36"T to 24"W x 48"T, the BannerFlex JR model is an inexpensive choice. This is a simple, non-adjustable bracket without the "canting" feature that the two other models have (the canting helps keep the banner tighter and trimmer than a non-canted bracket).

For banners in the 24"W x 48"T to 30"W x 72"T range consider the BannerFlex Metro models as medium-sized options. These are also perfect for smaller, ornamental and "fluted" poles as the pole casting is designed to accommodate most fluted pole configurations. For slightly taller banners (to 30" W x 84" T and for more wind reduction consider the Metro Airow model. All Metro brackets feature the canted arms for tighter and trimmer look, with no destructive "flapping" and billowing. See the Wind Force Calculator for information regarding the regular Metro versus the Metro Airow models.

For banners in the 30" W x 60"T to 30" W x 94"T consider the BannerFlex D3 and the D3 Airow. These are perfect for the more typical large scale street banners For more wind reduction consider the D3 Airow model. All D3 models feature the canted arms for tighter and trimmer look, with no destructive "flapping" and billowing. Again, see the Wind Force Calculator for information regarding the D3 versus the D3 Airow models.

If you have square poles with flat faces of over 5", please look at the Square Pole Adapter options to allow the banding to provide more tension and strength to the installation.

If you're mounting to the side of a building, see our Wall Mount Plates.

For structural advice, we urge you to consult your pole supplier or local engineer or architect to provide advice and inspection of the pole and foundation if necessary. Using data from our site as well as specifications of the pole's structural capabilities (from the manufacturer) most pole heights and shapes can be accommodated for display of one or two banners per pole. However, sometimes poles may not allow the size of banner that you prefer.

All shapes and cross-sections of poles can be accommodated. For fluted and ornamental poles consider the Metro. For round and hexagonal or octagonal all our models usually work very well. For square poles with flat faces of 5" or more we recommend Square Pole Adapters for both Metro and D3 versions. Brackets can also be bolted to poles in lieu of banding, in which case, Square Pole Adapters would not be necessary for faces of 5" or more.

Please see this pdf for instructions on using the Banding Tool (this is not for screw-gear banding). Note for most 3/4" banding applications we recommend the "double-wrapping" of the band, as noted in illustration #5 in these instructions: https://www.bannerflex.com/resources/download-documentation . See our "Hardware Banding Guidelines" on the Documentation page of "Resources" to determine if double-wrapping is required to keep the KBW BannerFlex Warranty in place.

Yes, we have standard sizes as you will see offered on the online store and in our literature. But, custom lengths are available with the round fiberglass rods. The premium Airow feature is only available in 25" length, for 24" wide banner, and 31" length, for 30" wide banner.

Other accessories and options include Square Pole Adapters, Wall Mount Plates, Tie-Down Mounts (if you only want the arm bracket at the top and prefer a simple pole attachment at the bottom so the banner will flutter and release more wind force). The Arm Castings and Main Castings can be powder coated custom colors (raw aluminum and black are stock options). We do have special "Finials" for arm ends available for all arms except the Airow models, by special order.

Square Pole Adapters, also known as Adaptor Shims, are used on the back of the D3 and Metro Main Castings to fit odd-shaped fluted poles or on the wide flat face of square poles where that face is over 5" wide. The extra space created between the back of the main castings and the pole face allows more banding tension onto the casting creating a very tight installation. Of course, these are not needed if bolting on to any size square pole. If the flat face is too wide and the shims are not used, the casting would tend to slip around under the banding and the installation would eventually work its way loose and fail.

The three basic methods are via 5/8" Screw Gear Banding, Tool-applied Band-It® brand banding / buckles and by bolting to the poles.

For advice on which method to choose either consult the "Hardware Banding Guidelines Chart" or use our Guided Purchasing option on the online store or consult with a Consort Sales Representative through email, "Live Chat" or telephone 1-800-525-6424.

The easiest option is the 5/8" Screw Gear Banding, which is simply a long, heavy duty version of a 'radiator clamp'. We recommend that you buy these from us as they are custom made by Ideal to our specifications and similar bands that you may access from a local hardware store will not be the same width or strength. We do not recommend 1/2" wide or 9/16" wide bands nor do we recommend "Quick Clamp" screw gear bands. We sell and recommend versions where the screw is "captured".

If our "Hardware Banding Guidelines Chart" does not recommend screw gear bands for your banner installation due to banner size and or number of banners per pole (one or two), use the 3/4" wide tool-applied banding. This is the strongest and most reliable option. It's easy to learn and easy to do. The instructions are clear and we have online Banding Video Instruction available.

If you'd like to purchase extremely durable, high-quality digitally-printed Sunbrella® and Vinly banners to go with your BannerFlex® banner hardware, visit Kalamazoo Banner Works.

This is very simple. Each banner should have a grommet installed near the top and bottom hems at the pole side. Our BannerFlex brackets are all provided with an eyelet on the arm or on the Main Casting (the JR). After the banner hem is installed over the fiberglass arm you apply a weather-resistant 18 gauge or heavier through the eyelet and banner hem and secure. It's that simple!

In our online store, the items are selected individually and placed in the cart. If you need assistance in determining what items you need, please see our "Guided Purchasing" pathway. If you need assistance from a sales person, please do not hesitate to contact us by telephone or email.

The "standard rod" is a round, pultruded fiberglass rod which is consistently strong through the full length of the rod. In explanation, pultruded means that all the glass fibers are parallel and running the full length of the rod. There are thousands of products using this technology such as fishing poles, bicycle flags and our Dori Pole Pennant System. For light poles that are strong enough to have the bracket dissipate less wind the less expensive regular round rod banner brackets are the perfect choice. We've manufactured this type of bracket for over 30 years and it is still our best seller.

The premium BannerFlex® Airow® is a modified version of this technology where the rod is still pultruded but the shape tapers eccentrically down to the outer edge, much like a fishing pole. This makes it more and more flexible from the main casting at the pole to the end. That is, where the most strength is needed at the pole, the arm is thicker. At the outer edge less and less strength is required. In this case, the word "eccentric" refers to the fact that the top of the rod of the top bracket is rounded to protect the banner hem and the reverse is true of the bottom rod where the bottom is rounded. It is, in fact, the same rod for both applications but simply turned "upside down" at the bottom hem.