I read the directions include and basicly, they want me to jam the head onto a tapered shaft. For some reason I think there should be something else holding it on (a side nail perhaps?). Am I just worrying too much?

I notice that all of our Red Company pikes are held onto the shaft by a pin of some sort. I suspect that what I'm seeing is a rivet or something hammered in and peened over. The heads don't come off.

To address the safety/transportation issue: We use 10' and 14' pikes, and they stick out of whatever vehicle we transport them in by a good bit. I solved the safety issue by making a 24" long, drawstring "sock" that was about as big around as a coffee can out of bright yellow duck. I wedged 2" of closed cell foam into the bottom of the can, and dropped the can into the bag. The bag goes over the business end of the pikes, and the points go into the coffee can. The foam in the coffee can prevents the heads from rattling around, and the can prevents someone from being poked in the head or cut if they walk into the thing in the parking lot. A bungee cord loops through the draw cord at the other end of the sock and hooks into the vehicle, preventing the sock from blowing off. A clip sewn into the seam of the longer one snaps onto an orange safety flag, satisfying the requirement for things that hang out of vehicles to be flagged.

This works very well for us, and I suspect a smaller can could be used just as effectively for a single pike.

Hope this helps-