Birmingham Bike Polo Chat & BS Thread

At the moment we have about 10 locals and maybe even one from London coming down.

Geography fail.

Apologies to all geographers

I got a text off Rob last night - he's injured and won't be at polo for a few weeks. Shall we just go ahead with seeding in his absence? Shouldn't affect things too much...

Hope he aint too badly mashed up..

Just a bad knee, I don't know more than that.

Just waiting for Simps to sort it out then.

Hi. Ermm, other than eBay or my LBS, where can i get an new old MTB wheel from? Puzzled Pierre ...

You're going to struggle as it's a 7-speed freehub body. You could use a standard rear wheel, re-index the gears and use a spacer (probably) or take this opportunity to get yourself a proper, dishless, singlespeed rear wheel which will be significantly stronger.

Or try retrobike.co.uk

Retrobike is your best bet. Is your wheel totally broken Pete, or just the rim? I have a 36 hole mtb rim you can have.

Ermmm, i;m not sure to be honest Neil, i just know that it doesn't perform 'wheel like' duties anymore. I'd have thought that getting a rim rebuilt was more trouble than it was worth but thanks for the offer Mr Neil (afterrammingintomyretrobeautyandandsmashingitintoapringleshapednonwheelyounastycnut) - you are such a gent.

So Daniel, maybe i should rephrase my question to .. given that i have a collection of spacers and a single gear, where can i get a proper dishless, singlespeed rear wheel that is significantly stronger and lives in the area where a 26" MTB wheel used to live?

Incidentally, it was 8 speed....and lived a happy 20+ years untilthatsaddaysomeweeksagowh .... :)

I read all that in your accent....

Huh? A tearful Geordie accent? Thats proppa nice like, cheers marra

Incidentally, it was 8 speed....and lived a happy 20+ years untilthatsaddaysomeweeksagowh .... :)

Forgot your setup.

What size sprocket do you have on the back?

If it's 18 or below, you can get a dishless wheel built for £80-150 but you'd have to buy a new freewheel (£10-30).

If it's over 18t, you can do the same, but the freewheel will cost a lot more (£70+) but it would be nicer. Obviously.

If you can't be bothered with those options, you can get pretty much any mtb wheel with a v-compatible rim and just switch your current sprocket over. If you get a big-ass downhill/freeridey rim, it'll be pretty strong, but I reckon 26" dishless with a decent rim is as tough as you can get for polo.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/halo-combat-26-inch-single-speed-rear-wheel

Good Wheels the Halos..singlespeed flavour and v brake compatible...

Does Pete run a magic gear or a tensioner?

Tensioner..

P.s, voila

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61894753@N03/5631851528/in/photostream

Theres our goal bases people =)

They look proper good!

Had a fantastic idea for the uprights..make them portable and cheap to replace if damage occurs..

I'm keep stum though..odd find..but it will work.

I'll be sourcing nets over a few pints of homebrew and ebay in the sticks over the weekend.

Bases look beautiful.

Should we get them powdercoated?

Who is going to keep/transport them? I don't really have room...

Hmm, powdercoating..dunno..could always brush them? Brushed Ally looks cool and is free..

I can store them no problem, plenty of room.

Transport fail though...

I'll get cracking on them when i return from Wales.

Oh yeah, they're ali - forgot - just thought they were steel and would rust. Bare is fine.

=p

SEEDING

Dan W 162
Andy 155
Fin 146
Dan LJ 138
Chris 120
Matt 111
Neil 86
Pete 80
Lucas 77
Stu F 64
Sarah 44
Simon 39
Rob 33
Jess 25

Awesome, you love me, you *really *love me....

Dan_LJ, Matt and Neil I owe you a saddle. I have two mustardy-brown ones and one turquoisey blue one. First to PM me get their colour choice.

Well done to Matt for climbing the ranks and Neil for being best new entry.

I'm not going to push for seeding any more (happy to vote whenever called upon, though) as I think the cons very slightly outweigh the pros. I'm the person who suggested it in the first place, as a way of keeping access to tournaments open, but I think the way polo has grown in the last two years, there's enough tournaments for everyone, and we'd be better off forming permanent teams.

However, as I mentioned to a few other people (and on here), I reckon it could strengthen Birmingham polo if we said that me, Fin and Andy can't play together. If we formed teams based on tournament-objectives and playing-styles then constantly battled each other, whenever we have full (or 2of3 lineups) our standard would rise. This would be much more achievable at throw-ins than our previous way of running things, and still mean we could include everyone.

The (5) people not included would be available for subbing duty, or could form their own team for tournaments if they wanted.

Opinions?

imho playing with Andy at the tourney really helped me work out my strengths and weaknesses and I actually improved throughout the day, so much so I even got a goal! wahey.

Also, as a sport player I decided we should choose who to mark and get in their faces a bit. It was funny but not sure it works all the time though.

Playing with Dan(s) and Fin is great as well as they're very vocal about what I/other new players should be doing and pull us up on the rules.