Vintage polo bikes rescued!

Under a special agreement Rollapaluza have purchased the stable of vintage polo bikes formerly deteriorating under the old stadium at Herne Hill....11 bikes in total some must be 60 years old.

although they're in a pretty bad way we're gonna get as many of these back up and running and being used for their intended purpose as we can....pics and details follow.

nice work Winston!

Ha! great work, will you be selling them or keeping them for polopaluza events? ;)

if you are I would be interested in a proper polo bike!

Amazing! Great news!

Nice work dude.

caspar asked me about building wheels

well done it was a crime them sitting there decaying.

Great news! - what plans do you have for them?

Getting some grass games going would be great

What was the special agreement?

They are sitting in my van as we speak. There is a hell of a lot of work to be done to them to make them usable. We'll be doing a thorough examination soon but on first look they nearly all need new rims and headset at very least. Some of the frames are severely damaged.....none will be sold. We will keep you updated.

As Caspar says there is a lot of work to be done....

we intend to refurbish them to a usable standard 3 or 4 at a time, a full restoration to shimmering museum standard is not going to be possible, but machines you can play polo on is!

We'd love some help from volunteers either from Rollapaluza CC or other polo fans and obviously those who put time in are most likely to get to use them, we're not asking for expensive kit, just some time and second hand bits...as eventually we're intending to apply for proper funding for wheels, resprays etc....

Long term we want to make them available to as many as poss and hopefully arrange storage for them at their spiritual home (HH) and get some grass court games / league going....

oddly, front wheels are in short supply so anyone got any mtb front wheels they don't want?

This could be an opportunity to teach people how to mend bikes. If one of you skilled folks showed how to refurbish the whole bike, we noobs could help out in exchange for knowledge. I'd love to learn how to install a bottom bracket and headset properly

would be nice to lend a hand

I'll help out with time in a mechanical way. May have an old mbt front wheel somewhere I'll have a look. Check the local tip for front wheels I bet there are loads.

and an amazing coincidence my brand, spanking new mallet arrived from pakistan today:

More than happy to lend my time. Can wheel build and almos everything else. Have wanted to ride one of them ever since i saw them ages ago

WOW. Amazing.
I'd love to help.

double WOW they look so cool

fantabulous!

i'm up for lending a hand too. might have a spare mtb front going spare. apollo "quality" :)

used saddles, grips, flat pedals etc would all be helpful...too!

used saddles, grips, flat pedals etc would all be helpful...too!

Got some bits. Let us know when/where you need em.

i'm up for lending a hand. Can do wheel building etc. and probably have a few spare parts lying around. i'm off to france for 3 weeks but anytime after then...

nice work...I also have bit and pieces and time to give.

no bits but techyness aplenty, just say the word

I'll happily lend a hand - Winston, I may be able to help with some funding advice too in the future...