Birmingham Bike Polo (Wednesday nights / Sundays - info in the thread)

Is it your mallet I still have?

Getting to polo on wednesday has been problematic for me lately, let me know if you need you mallet back.

If it looks like a lump of cheese - yes its my spare. I'm after some pipe to make another.

Asian girl with glasses on a white ss with purple front rim crossing Small Heath bridge this morning at 9am. Wearing a cap (I think) and checked shirt. Could this be the mystery shamin-a-like (no offence meant on the gender!)?

She's actually got hub gears. Either that or a really fat hub. I was mildly annoyed at myself, that I happened to be pedaling faster than her and overtook her by about a mile, then she caught up when I got stuck at traffic lights. I felt like one of those dickhead drivers who overtakes cyclists then stops in front of them.

She's actually got hub gears. Either that or a really fat hub. I was mildly annoyed at myself, that I happened to be pedaling faster than her and overtook her by about a mile, then she caught up when I got stuck at traffic lights. I felt like one of those dickhead drivers who overtakes cyclists then stops in front of them.

yes yes yes, but did she look ****exactly ****like shamim? i actually nodded at her and said 'hey shamim' and was mildly offended that she didn't acknowledge me. i thought shamim was being a dick.

now she must think i was checking her out and 'shamim' is some kind of come-on. like that bo selectah guy 'shamim motherfucker!'

If it looks like a lump of cheese - yes its my spare. I'm after some pipe to make another.

i'd like some too if you come across more than enough for one head. loving my uber-mallet but i really want to make a spare just in case mine fails like fin's the other night.

yes yes yes, but did she look ****exactly ****like shamim? i actually nodded at her and said 'hey shamim' and was mildly offended that she didn't acknowledge me. i thought shamim was being a dick.

haha,i thought that once too when (I thought) I saw shamim on a moped at red lights. turns out it was his very similiar looking brother.

i'm kinda jealous i havent spotted him/her. this is turning into a birmingham yeti sighting (no offence to shamim or the other involved).

After losing a spoke to the force of one of Dan's shots the other night i decided to get myself a seperate set of wheels just for polo, robbed some off a bike my girlfriend had lying around. How do i make the geared wheel fixed? or where do i buy the parts? is it expensive? reliable?

is it a screw on cassette or a freehub? if it takes a screw on cassette then you can thread a fixed cog on and re-dish the wheel. you will also need to move some axle spacers from the drive side to the non drive side, to get the chainline correct.

its a shimano freehub, that means i'll have to go singlespeed doesn't it?

yeah, unless you want to buy a surly fixxer or drill through the freehub body with screws (latter option highly dodgy in my opinion).

get a single cog (about £5), and some spacers, amd join the freewheel revolution. at the euros last year hardly anyone except geneva were rocking freewheels, at the nationals this year almost everyone has changed sides.

freewheel ftw!

apologies again about the spoke - if it makes you feel better my wheel is knackered too from fin riding into it (i may have stopped in front of him in an reverse t-bone, or t-ofu, move).

pastry, are there any cheapish 120mm 48h bmx hubs out there?

No, BMX hubs are 100mm front and 110mm rear I think. Nothing that can't be adjusted by adding two spacers.

Are you after front or rear?

I have a front one with slight flange damage and a bent axle - you can have it if you want - the flange damage is just mild scratches, and axles are about £10 (for sealed bearing types).

The rear one has a 14mm axle, no good for your bike.

its a shimano freehub, that means i'll have to go singlespeed doesn't it?

Does it have disc rotor mounts?

cheers lee, but it's the rear i'm after. i don't have any small stems and nothing like that at work that i could swing your way either i'm afraid. if anything comes up i'll let you know.

I've already bought a stem so no worries.

It's 80mm - the front of the bike feels horribly twitchy now, especially when standing up going uphill :( I think I prefered being overstretched and feeling like Obree.

I filed down a 14mm axle to fit my azonic frame, but it wasn't easy to do, i came within a gnats pube of fooking it all up.

I think I prefered being overstretched and feeling like Obree.

the weird thing about your bike (last time i saw it) wasn't the length, it was the drop to the bars. must be at least 20cm. obscene.

seriously though, give these things some time. making a big change will always feel weird - it doesn't mean it's wrong. some people say you should only change things 5mm at a time, max.

the weird thing about your bike (last time i saw it) wasn't the length, it was the drop to the bars. must be at least 20cm. obscene.

seriously though, give these things some time. making a big change will always feel weird - it doesn't mean it's wrong. some people say you should only change things 5mm at a time, max.

Different bike! I got a discounted Kona Honky tonk. I still want a bike through the cyclescheme though, & I'm tempted to get a Trek 6500 from OYB.

They don't make frames for people like me :( I have a high leg to upper body ratio.

I filed down a 14mm axle to fit my azonic frame, but it wasn't easy to do, i came within a gnats pube of fooking it all up.
You can actually buy 'flat' 14mm axles to fit 10mm dropouts. In the middle of the axle - inside the hub - the cross section is a 14mm diameter circle so it fits the centre hole in the bearings*, but at the ends, outside the hub, the cross section is 14mm wide x 10mm high. Curved and threaded at the sides, flat on the top and bottom. They will obviously fit sliding dropouts & track ends. I had to buy one for my Ruption TX5 when I was 13 as I was sick of bending 10mm axles.

*Actually 14mm axles have a 15mm shoulder for the bearings to sit on - the bearings have a 15mm hole.

6500s are good - we've sold a fair few this year already. that price point is where you start to get a nice light bike with decent components and a good air fork too.

You can actually buy 'flat' 14mm axles to fit 10mm dropouts. In the middle of the axle - inside the hub - the cross section is a 14mm diameter circle so it fits the centre hole in the bearings*, but at the ends, outside the hub, the cross section is 14mm wide x 10mm high. Curved and threaded at the sides, flat on the top and bottom. They will obviously fit sliding dropouts & track ends. I had to buy one for my Ruption TX5 when I was 13 as I was sick of bending 10mm axles.

*Actually 14mm axles have a 15mm shoulder for the bearings to sit on - the bearings have a 15mm hole.

You can buy axles with flats in them, but they're pretty hard to come by. i found someone selling on in the US, but nowhere else. Its cheaper to try and fix your own too....Moral of the story: read the whole of the ebay listing before buying!

I thought they were easy to find! I'm sure DAI leisure still sells them

did anyone pick up the red ball last week?

and my spare mallet?

fin and chris aren't going to be here for the next two weeks so we need a good ball and as many mallets as we can get.

I'll be there tonight, rain or shine! Everyone else comin?

Wednesdays suck man. Any other day of the week and i could play for hours and hours.
I've got to work late, but look out for me on Midlands Today sometime this evening! I'm giving a presentation on the clinical effects of childhood obesity and the impact of Change4Life on families. It's at the Wolves ground, and the news crews are hoping to get it out on the TV later ce soir!

i'm in tonight, as always.

to be honest pistaboy, i'd be up for twice-weekly sessions, but i'm just not sure the birmingham scene is ready yet, and i reckon it would necessitate moving wednesday polo to thursday so there's a decent gap between games.

maybe if the scene grows a bit (fin has some ridiculous number of flyers currently being printed) we could move to a monday/thursday night schedule.

what we really need is an increase in the hardcore, every-week almost without fail contingent so we could spread out to two nights...

just realised i forgot my spare mallet. anyone who has spares please bring them...