Polo Bikes

I'm sure tyres must have been covered somewhere before but i dunno about 26", anyone got any suggestions of hard wearing slicks that arn't HookWorms (as they're a bti big for my frame) and won't break the bank too much. been looking at Big apples, any word on how well these survive skidding?

marathon plus? those last a looooong time.
i'm using michelin city's 26x1.85 and they are pretty good for the price.....

Big Apples survive skidding pretty well. Mine have had 2 years of polo and a fair bit of commuting. The tread is basically gone (not that it did anything) but I haven't found the puncture strip underneath, yet.

The grip is good, I've only occasionally felt the front slip on silly tight turns. Dropping the pressure helps this. I'd love to find a super soft 26" front tyre but they do the job.

bontrager hunk

Oh, shit yeah Lal - i have a pair of brand new 26" 1/8 beefy forks with v-brake mounts. Have a look at them, if you can arrange it with Wicksie.

: )

Cool! Got the Surly fork from Tom. Thinking I'll stick with those, but maybe could arrange a viewing once Wicksie is back in town.

poppaknobhead.

I'm going to buy a Pompino Fix n Mix set later today:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FTOOPOMIX/on-one-pompino-fix-n-mix-frameset-bundle

The only choice I've got to make is which handlebar, it's between these two risers:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBOOFG/on-one-fleegle-handlebar

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBOOFPB/on-one-fleegle-pro-handlebar

or even:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBOOMA/on-one-mary-handlebar (probably no good for polo I guess)

The normal one is heavier, so I also assume stronger, so I'm guessing will take a lot more abuse.

While I guess weight isn't so important, especially when you are talking about 100g, but at the same time I might as well save whatever weight I can.

What would you recommend for polo?

New wheel to sort the geometry out.

Before:

After:

just missing an innertube and disc-rotor

I use a bar with a very similar shape (albeit cut down a bit). I only put it on as an experiment, but I really like it. It brings my weight back like a very short stem does, but because of the shape, I don't whack your knees on the bars when sprinting.

Probably not for everyone though.

I was going to do the same bundle, to get a hub gear/disc brake rear wheel going to make riding to and from courts less of a chore, but I'm too concerned about the engagements and take-up in internally geared hubs. Anyone have any experience of that?

Glowbike - Thats quite some detail you've gone into. How did you settle on those numbers?

constant downhill polo bike, nice.

I remember when you got that Cotic, Colin! looks very different now.

bikeforest.com is awesome!

@snoops Aye rupert, bikecad is awesome. the roadrat must be at about 8,000 miles by now ... the photo doesn't do it justice, dents and dings all over the shop and not so pretty up close.

@podge Few tweaks to make it handle better at polo-speed, though still far from perfect. Done very differently if starting from scratch - though i have some plans in the works for that.

Any recommendations for BMX cranks? External BB and super stiff axles are a plus.

Also does anyone know what cranks Josh (from JAH, not sure on is username on here) has on his bike?

Josh (from JAH, not sure on is username on here)

IDoNothing

new fbm polo bike
http://fbmfixed.com/blog/?p=577

Too long can’t be arsed to read summary: I like powerbites.

I run primo powerbites on my polo bike, mainly as I already owned a set. But thats because imo they are the best bmx cranks (having also run on bmx profiles, wethepeople royals and éclat tibias), larger 22mm axle, stiff one piece arms, pinchbolt design helping limit excessive side load on the bb bearings if your tube spacer isn’t perfect, no chance of developing 'wobble'(48 spline cranks shouldn't either if you look after them properly) and generally cheap to pick up second hand (£25-40). They aren’t without their flaws, the pedal inserts can come loose (loctite can sort this though), wider Q factor than many others, a bit porky, and the combination of a 22mm axle and euro bb shell results in the bb having very small bearings.

The last point kind of brings up the external bb issue. On the whole external bb’s for bmx cranks do not exist as it was quickly realised that euro bb’s just weren’t strong enough for bmx especially for 22mm cranks hence the increase in size again to spanish and mid bb shells. So there is now no major demand for external bb’s for bmx. There are a few exceptions like the profile one - http://www.alansbmx.com/product_info.php?products_id=9490 or a few short lived attempts at a spanglish bb.

So ever since I put the powerbites on my polo bike I’ve been concerned about the life of the bb bearings and have been looking for an alternative. I recently learned that the OD on the bearings found in many mtb external bb’s is the same as the OD of Spanish bmx bb bearings, so the mtb bearing cups can be used to hold the spanish bmx giving you an external bb for the bmx cranks. The only problem with this is that this set up will push the chainline out (not sure by how much exactly yet as I’ve not fitted the one I put together, but likely around 5mm), a bit of machining to the cups could definitely cut this down a bit. Or my other thought was as I use a 110mm spaced bmx hub in the rear I could run both the 5mm washers (currently one either side of the hub inside of the 120mm spaced dropouts) on the non drive side of the axle and dish the wheel to move my chainline over.

However, in reality it seems polo does not put anywhere near the same demands on the bb and my euro bb bearings are still in great condition after going on 5 months now. So unless anything drastic happens soon I’m beginning to think maybe the £25 for a new euro bb is easier than dicking around with trying to make an external bb work for bmx cranks. Although I kinda still hope I can get it to work.

If an external bb is more important go with mtb cranks.

Sweet, thanks Josh.

I'll do some reading/searching tomorrow in light of what you said.

new fbm polo bike
http://fbmfixed.com/blog/?p=577

that looks awesome!

So if I want to run BMX cranks in a standard mountain bike frame, what's your recommendations for a BB?

My only bike and polo bike

I heart this bike. Rode it briefly at the Melbourne Oz day tourney. MVP was Otto! Well played Sir. Reprazent.

have you read post 2051??

^ you have just been cor-rik-ted :)

So if I want to run BMX cranks in a standard mountain bike frame, what's your recommendations for a BB?

A bmx euro bb fits into an english threaded bb shell, as found on most mountain bikes. You may need to think about tube spacer and axle length depending on BB shell width (if its bigger than 68mm), your chainline, and chainstay clearance for the arms. I don't know a whole lot about moutain bikes in general but from what I've seen the standard bmx bb and axle work with a lot of them, so you don't really need to think about this.

As for a particular recommendation for a bb, I tend to go for the cheapest I can find for the particular axle size I need as I've seen no real difference between any of the ones I've run and its somehting that, due to the design, I don't think can be made to last for years. I managed to get a primo bb off ebay for £25 last time or these work too http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=45327

I guess what I was trying to say about bmx cranks and external bb's is that the cranks are not designed with external bb's in mind so even the commercially available ones are all a bit if a hack. If I was to make a polo frame, I'd make it with a mid sized bb shell and produce something similar to the old american to euro bb adapters (http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/105398.html) along with it so that people had better options. Thats unlikley to ever happen though.

You can run BMX cranks in an external BB, by replacing the external BB's bearings with Spanish Bearings...

http://philly-bnb.pinkbike.com/blog/Spanish-in-Euro.html