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A friend just told me about an empty walled basketball court in Hoxton, on Pitfield street:

BMXs are not gonna work - unless you have a custom mallet (shorter arm)

OK so the first step is to find a concrete court where we're not going to get kicked out.
I'd personally prefer somewhere central/east.
It's really popular in NYC because the venue is really practical and central (Lower East Side), plus they get an audience all the time (see in pics above).
The walls around are used to make the ball bounce so we need them (although I must say my ribs still hurt from a crash against the wall 1 month ago!)

I've only played on my beloved Fort, brakeless, 44X16, nice wheels and all.. So far no damage.
But yes I do recommend a smaller gear ratio, and a bike you're not afraid to bash.

Thanks for the pics Roberto..

Ted did it Brakeless!

Seb too!

YES they actually play

and look who will come and play with us:

OK I've been trying to motivate people to start playing bike polo here in London, after having played a lot in NYC this winter, but everyone seems a bit limp about it. Keith from Condor told me he plays sometimes with a freewheel MTB on grass or something.

I wanna import the real thing here:

It's obviously funnier and more challenging on a fixed!

Who's up for it?

We need:

• Concrete tennis court, walled.
  
• mallets
  
• traffic cones
  
• 6 players to start with
  
  

and that's it!
I know the rules, super easy:
**general rules for bike polo:

-teams of three players with no alternate players permited. equipment subs allowed. ie bikes, wheels, mallets.
-any two wheeled bicycle is allowed at the discrection of the judges.
-mallets must have a pipe of some sort for a striking surface. also the judges call. size and materials are the biggest safety factors.
some examples of shaft material are ski poles or golf clubs cut to size and bamboo. 32 to 42 inches in length. Mallet head materials are various plastics and sometimes wood, NEVER metal. 6 to 7 inches in length and not larger around than a street hockey ball
-the ball will be a street hockey ball
-goals will be a pair of orange cones 150cm wide for each team
-if a goal is disruped it is the responsability of the player who disruped it to fix it. no bull shiting around. anything scored on a disruped goal is at the discretion of the judges to count.
-the games will be timed. games will end with a team scoring 3 or 5 goals OR time expiring at ten min. finals will be five goals or 15 min.
-start of a game both teams will be stoped on there own goal line and the ball at center court. play will begin with a "3 2 1GO!" from the judges.
-players may not play the ball with there feet at any time.
-scoring. goals must be made from what started as a hit. a hit is made from the end of a players mallet. shuffels do not count as goals.
-after a goal is made. the scoring team returns to there half of the court. the scored on team brings the ball into play after both teams are on there own sides.
-call out the score after a goal.
-passing thru the back of a goal. when passed thru a goal a ball can not be hit into the goal till two differnt players have made contact with the ball. however if a ball is shot from in front of the goal line and does not score but bounces off the back wall and comes out thru the goal, that ball is in play and can be scored.
-foot down. a "ring the bell" rule will be in effect. "circle out" is not allowed. on a footdown or "dab" that player may not hit the ball till they ring the bell. the bell will be on the side line at center court.
-contact rules. like contact is allowed. player to player, except grabbing with hands. mallet to mallet. bike to bike.
-everything else is not allowed. such as mallet to player. player to bike. mallet to bike. ect.
-throwing of mallets is not allowed at any time
-shit talking is allowed**

stupidpony - who's your Julie? that may help me figure out who you are..

trampsparadise [quote]le car main reasons for my switch to fixed last september?

• seeing Mike (trampsparadise) rolling by on old street and digging his brakeless style
  
  

seriously though

What? You mean you didn't mean it when you whispered that in my ear that night?
I feel so used![/quote]

I thought my intentions were clear when I ran my hand along your riser bars..

what - Roberto had gears? I thought it was FIXEDgearlondon's ride to brighton, not 27gearlondon's...

sounds like fun - was Ted there, killing it? how many girls?

jos I need some GOLD rims! got some? For my Gitane

good news on the shop!
you know what the next step is... go un-virtual

main reasons for my switch to fixed last september?

• wanting to be cool
  
• desire to be hip
  
• frustration from my co-worker being trendier than me
  
• seeing Mike (trampsparadise) rolling by on old street and digging his brakeless style
  
  

seriously though

• been riding bikes as long as I can remember. Grew up in the hotbed of cycling south of Paris (TDF passed by my village!)
  
• for the past 10 years went through a few MTBs that I gradually customised for city use (rigid forks, slicks, riser bars, etc..)
  
• then started reducing the number of gears (from 21 to 7)
  
• then still wasn't happy with that whole shifting thing
  
• then tried my co-worker's fixed and haven't coasted since!
  

I love the fact that most people would want to be as close as possible from the center, with good public transport.. and cyclists look for far-flung places to live..

I had the same though recently - my commute is going to go from 1.5 minutes to 29 minutes - and I was kinda happy about it.

switching to "le plus gourmand" could bring back your lost masculine pride

And rejoice for Saskia's presence among us nerds.

laplusgourmande Cos this bowl happened to be next to my laptop when it came to deciding my screen name ... It's been in my family for 40 years, and it hasn't broken yet!
like lecar, i'm half french too, so i think that adds credibility.

can I point out that La Plus Gourmande means "The one with mosy gluttony" or something similar, but that it is a feminine sentence, applied to a woman.
Do we have a girl amongst us?! Rejoice!

OK that's a classic thread in any online forum..

le car?
That was the name I wanted to give to my magazine 7 years ago, before moving to London. It ended up being Intersection.

The Renault Le Car was a fantastic example of a failed attempts to crack the US market from a French car manufacturer. Gotta love it. Being (half) French and having launched my magazine in the states now, it's probably a good thing that name was not chosen.

I kept it for all the forums I join - even if they're about bikes.

can fakengers enter the messenger race?
funny cause I used to live ON Smithfield Market, and always thought it would be a good spot for a checkpoint involving a few laps during an alleycat.

I once put a 27.2 carbon fiber seat post in my 27 steel seat tube - it went in smoothly for the first 10cms, then a bit harder, then harder, then like an idiot I forced a bit more... and the thing would NOT move anymore.
Had to take the bike apart, hold the seatpost in a vice, and get my friend Ted (from fixedgearlondon.com) to use all his mechanical knowledge and muscles to swing the frame back and forth until it slid out. Almost impossible!
The carbon post was wrecked at the end.

this has been debated to death on FGG abd BF.
Ben and Oscar Wilson did this bike for a Nike display at the Comme Des Garçons store. It is NOT a Nike bike though..
If you look on their blog there is a video of how they built it.

does he need to deflate the rear tyre to take the wheel out?

I actually think that in a couple of weeks I'm gonna get a pair of nice and very rigid SIDIs, my Shimano shoes are too soft, and SIDIs will almost act like a cast! Good idea or what? I'm afraid the twisting movement needed to unclip from SPDs will be a bit painful though..

Mike (trampsparadise) you should go and check out that skatepark. Awesome.

hey thanks for the help offered!!!
Obviously I may wait at least a week before getting back on my saddle, but as soon as I'm ready to take the risk again I will come back to you..

And for the skateboarders around here (Mike?) here is a short vid of that kid from Heroin cruising around...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h66zzvsCGfc"]YouTube
- cantelowes 1[/ame]

OK so the new skatepark at Cantelowes is amazing - I obviously got carried away a bit too much on sunday and broke my fifth metatarsal bone (the nurse told me some dude called Rouney or Rooney broke his playing a game with a round ball - no idea what she was going on about).
Gonna walk with crutches for a couple of weeks, but then I figured out that I could get back on my bike, as you only need one leg really to propel yourself forward.

BUT riding brakeless might be a step too far. Skids are not a good healing technique.

So I'm looking for someone to lend me a front brake and (oversize) lever for a bit. I stupidly sold mine a while ago, and don't really want to buy something for a few weeks.. if you have something ugly that I could use let me know! Oh and I may need a front wheel too as my non-machined Velocity deep Vs won't like the friction too much. But I think I can find that easily..

Any other advice welcome!

y

I was there when he had that cardboard wheel at bike polo. Obviously a few games later the discs were flying around the court, picked up by the wind...

funny fact: in French, Cardboard = carton. Carton wheels sounds good I think, like a spelling mistake.