Machine Politics vs Beaver Boys, May 2011. Photo by Bruce Carver
Looking around at all the polo bike pictures and vids and it seems most people are using bikes with 700c or road wheels and frames. It has some of us just scratching our heads on how those bikes can stand up to the abuse.
It surprises me how few people use mountain frames (or even cruiser frames) which seem to be built for a little more rough handling than road or track frames.
I'm guessing it has a lot to do with the urban environment that seems to suround hardtop polo and that those bikes are in greater supply.
I ride a mountain frame with the intention of getting into wrecks. I don't mind the wider wheel base (larger 5 hole) cuz people tend to think it's an easy avenue for passing through. The way i see it they are just giving me the ball.
-Don't bring cake to a donut fight.-
good job ben. missed you this weekend, your bro came off big with the golden mallet and was a star off the court as well. see you in chicago, hopefully team up with you two for los marcos.
haha
seriously though, i ride a converted ritchey frame with 26's. most of us in east van do.
i play on a mountain bike and also suck at playing goalie. not quite ready to blame it on the bike yet, but it is a pretty big hole down there.
with the exception of one player, all 20 or so of us regulars in Lex play on 26"ers - mtb and shit. Whatever is cheap and readily available. Our style is more Mad Max than Gucci.
I use a bike with 700c wheels because the exceleration is faster and the wheel base is closer together. I felt that i was too spread out on mtb and i have felt that my ability to control the ball was a lot better on a road frame. A few things that have helped me in sparing my road frames from ruin are,
velocity deep v wheels - saves a decent amount of money and easier to build and repair. I do 36h with a 4x and have found that works really well.
Drum brake - fewer parts that have problems and brake down to crashes
short mtb or bmx crank - shorter means less pedal strike mtb and bmx cranks are a lot stronger then road cranks.
plastic pedals - i owe this tip to Doug, but basically plastic pedals don't put as much tork on the cranks when you pedal strike, which saves your cranks, bb and in the case of my friend max, his wrist.
other then that forks seem to be the biggest issue in parts breaking, maybe it has do with running into fences and shit like that.
Also, road bikes that work for polo are in a lot more demand in urban enivorments because of the fixed gear market in most cities now. I could ride a new mtb every week there are so many of them around, plus i have a garage full of mtb wheels that i could use.
jonny
My rock shox protects my road frame.
Seems to me that people tend to use what's cheapest and most readily available wherever they live. Here in NYC you'd be ralatively hard-pressed to come by used/cheap MTB parts & bikes, but road stuff and fixie/track stuff is all over the place.
i found my bike in the garbage , beggars cant be choosers .
You're garbage
3...2...1...GO!
Mallets Of Mayhem
im just really carefull not to get into wrecks