So I really want to play polo. I don’t think there’s a really organized group playing in town (or if they are I don’t know them) so I’ve decided to just say fuck it, and start this up myself. I think I’ve figured out a location (behind my favorite bike shop). Im planning on giving myself a few weeks to set up a court and build 6 mallets with some help, as well as have left over materials for folks to make their own mallets when they arrive. I know plenty of you dudes play so any suggestions would be great. Links to helpful websites? I’ve been reading the .ca forums. Suggestions for how to build these mallets and get supplies? Any help would be appreciated.
I recommend looking for spools of yellow/ orange gas pipe about 2" diameter, that stuff makes great mallet heads. It’s usually found near construction or renovation. As for the shafts ski poles work good, this time of year I recommend going to any nearby ski shops/rental places and ask if they have and single poles they’d like to get rid of, they usually do. Look for corrugated plastic signs about 2’ x 2’ for making disc covers, I find the most abundant sources for these are ads for condominiums or apartment buildings. You’ll also probably want to steal some cones to use for goals.
thanks dudes. I’m confused about where to find ski poles. I live in the south so I’m a little concerned that I’m going to ride down to a thrift store and there not be a single ski pole. There definitely aren’t any ski rental places around here.
Are there any ski shops at all? Usually they have equipment they rent out. If you can’t find ski poles I’d recommend ordering some aluminum stock from http://www.texastowers.com/aluminum_.htm I’d order the .625" O.D.; .058" Wall; .509" I.D.; .121 lbs/ft; $1.20/ft That works out to a little bit thicker & heavier than a ski pole but it should be more durable.
ahaha… i love how polo supplies are all “found” somewhere for free.
edited to clarify i’m def not hating, i would do the same.
I’ve never understood the allure of bike polo.
Well maybe you should try playing it then…
Bike polo is pretty much the only thing that keeps me alive. When we started playing 'bout two years ago, there was no one playing in town so we kind of improvised. Rode our regular bikes, made mallets out of wood changed courts about 20 times. But by the end of that summer, we were playing twice a week, riding polo-specific bikes and getting our game down. It’s really cool to see your game evolve.
If you can’t get your hands on any ski poles, golf clubs make a decent substitute, although they’re almost impossible to cut and drill and also a bit heavier. They’re tough though. I still use one I made two years ago. As for head material, we use 1.5" abs tubing. Costs about $8 for 6’ and will make a head that’ll last a year or so.
For more info, bikepolo.ca is the definitive resource for polo.
It got pretty boring really fast for me.
^you obviously suck then
hey ceegee you have people who you know are interested and would be down coming out? or are you completely starting from scratch?
if u get it going i may try and come up, i think they play here but i’m not sure
There are people interested. There’s actually a pretty decent number of kids into bikes here. We’re all just lazy as fuck. Its like we all sorta wanted roller racing but no one wanted to do it but when I finally broke down and bought the circuit boards and another guy took the time to put it together, plenty of people were excited and showed up to race. I assume this will be the same situation since we’ve all talked about it a couple of time but no one has bothered organizing it.
Man, I love playing polo. We play twice a week here, Thursdays and Sundays. I look forward to those two days all week. Weve got a lot of dudes here that are really good, definitely helps when trying to step up your game to play against people that are better than you.
Ceeg, You can probably find street hockey balls at your local sporting good store. Seems like everything is pretty covered here.
Also, Im going to suggest you play with a helmet. To some that would just seem like common sense. Others would probably never even think about it or just choose not to. I have an older skate helmet I prefer to use so as to not destroy my Giro.
Keep lurking .CA, legit, and also hardcourtbikepolo.com
Polo is the shit. Atlanta polo was always just an excuse to hurt yourself. When we stopped playing for a summer, it was a sad day for me when my last polo-wound healed up. I haven’t played in over three years now and I really miss it.
We used golf clubs and plastic pipes. It didn’t look pretty, but it worked. It usually took several screws to get the head to stay on, which made the mallet pretty heavy. You may have good luck with some sort of epoxy if the holes are drilled to fit tight.
Also, play on shitty bikes if you can. It’s a lot more fun if you don’t have to worry about ruining a decent bike. Ours were mostly kids bikes or old mtb’s that the CoOp didn’t want. Just get it as simple as possible. Wheel covers aren’t necessary. We never had any and there was never an issue with anything going into the spokes. Except when I threw my mallet through my friends wheel to stop him on a breakaway. It didn’t work. The wheel broke the mallet shaft.
Make sure you start off trying to enforce high sticking right away. No one wants to get hit in the face with a mallet & its just unnecessary.
Hey Sean
I think I’m gonna start playing this Thursday
[quote=“snackie”]Hey Sean
I think I’m gonna start playing this Thursday[/quote]
YESSSS
[quote=“VT tallbike”][quote=“snackie”]Hey Sean
I think I’m gonna start playing this Thursday[/quote]
YESSSS[/quote]
I will be there with my new camera!