Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - bike polo prince

i landed on bbc learning while channel surfing and came
across a program about prince william. there were some
shots of him playing bike polo ...un-fixed though.
http://static.flickr.com/45/152111951_550335337f_o.jpg
…enjoy, sleep time now.

frame's a little small, methinks?

really nice, though. i'd totally dig having one of those.

Nah not too small for polo. And unfixed polo bikes are pretty common. That shot however, is priceless.

traditionaly, bike bike polo is played on free-wheeled bikes. i use a converted single-speed mtn bike on my team.

actualy a single speed is more efficient in bike polo. with a freewheel, one is able to block shots with their pedals alot faster then one could do with a fixed gear.

****ing awesome. Bike polo rules.

You think that's his mom's old bike?

Enjoy

The magazine at which I work June's cover story has a small section on our local Bike Polo games. Did you know Bike Polo was invented in 1891 and made its first appearance in the United States in 1897.
I found that interesting.
I guess I always assumed it was a more modern creation.

Yeah, bike polo started in some British colony I'm too lazy to search for right now, pre-20th century. People wanted to play polo, but when you don't have horses, you make do.

...so i also saw a cartoon in a 70's playboy of
some girls playing bike polo. the bikes looked
as if they were made for bike polo. so what is
the connection between bike polo and fixed-gear?

side note: the playboy also had an add for that
road bike made almost completely of plastic.

No fair using a real polo mallet I don't care if you are royalty.

John Kennedy, U.S. Bike Polo President, said about messengers and polo in an interview on Mountainzone, “They’ve got all the skills, they’ve got all the strengths, and I would love to have as many of those kinds of guys as possible. The hard part would be getting them to follow any rules.”

Maybe messengers brought fixed-gear to polo?

...messengers bring so many things

It's a game you can play on your bike. Seriously, do you have to wonder why there's a connection between bike polo and fixed-gear riding?

So when can I ride my horse in an alleycat? ;)

so what is the connection between bike polo and fixed-gear?

i've wondered that myself, there seems to be huge crossover appeal. i could see fixed gear being an advantage if you were really good at switching from forward to reverse and staying balanced. but alas, i have nowhere near that kind of skill. so i usually just use the crappiest bike i can find.

John Kennedy, U.S. Bike Polo President, said about messengers and polo in an interview on Mountainzone, “They’ve got all the skills, they’ve got all the strengths, and I would love to have as many of those kinds of guys as possible. The hard part would be getting them to follow any rules.”

Maybe messengers brought fixed-gear to polo?

i think thats the biggest problem for most people who play it. when i started i just figured it would be a bunch of dudes hitting a ball around. there's a crazy amount of rules and they tend to go case by case. it also depends on who you play with. my baltimore team acts like chidren when a rule is broken. one guy told me my polo game "wasnt kosher". when i asked him if iwas playing illegally, he said "no, but its not kosher." that was the last time i played with them.

its pretty fun, but the rulebook can bite you in the ass.

http://www.bikepolo.com/

i've wondered that myself, there seems to be huge crossover appeal. i could see fixed gear being an advantage if you were really good at switching from forward to reverse and staying balanced. but alas, i have nowhere near that kind of skill. so i usually just use the crappiest bike i can find.

i thought the same thing too, but after riding both fixed and with a freewheel, its alot more fun with a freewheel. alot more control and alot safer. the game also moves faster

balance isnt really an issue since you can balance your self on your mallet while sitting on your bike

balance isnt really an issue since you can balance your self on your mallet while sitting on your bike

yeah, i never think to do that, but i really should. and i hear you on the sticklers for the rules, when i played in santa cruz, mallet standing wasn't "kosher" but we all did it anyway.

the rules sound pretty strict, though i've never played or seen it played to know how they are enforced. but i really don't understand the reasoning behind the "21 feet parallel to the sideline" before you can intentionally hit the ball rule... I guess i should play bike hockey that'd probably be a game for the less stuffy types. I'm surprised there's no polo dress code.

he plays real polo.

Standing, moving shots seem easier with a freewheel.

As a pointless tangent, I've always fancied the idea of combining biking and paint ball.

Imagine, fixed vs. ss vs. roadie vs. tandem vs. mtb vs. bmx vs. recumbent; it'd be like Warriors on bikes...kind of...

^ that sounds like the most fun thing ever

We almost did a game of tag on bikes here. Then we decided that we didn't wanna die. How in the hell is mallet standing not kosher? Without it everyone would have to circle out every 20 seconds. I'm still torn between free and fixed in polo because of the ease of going backwards on fixed and the slow speed control issues. However, freewheel is way more suited to short sprints, quick turns, and shooting.

Maybe those who have to rely on mallet standing should practice b-a-l-a-n-c-e. I had to circle out once in a 20 minute game because trackstanding is my friend.

How in the hell is mallet standing not kosher? Without it everyone would have to circle out every 20 seconds.

agreed. it was a pretty disorganized game, and some of those dudes were sticklers for rules that didn't even exist. and circling out every 20 seconds is exactly what they did.

The site's under re-construction right now, but anyone interested in messenger-style bike polo should check out http://axlesofevil.org for info. If'n you're on the West Coast, the Un-official West Coast Little Beirut-Style Bike Hockey Championships will be in Portland on Memorial day. John Kennedy is a good man, and has copme out to play before, but he likes rules. We like beer and violence. More information is available at http://portlandmessenger.org

"Pain is weakness leaving your body"

oh yeah, and playing polo on a fixed gear is not the best idea. you lose all your acceleration. freewheel all the way. 26" wheels. upright position. Who cares if you look cool when you score goals.