 10th July 2008 | #1 |
 | Vintage polo bikes rescued! Under a special agreement Rollapaluza have purchased the stable of vintage polo bikes formerly deteriorating under the old stadium at Herne Hill....11 bikes in total some must be 60 years old. although they're in a pretty bad way we're gonna get as many of these back up and running and being used for their intended purpose as we can....pics and details follow. Last edited by winston; 10th July 2008 at 16:35. |
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| 10th July 2008 | #10 |
 | They are sitting in my van as we speak. There is a hell of a lot of work to be done to them to make them usable. We'll be doing a thorough examination soon but on first look they nearly all need new rims and headset at very least. Some of the frames are severely damaged.....none will be sold. We will keep you updated. |
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| 10th July 2008 | #11 |
| | As Caspar says there is a lot of work to be done.... we intend to refurbish them to a usable standard 3 or 4 at a time, a full restoration to shimmering museum standard is not going to be possible, but machines you can play polo on is! We'd love some help from volunteers either from Rollapaluza CC or other polo fans and obviously those who put time in are most likely to get to use them, we're not asking for expensive kit, just some time and second hand bits...as eventually we're intending to apply for proper funding for wheels, resprays etc.... Long term we want to make them available to as many as poss and hopefully arrange storage for them at their spiritual home (HH) and get some grass court games / league going.... oddly, front wheels are in short supply so anyone got any mtb front wheels they don't want? |
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| 11th July 2008 | #29 |
| | a good few years ago, a kind sole bough a load of new wheels for the polo bikes....however they were all the wrong size...he bought 700c they should be 26"...whether old 26, new 26 or 650 is probably irrelevant as there are no brakes... Some of the wheels in the photos are 700c, that's because I did manage to get a few of the new wheels into the front forks....if I had them right at the bottom of the fork dropout and did the nuts up super-tight....stlll minimal clearance though and mud collected.... Think we'll have to get some new rears built around old hubs (mosyly 40 hole) and may need to buy some new hubs.....have found 3mm spokes......but if we get enough old second-hand fronts we can just use until f**ked then replace..... Thanks for the wheel - build help offered...I gurantee you will have seen nothing like the surviving wheels before in you life! |
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| 22nd September 2008 | #39 |
| | Hello Winston. This is excellent news that the polo bikes are being restored. I used to play on these bikes years ago at HH as a youngster. Happy to lend a hand restoring and work in a bike shop so have access to strange stuff to fix them up. Be the wheels knackered? They have a lot of spoked in them and most will probably need rebuilding. One guy tried using 36h MTB rims but the ball kept getting stuck in them and plain gauge spokes weren't thick enough. DT Alpine would be best bet. This was the trickiest part of fixing them we found. How is it going so far? |
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| 22nd September 2008 | #40 |
| | We are working on it. We have managed to source some thick (3mm) spokes, I reckon that these, on 36 hole rims, will do the trick as far as keeping the ball out. Basically we are waiting for some storage space to become available as we've outgrown my little unit in the Rollapaluza HQ in Whitechapel. As soon as storage is sorted, over the next few weeks (fingers crossed) we'll be in a much better position to get the next restoration of the bikes sorted. |
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| 28th September 2008 | #45 |
 | I was playing grass court polo today, on one of those bikes actually(not specifically). It is great fun, plus!!!!!!!!!!!!! No road rash from falling. I live in Ireland(the starting place of the sport) and we just use the horse polo grounds in the Pheonix park. If there is any around in London I suggest you try sort something out. The bikes are great to ride, about a 1-1 ratio on them, take a little getting used to. But seriously dont be pickey about the wheels etc going on the bikes, I was riding with a front wheel with about 2cm of wobble either way and no problems. |
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| 1st October 2008 | #47 |
| | Even better than that: And fyi:http://www.irishbicyclepolo.com/ |
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| 7th October 2008 | #48 |
| | Rollapaluza have secured storage for these bikes at Herne Hill and will be taking them back there soon, then we'll be inviting all those who've shown an interest to come down and do what we can to get them going....next step...sort out the lumpy pitch in the infield! |
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| 8th October 2008 | #50 |
| | Well the elitist polo players are here too. Grounds being restricted to polo only. But it still is polo so try talk it over with them, it would be worth it. We use one of their sheds and leave all the bikes there, grounds are maintained by them so its all good. All you would need to get is some shin guards mallets(I assume you have already) and hurling helmets are ideal. Really its the best place to play it, injuries are limited to falling on a bike and mallet hits. |
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