Polo Rules

when that person lost an eye, did we make face cages compulsory?

I guess a face cage protects yourself, whereas the no exposed teeth protects others. I don't think this injury will happen again, it's happened once in however many years but it's good to keep bikes safe. I also don't think a full cassette could cause a similar injury, it might hurt but doubt it'll be able to cut so deep with teeth either side and the top teeth so close to the spokes.

A cassette wound would be harder to stitch up, lots of small angled cuts.

This is going to be a major pain for anyone with a cassette or freewheel block. It's dead easy to say you can just go single speed, but I will need to take a hacksaw to my cassette to achieve the correct gear (I run a 28t). Luckily I know how to do this, and probably have the parts. It could take a number of hours in any case! I expect I'm in the minority though, most will need to throw money at a bike shop and hope they are good at improvisation.

I don't think a 9 speed block presents the same hazard as a single, spare cog. Is that what caused the injury? I also don't think it will be possible to put a spare piece of chain on adjacent cogs, as this will foul on the drive chain.

i totally agree with you john H. Its not going to affect me but im just worried that my team mates wont have time to sort it out. i guess i posted in a huff because of the short notice. We dont really check the london forum much and had chris who came up to play with us yesterday not suggested i check here for the team confirmation then we wouldnt have even seen that this was a new rule.

Just to answer these questions and points, I agree its short notice however its posted all over now and there are few people who run a full casstte so as I said, I will do whatever I can to help. I think its a really important rule to follow as crandal would have bleed out on thecourt if he hadn't been so lucky. The rules are developed to protect us and I think its worth the effort. We make these rules up as we go sometimes and an issue like this just can't be ignored.
I apppreciate the complication, but I feel that as a community we can help each oither sort out any difficulties with modifications and keep everyone safe.
Ps bidou luckily didn't loose an eye but what ben said about protecting others is exactly the point. Safety first! :)

Personally I think there is a difference between an exposed cassette and non drive side teeth, I am also interested to know many teeth were on the cog that caused the above, a twenty something cog is a lot more likely to cause that than 12t.

Also the fact that there were a couple of hundred people there, plus all the people watching online (247 logged on and probably 3-5 times as many not logged on) is part of why it's having such a far reaching effect.

But at this time it's too emotive and I think it's best for people to knuckle under and find ways to deal with the rule, rather than discussing whether it's a good idea or not.

Just made a guard out of some scrap. I think it'll work well. A similar guard could be made from a small round tuna type tin, with a 10mm hole drilled in the centre. And put on the axle between inside of drop out and locknut. Another solution would be to use chain as described by snottyotter earlier.

What's the deal with saw-tooth style rotors or similar?

Interesting point. It's also not covered under the rules. Disc brakes are rather more relevant to polo than a commuter gear. I'd say with an appropriate guard they are much less likely to injure someone, though it's not impossible.

With a guard I guess it wouldn't be an issue, if they're exposed though it could be pretty nasty. That wasn't the most painful looking rotor I could find either.

Rotor heat worries me more than rotor shape, I burnt my leg on my own rotor at the end of throwins once. Learnt a lesson but contact isn't always avoidable.

sorry to hear about that accident. nasty.

What's the deal with saw-tooth style rotors or similar?

shush. I have a 66g disc rotor and I'm not about to start adding weight with a disc guard.

I have 2 sprockets on a freehub, the commuter gear is only 1cm away on the inside from the polo gear and 6t smaller. theres not way for anyones arm or leg to get to it, unless they're a twig..

Interesting point, but without a diagram we can't invent a rule which allows yours but keeps dangerous ones out.

It will be down to the person checking bikes, if it was me (which it might be) I wouldn't allow saw tooth disc rotors (or anything not a simple circle), but would alow cassettes with smaller teeth on the inside (basically the same as a bash guard and uncovered chainring IMHO).

I will also be carrying around a selection of smooth rotors and single speed kits for a very reasonable (but inflated) price :)

I wouldn't allow saw tooth disc rotors (or anything not a simple circle),

Dick move.

Many rotors have cutouts around the edge to assist with surface cleaning.

Mine:

Banned!

Banned!

Conduct unbecoming a senior. 30 second, oh what did I come in for? penalty.

Just to answer these questions and points, I agree its short notice however its posted all over now and there are few people who run a full casstte so as I said, I will do whatever I can to help. I think its a really important rule to follow as crandal would have bleed out on thecourt if he hadn't been so lucky. The rules are developed to protect us and I think its worth the effort. We make these rules up as we go sometimes and an issue like this just can't be ignored.
I apppreciate the complication, but I feel that as a community we can help each oither sort out any difficulties with modifications and keep everyone safe.
Ps bidou luckily didn't loose an eye but what ben said about protecting others is exactly the point. Safety first! :)

Ok, but consider that potentially someone that may not have the luxury of living close to the court, may be busy at work and planning to travel a long distance to the tournament. This describes me and my team mate at least. He won't even see his bike until we leave on Friday. A few days notice (assuming they checked the london forum) is not enough.

Also, there's a big difference between removing a spare, unused, exposed single cog and changing from cassette block to single speed. Both in terms of safety and potential snags. You can't expect people change their bike setups at the last minute.

and by way of practical solution: how about covering any exposed cog larger than the drive cog, or any cog with a large gap next to it?

Out of (possibly morbid) interest, which way did that guy's leg enter the frame/wheel area? From the back?

A suggestion: wrap spare links of chain round enough sprockets to block out the majority of a cassette, hold it on with hockey tape. The chain should cover the teeth to a suitable degree, and the tape hold it on.
Would this be acceptable?

I would also like to call for a certain degree of common sense in this regard. Whilst Rincewind's set up (eg) wouldn't currently meet the letter of the law, it is hard to conceive of an incident where a player might make contact with his spare cog.

Flip Flops are a definite no-no and always have been, IMO.

But casettes? Not much of a safety hazard in my eyes, certainly not compared with a disc rotor.

That is minging. Way to make a point!

This whole thing sounds like a freak accident that could happen from so many other parts of a bike: the dropouts themselves, the 2/3rds of chainrings/sprockets that aren't covered by chain, brake bosses/calipers/arms/bolts/levers (someone had one through a foot not long ago?), braze-ons, brake levers, q/r's, uncovered spokes etc etc etc.

Years ago, people slagged off Birmingham's very own DFP for pointing out the danger of uncovered rotors. I reckon they are at least as dangerous as freewheels. Now it seems less controversial...

It's the nature of things for us to be reactive, and I actually agree with it, but maybe we should be more pro-active and look at other unnecessarily dangerous features and outlaw them before they cause someone to suffer serious harm.

Hey guys, was going to ping a PM to Nik but then spotted this dedicated rule thread.

I'm on Clem's team and was only made aware of this change this afternoon. Unfortunatly for me I'm not able to do anything about my transmission situation in the few hours I have spare this evening before I leave on friday. I run a 12-25 10spd road block with a single chainring, plastic bash guard and friction shifter. Also run a front disc with no protector (never had anything hit the front disc, only the rear which is now trashed, so only runing front brake).

Whilst its terrible to see that guys leg being chewed up, and could have been worse if it tore into the muscle (he'd have likely lost enough material to barely have a calf at all) in 15 years of mountain biking, road biking, dual, 4x and DH I've never seen or heard of an accident from a cassette.
Accidents I have seen related to moving parts are usually wrists trapped between wheel / fork leg, foot under rear wheel/ broken ankle/torn foot, calf chewed up by exposed upper chainring (common road accident in pile ups), lower arm chewed up by flip flop hub cog on a track, and numerous rotor burns (but never an accident with fingers in rotor, except in a work stand lol!).

Anyway, if the rule sticks, I'm sure I can wratch out a worn 18t cog from somewhere, however I play on about 24/25t on the rear so will hamper game, and its worn so might slip, but it is possible.
However, will I bother to drive 450 miles, excrete £150-200 of fuel (+ everything else) so I can play 4 games of polo on a bike thats no longer suitable for polo? :s

I work in an em theatre and I've seen some way weirder injuries from bikes, no matter what you do to them, i promise someone will find a way to injure themselves with what remains, so we should be sensible with how much we alter them for protection.
Examples- Brake lever tearing femoral artery
Bar end rupturing spleen :/
Fingers messed up in- spokes, chainrings, disc rotors.
Manhood vs stem

Most, are low speed and none of these involved cars.