5 September 2012 - 8:46More Projects! The 16er

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it 1000 times, I love me a good project.

There has been much smack talk over the last few weeks and months locally about the awesomeness of bike polo. It is awesome. I got my first taste in February during my pilgrimage to Tucson. I feel privileged to have been able to play my first ever polo match  in a “regular” game played on the Mall at U of A, where such notable movies like Revenge of the Nerds was filmed. The Tucson guys are for reals serious, yet they welcomed me with open arms. I was terrified most of the time, having terrible hand-eye coordination, but I did get an assist for my team, which for a newb, is pretty baddass. We played polo for about 3 hours under the rising full moon.

night of funness

Hooked.

During the bike festival in July, we got an impromtu game going out on the grassy field, and got a few others hooked. Needless to say the rumblings of a regular game are getting rumblier. Except some of us need bikes.
I’m all set though!

stripped down, ready for rebuild

This is the “16er”, which is named for the amount of money it cost back in 1998, $1600, which is a pretty good deal for a Stumpjumper that had a mix of XT parts and a Judy fork back in the day. Of course, it is also a lot of money. Let’s just say, someone got in trouble when someone else told their mom how much it cost. Hence the name. 16er. Ha!

how they looked back in 98

Needless to say, the 16er was a workhorse for a number of years.

It divided the country in half

It was well loved until it’s retirement, and until recently had been hanging on a hook collecting dust. Having gotten the polo bug, I knew it would ride to glory again, and so deals were made, handshakes exchanged, and the 16er now sits in my stable.

the 16er, now a battle stag

I did make a few changes. Most polo bikes have only 1 brake, the rear, set up on the left side. I have been given crap about the 2 brake set up on this bike, but I’m ambidextrous, and I can swing the mallet equally as poorly from either side of the bike. So there. I also added my own personal little flair to the bike from my huge box of parts, including my old circa 1998 SDG Stars and Stripes saddle, and Mootsstem. The only thing I need to get on the bike are some wheel guards, which I will make out of some corrugated plastic. I’m also planning on putting a big “16″ sticker on the front wheel.

So the current idea is to rally on Wednesdays in Waterbury for a friendly game of grass court polo. There are several venues in town we can use, so if there are any local riders out there that might want to get in on this, contact me at the shop. We’re a couple weeks away from getting going, but I’m hoping we can rally enough folks for a game before the end of the month.