Twin City - All City

In the Cities? The Twin Cities? The Midwest? Then there is everything right with you hitting up this little gathering today through Sunday. The All City Championship put on by Bike Jerks.

We've posted on this before but it never hurts to repeat. Jeff [from Bike Jerks] has gathered some pretty great looking prizes from all the sponsors. You'll have your chance at getting your hands on some Deep V, Chukker and B43 wheelsets.

For a schedule on how this little bike party is going to go down, check out this link.

And for all of you who like videos... here are all the All City Championship videos I could find [without putting forth much effort]:

Bike Jerks Weekend from BikeJerks on Vimeo.

All City Trick Comp 2009 from BikeJerks on Vimeo.

Revoked

Videos, videos, videos.

We continue to get to be part of some of the best videos within the FSFG realm. Each film seems to push further with better edits, film making, and creativity; which has been on par with the evolution of this segment of the cycling world.

Chris Fonseca has done it again with his new film, Revoked. One of our riders gets highlighted in it, Jakob Santos, throwing down on Chukkers and like so many has recently transitioned to P35s. Check out the preview below and to get your hands on a copy head over to Revoked store. A special promotion is being run between Fonsecafilms and Leader; when you purchase the film you are entered to win a Leader Trickstar 2.0 frame and Shadow Fork. Pretty stellar.

REVOKED TRAILER from Chris Fonseca on Vimeo.

And as if you needed more persuasion, Boltman's review:


Boosh!

ESP-olo.

As mentioned yesterday, ESPN visited NAHBPC in Madison this past weekend. I still have not been able to find any video but was able to find a write up from Sunday. Enjoy.

Bike polo isn't really for the timid
by Dan Murphy

MADISON, Wis. -- Imagine beer, bikes and polo meeting on asphalt and you'll start to get an idea of what hard-court bike polo is all about.

This little-known sport is an incredibly distant relative of horse polo -- but without any of the gentility. Cut-offs and T-shirts replace the more formal riding pants and tails; merciless hecklers serve as fans; worn asphalt tennis courts replace finely manicured polo pitches; and oozing scabs are a sign of a game well-contested. Oh, and tattoos, while not required, are certainly encouraged.

Welcome to the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships, in which 66 three-man teams competed over the weekend for a chance to play at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, in August.

"To be good at this you have to be both good on your bike, and also have an understanding of athletics in general," said Jonny Hunter, the NAHBPC organizer. "You see a lot of hockey players, lacrosse and soccer players. It's a mix of what we jokingly call 'bike jocks.' "

"The Odds" won the tournament, putting the final game out of reach on a last-minute breakaway goal by Philadelphia's Mark Capriotti. He and his teammates, Chris Roberts and Nick Vaughn, survived three grueling, humid July days of competition (and booze-soaked nights) to win $3,600, which is intended for use on plane fare to the World Championships.

The championship was contested at something less than a pristine athletic venue. Ragged tennis courts on the outskirts of Madison were ringed by small plywood walls, while fans, high on Gatorade and Miller High Life, were enthusiastic.

Teams with names like "Stickmata" and "Bourbonic Plague" represented 44 cities. And the sport has clubs throughout Europe, East Asia, Australia and South America, as well as the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The bikes, mostly single-speed models from a wide range of makers, are battle scarred. Homemade mallets are a shortened ski pole with a six-inch chunk of HDPE pipe on one end. Endorsement dollars haven't found the sport yet. Clearly, hard-court bike polo is about the love of the game.

"It's a good community of good people," said Kevin Walsh, a Toronto resident who oversees leagueofbikepolo.com. "Hardcourt's been around about 10 years. But there's been people playing bike polo on asphalt as long as there has been asphalt and bikes."

Matt "Messmann" Messenger is the godfather of the sport (or "grandfather," as one fan sarcastically yelled during one of Messenger's games). The 39-year-old elder statesman started playing the game with bike courier friends in Seattle in the late 1990s.

"We started inviting people out on Friday night with beer and polo," Messenger said. "Then we started throwing tournaments. In 2005, you started hearing more about bike polo. And it was 'Wow, people are really starting to play this game and taking it legit.'"

The sport isn't for the timid. With one hand on a brake and one hand on a mallet, players chase a small plastic ball. There's no touching the ground with your feet -- and if you do, you get a "tap-in" at a designated spot to be able to return to the action.

Riders weave through opponents with amazing agility, but graceful biking can, and often does, quickly turn into a painful pileup.

The tight-knit community plays hard on and off the court. Beer and bloodshot eyes were abundant at the NAHBPC.

"We have these friends that we see maybe 10 times per year," Capriotti said. "Trust me, I wonder about the philosophy of our friendships. You come here and you know everybody. It's very strange, but it's cool."

_


In what might be the most original name for an event this year, the Thighs, Wings, and Bicycle Things!!!!! out in Ontario, California this weekend: July 25th at 3pm.

An afternoon full of trick comps (w/ ramps, rails and boxes), a vintage bike display, a 2-man photo scavenger hunt, and the cherry on top with Ken's Frickin Chicken Booth being open all day. I haven't had Ken's Chicken but I'm willing to put stamp of approval on it for killer name to a poultry shop. Plus, with the possibility of winning a bronze Chukker wheelset, I'm down for just about anything.

Want more information? Check out Bumstead Bicycles site.

Things to Come.

There is always some thing on the horizon and as always there are a number of events that we are pleased to be a part of. We do our best to keep the sidebar on the left of the blog updated with events where you'll have a chance to get your grubby hands on some Velocity swag. Each event is different so you never know.

A few events on the horizon to note:

- The Last Stand Waterfront Bike Polo Tournament :: Burlington, VT

Presented by Burlington Hardcourt Bike Polo

This Friday, July 9, 2010 - Sunday, July 11, 2010

Rough schedule:

Friday: registration, arrivals, pickup games. Opening event
Saturday: round robin play to determine finals bracket
Sunday: top 8 teams in double elimination format

16 teams. Downtown Burlington. A chance to win a Velocity 700c 48 hole Chukker track/SS wheelset.

- Breckenridge 100 :: Breckenridge, CO

Saturday, July 17th

This race is part of the NUE [or National Ultra Endurance Race] Series we are proud to be a sponsor of. Sure these are races but as most will tell you within the Ultra Endurance scene, they are battles against yourself and this race is no different with the event, stating:

'You've done the rest, now take the test'

- North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships :: Madison, WI

Friday, July 16, 2010 - Sunday, July 18, 2010

96 teams. 8 courts. If you thought Midwest 8 was big, wait until this. Have a chance to win a Velocity 26" 36 hole Psycho track/SS wheelset.

Follow it over on Twitter, I'll do my best to RT notable posts on the Velocity Twitter also.

- Finally, if you're from the West Michigan area, there is the Grattan Race Series. This event has been going on weekly through the summers at Grattan Raceway, for the last 31 years. If you're looking to get a taste of what road racing is or an established vet, the Grattan Race Series offers both A and B races on Wednesday nights.

Of course, if you can't make it to these, remember there is always the First Ever Velocity Temporary Tat Bag-O-Goodies Give A Way you can be a part and have a chance at getting some Velocity gear.

more polo.

6 times year one of our favorite publications comes out, Urban Velo. We really can't express how much we enjoy the magazine itself or how much respect we have for Jeff and Brad for putting it all together and how great they are to work with it. We've highlighted a number of items so far this year in it; from the Halo Reflective Rims, to our ability to custom build wheels to your exact specification and need, and last issue the Bottle Trap. In this installment, since Matt and a few others of the GR crew making it to the Midwest 8 tournament in Minneapolis and being on the verge of the North American Tournament in Madison here in July; we wanted to simply say thanks to everyone in MPLS for a stellar time and advocate a bit for more to join in on this growing subculture of cycling.

Waaay back in June, we had the privilege to be part of another bicycle polo tournament down in Indiana. It was the first ever Indiana Invitational presented by the Bloomington Bike Polo crew, held in Bloomington, IN on the Indiana University campus. With a strong showing of around 60 players representing 7 states it's easy to say that it was a success. The tournament even garnered enough attention that the local paper did a write up on it. Check it out, in what I'll call great polo fashion the article seems to give a great snap shot of the growing polo culture.

We contributed one of our handbuilt Chukker wheelsets to the tournament, which ended up being awarded to the MVP of the day, Ben from St. Louis Dignified Gentlemen. The Dignified Gents also went on to win the tournament by beating the Butt Suckers from Columbus, Ohio. A great day for the Lou', and from all accounts a great event and time for everyone involved. Next time hopefully it works out for us to get a team together and head down.

For more pictures from the event, check out the comment section of their post or see a few here.

Name that Rim

Can you name the Velocity rim/wheel seen in these videos?

A.

B.

NYC BFF'10 Antics 2 from WRAHW on Vimeo.

C.

MaiHiro x urban1cycle x Velocity USA from greg deese on Vimeo.

D.

The wheels seen are shown below to give you a hint. If you haven't figured it out, the answer will be given on our Twitter at 3pm EST.

GR Polo Night.

Last night was the regular bike polo night here in Grand Rapids. With impending thunder storms and need for refreshment along with some food a few of us headed over to one of our favorite spots in GR, Founders Brewery, for a little pre-game.

Matt really isn't that gruff, this is more of a look of bliss. A Founders sandwich and a brew, it's hard to beat.

After hanging out for a bit there we headed to the courts. Fortunately, where our courts are located are under Grand Rapids' S-Curve near the downtown GVSU campus, so as clouds began to form the court was going to stay dry although that still means people have to venture out in it.

Sorry, had to take a cliche mallet shot.

During a break in the action while we waited for more to join in.

Sorry no action shots, we were all too busy playing. We ended up just having 2 on 2 games for around 2.5 hours, in which we had the privilege of having some of GR's finest come down and watch for a bit. One being the our local CSI officer, apparently no 'back and to the left' crime scenes to investigate.


Flats seem to be the theme of the day. Bob was the first to have one after skidding through his back tire and then what ended up ending the polo session, Casey getting a mysterious flat just before the lights gave out for a moment. All in all, it was a great night for polo.

_

Since we've got polo on the mind today. There are 3 events that we would love to let everyone in on:

- This weekend, June 19th, in Bloomington, Indiana; the Indiana Invitational presented by Bloomington Bike Polo.

- July 10th-11th in Burlington, VT; the Last Stand Waterfront Bike Polo Tournament being put on by the Burlington Hardcourt Bike Polo crew.

At both of these events you will have the chance win some of our polo approved Chukker wheelsets!

Finally, mark your calendars, make your hotel reservations to make your pilgrimage to one of the bicycling Meca's in Madison, Wisconsin for the North American Hardcourt Bicycle Polo Champoinships on July 16th-18th. If you thought the Midwest 8 tournament was big, the North American should probably blow your mind!

Bike Polo: A Cycling Sport from Zach Cost on Vimeo.

Devan and her B43s

The 700cmx scene is predominated by mostly males, many of whom have made the leap over from their bmx roots. With the likes of riders like Tom LaMarche and Eric Puckett, to name a few of the many, who are pushing the limit as to what can be done on a fixie. There is a growing movement of women who have started to dive into this, one of those being Devan Mickell.

Sunday Edit from Devan Mickell on Vimeo.

Devan is out of Nashville and is one of our sponsored riders, her love for cycling is contagious and it's been a privilege working with her. She recently did a little write up on the B43's she's been rocking for a while now and we can't wait for her to get onto the Chukkers also.

Enjoy.


Velocity Sponshorship & B43 Review

I'm really excited to announce that I'm riding for Velocity now and just placed my order for my new Velocity Chukkers today. I've ridden both Velocity Deep V's and B43's, and they're definitely a product and company I feel I can really stand behind. I just want to thank Velocity for being so great and giving me this opportunity! With that said, since I'm getting some new rims, I figured I'd go a head and give a little review of my Velocity B43s. Continue reading to check it out.

After over a year of racing, jumping stairs and ledges, wrecking, commuting, tricking, running into about everything, playing polo, and just all around riding hard and putting these rims to the test, they're still in perfect shape and not the least bit out of tru. Basically, they're tough; the toughest rims I've ridden on yet. But who would argue with that? They're 43mm deep and triple walled. What really makes this rim unique is that it does not sacrifice speed for strength. Too often are those terms mutually exclusive, especially when it comes to rims. Rather, the B43 attains a great balance for getting around fast while still enduring whatever the road throws out you. If you're looking for a good rim that's versatile enough for all types of riding, then the B43 is it. I absolutely love mine and I would highly recommend them.

Jumping a 5 stair with front and rear B43s and 23c tires

5 Stair Gap from Devan Mickell on Vimeo.

dP2

All the way back in February, while Jacobi and Bolt were out in Richmond for the Handmade Show they got to hit up the premiere of Kareem Shehab's newest film Death Pedal 2. From all accounts, Bolt had a great time although recollection of the nights events is still a bit fuzzy.

This was another project that we are proud to be able to be a part of, with plenty of the guys rocking the Chukkers. We received a copy of the film last week and I was able to watch it last night and needless to say I was entertained.

From Wonka's segment setting off a great series of tricks that continued through out the rest of the film with the Friends portion showcasing a number of the riders who were there with the guys. Then the lead into Eric Puckett's clips was absolutely hilarious, which I had to watch twice just to catch everything that was said. The film ends with Torey Thornton, who hits some staircases that has blown my mind. Once you see it, you'll understand.

The film is available for purchase at the Death Pedal website and there are plenty of clips to be seen from outtakes, trailers and such to see at their site also. Kareem and all the guys who helped get this project together did an amazing job and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. On a side note, when we opened the packaging we were pleasantly surprised and honored to have one of a Chukker wheel rocking the DVD, a nice added touch.

Death Pedal 2 Trailer 2 from Killa Kareem on Vimeo.

Photo Tuesday.

Yesterday and a post early today over at Prolly is not Probably, Prolly has posted a few pictures of a recent ride/interview with one of our 700cmx riders, Tom La Marche, over at Out of Print Magazine. Some of the stuff that Tom and a few others are pulling off is pretty crazy to say the least. Check out the OOPM website for more pictures and also check out Prolly's site for pictures from their 4/20 ride...




That's right, if you look closely Tom is rocking a P35 front and a Dyad rear, not the traditional stuff you see on most riders pulling off this stuff but certainly shows what we already knew: our rims go above and beyond what they might have first been developed for!

Below we have another one of our riders, Eric Puckett in a recent Volume Bikes ad going big over a gap with the Chukkers. Stellar.


Whether you're a roadie, a mountain biker or a 700cmxer, we'd love to see more of your own pictures rocking our rims. Post them over on our Facebook page or link them up on the comment sections here.

Weekend Dose of Vitamin V

Friday! What better way to launch into the weekend with a little taste of the ol' Vitamin V, it's part of a balanced ride. Every so often we experiment with new colors and designs for a rims. Although, Ripper Orange is not a new color for us, prior to Tuesday the B43 was the only rim we stocked with it. We got a few more rims with this vibrant orange: the Blunt, Deep V, and Chukker now instock. We have limited quantities of these and based on the popularity of them, the color may last, it may not. So be the first to rock these, contact your local bicycle shop for pricing and availability.



We are also extremely excited for a new image rim, Worms. This design was exclusively made for and is distributed through Seattle Bike Supply; and available through your local bike shop. SBS will be receiving this limited edition rims at the end of next week:



As we are on the verge of another Hallmark holiday, I'll leave with a song, a song that I'm not quite sure about, but it is a song about love... Bike love that is.

Chukk that out.

Yesterday over at Urban Velo, there was a little write up by Jeff on our Chukker wheelset. If you're ever wondering about how our anodized stuff holds up to braking, that question is addressed plus another reminder on how rock solid our hand-build wheels are. As always, enjoy.

Velocity Chukker Wheelset - On Test

I like to play bike polo. It’s a fun game, and with some exceptions not particularly hard on the body, but definitely fosters a lot of bike to bike contact. When you consider all the crashing, sprinting and hard braking, it’s not surprising that I’ve had a problem keeping my polo bike’s wheels true. I mentioned this to the guys at Velocity USA, and without hesitation they sent me a Chukker wheelset to see if it didn’t solve my problems. I told them that I was running a freewheel on my polo bike, and they were especially interested in my experiences running brakes with an anodized, non-machined rim. Having read Jobst Brandt’s theories on these subjects, I was quite interested myself.

Velocity’s Chukker rims are specifically designed for the more punishing disciplines of urban cycling—namely bike polo, as evidenced by the Chukker logo. With drillings of 32, 36 and 48 holes, they’re also geared towards freestyling, heavier cyclists and tandem riders. Of course they’re also a great choice for commuters who want to run a Deep V rim with high-volume tires. The rim’s profile is not entirely new, mind you. It’s a re-issue of Velocity’s proven Deep V ATB rolled into a 700c rim. At 24mm wide, they’re designed to hold high-volume mountain bike tires, they’re certainly at home with 35’s installed. And at 32mm tall, their strength and stiffness seem to be a force to be reckoned with.

Velocity’s complete wheelsets are hand-built in Grand Rapids. They came perfectly true with brass nipples and 14g straight gauge spokes laced to Velocity’s standard black track hubs. Some dedicated fixed gear riders may be disappointed that the Velocity hubs are threaded fixed/free, so you can’t run a fixed cog on both sides.

After one month of testing, I’m fairly convinced that these wheels are going to prove themselves to be bombproof. But only time will tell. Granted, I’m not hucking off staircases, but they’ve already taken some spills on the polo court, not to mention a few mallets to the spokes, and they’re still rolling straight and true. The brakes seem to lock up as well as they did on my old rims with machined sidewalls, even in wet conditions. I’ve been skidding all over the court and burning holes through tires. Most interestingly, even though I can hear that the pads are often gritty and wet, the anodization hasn’t even started to wear off. I’m fairly certain it will eventually give way to raw aluminum, but theoretically, that should only improve braking.

Available in black, silver, bronze and olive (shown) the Chukker rim weighs 650g. The complete wheelset (with standard hubs, as shown) retails for $330, or upgrade to solid-flange premium hubs for $375. The rims alone retail for $70 each. Stay tuned for an update down the road. In the meantime, visit www.velocityusa.com for more information.

So much more.

Dear Internet,

As mentioned last week, there has been a few dedicated people who are leading the charge here in Grand Rapids for the new mountain bike park/trails. There was a great write up in our Sunday paper on the project, it's just been really great to see the amount of support and enthusiasm the park is getting from the community [cyclist or not]. Urban renewal takes a lot of different forms, as more and more local governments are making hard decisions on budgets; it's encouraging to see to private citizens and groups, like the IMBA, MMBA, and wMMBA, stepping up to better an area for the greater community. Sure it's just a bike park, but it's so much more.

Also over the weekend, there was a little gathering of 700CMXers for the the Midwest Mayhem in Milwaukee. From the video it looks like it was a really solid turn out. Hope everyone who turned out had a great time and congratulations to all the winners. There are numerous sites to check out all the went down but there are some pretty stellar photos from the event here.

MIDWEST MAYHEM!!! from Seth Root on Vimeo.

Just a little video.

Just a little video for you today from the crew at City Grounds. We could pick out a few of our rims in it... can you? Enjoy.

because we ride... Polo Time.

This week we have our fearless GM's, Matt, polo bike. We've got a nice little write up for you, enjoy:

'A winter commuter turned polo rig.'

The frame is a Specialized HardRock that I got from Doug Koster in the spring of 2005. I don’t know where he got it and that’s probably for the best. It was stripped bare and rattle canned in the basement of 2208 Godwin in Grand Rapids. The fork is a RockShox Quadra that came from Doug at the same time. The steer tube was extended and re-welded to fit this bike. Shimano STX headset and stock Specialized stem and bars. Lefty style Altus 420 brake lever to a Tektro rear cantilever. Brake housing is routed through a top tube pad purchased by Bob Zeilstra during a holiday in Japan. My future grandchildren will thank me for the Raceface stem pad. Specialized seat post, Schwinn saddle, Salsa clamp.

The front wheel is a 26” Deep V ATB (OG Chukker) laced to a Velocity ATB hub with butted spokes. The rear wheel is a 26” Aeroheat rim laced to a Velocity cutout flange track hub with 14 gauge spokes. 32 spokes each and both are 3 cross.

The rear hub has been re-spaced to accept a 5 speed freewheel which is the only way I could get the chain line and length to work out. Gearing is 27x21. Cranks are 170mm Shimano Alivios…black on one side silver on the other due to an unfortunate bike chucking incident. Rear tire is a Continental Town and Country from Jacobi’s tandem, front is a Specialized Crossroads that was probably on the bike when I got it. She’s a real gnarly bitch.

For those of you who need a little 'how to' on the ins and outs of Bike Polo, I found a video for you below. Come this spring if you're in the West Michigan area and want to try your hand in the sport, on Sundays and Wednesdays under the S-Curve there are matches normally going on.

Friday.

It's hard to beat the original. The Aero rim might be one of my favorite looking rims we have. Although the P35, Blunt and A23 are definitely getting more of my attention lately. But like a parent with their children, I love them all but I have a soft spot for a few.

So this weeks Friday Highlight is our Track Aero Set. And why not, it's tried, true, proven [not to mention on sale!]

Built on our 32 hole solid axle, cutout flange track hubs and available in 16 different rim colors. Available from your local bicycle shop, contact them for pricing. Did a mention that they are on sale? Oh yeah! Get yours!


In Midwest? Do a little 700cMXing? Next weekend is the Midwest Mayhem Trick Competition over in the Milwaukee area. More information here, we sent over a Chukker wheel set for you all to try and get your hands on. Good luck!

Oh-1-Oh

As we all begin to awaken from the haze that was another 4-day weekend; getting back into the swing of the 5-day work week along with the realization that we are still, in fact, in the same decade. We, like so many, are looking forward to the coming year with great expectation: from the A23 rim/wheel set to the new reflective powder coating, which is only the tip of the iceberg. We have a lot in store for the coming year and can't wait to show it off!

The Grand Rapids New Years Day ride went on without a hitch. Ryan and Jacobi made it out and from all reports had a great time. Depending on which one of them you ask, it was a few short of the 100 riders the Founders guys were hoping for... either 50 or 70 riders. Some pictures from the ride will be up later this week.

A few things to put on your radar, for all you commuter/bike polo nuts, Amy Walker over at Momentum magazine has a little write up on the popular Chukker rim in their latest edition [which is available for free download, and shown to the right]. Also over the holiday I was able to pass on a P35 wheel set for review over to Guitar Ted and the Twenty Nine Inches / The Cyclist Site Laboratories. It's no secret that we're extremely excited about these rims and look forward to hearing what the 29er guru has to say about them. [By the way nice looking trap, Ted!]