The geometry of Evan's Marino

A couple things to note here. One is that a few things were "lost in translation"- an intergrated headset was not used (kind of a big mistake) and because the integrated headtube was supposed to be much shorter the top tube was supposed to be sloping downward ("lo-pro" style) much like Tim D's bike, seen here. Obviously that didn't happen. Also, Evan requested the front brakes be mounted to the front of the fork and Marino went ahead and put them on the inside. Not a huge deal, but this is the kind of stuff that would never happen if you were ordering from a place like Waterford.

Speaking of Waterford, for reference here's the geometry they use for the Joust. Mine is a 56cm and i fuggin' love it! I will admit though that Evan's Marino has a smaller turning radius than mine, mostly because of the shorter chainstays (made possible by the curved seattube).

All of this info is already available at the FleetVelo website, i just thought i'd re-post it for reference.

If anyone out there would like to share their own custom geometry i'd love to see it! The more custom bikes are made the more we'll be able to push the boundaries of what's possible in polo. To infinity- and beyond!

-W.

Evan's Marino - a few more shots

-W.

Ready to ride - Evan's new Marino

Quick shot of Evan's new whip. This thing is a fuggin' wheelie machine! The chainstays are short- maybe a little too short for me- but Evan loves it. The wheelbase is only 3/4" shorter than my Joust, but the Marino has a significantly tighter turning radius.

So far so good.

-W.

World Class Polo - by Mr. Do

World Class Polo from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

I fucking love everything Dustin makes!!!!!

Film = awesome. Music = awesome. Editing = awesome.

Can't wait to see what he does in 2012!

Riverside 2 in Lafayette - March 24th

We are kicking the 2012 season off with a tournament that will be a great display of Midwestern bike polo at one of Indiana's greatest polo courts. Our first Riverside tournament was a great success as you can see in our video produced. http://vimeo.com/22766262

The tournament will be a one day event with registration starting at 9am, swiss rounds beginning at 10am, and wrapping it up with awards by 10pm. We are also in the middle of reserving the courts the following day, March 25, in order to have a day of pickup for those who plan on hanging around. Housing will be available to those who request it.

We are planning on keeping the team cap at 24 and registration fee at $10 per person. More Information it to come as we wrap things up with our sponsor and the West Lafayette parks department.

- - - - -

Can't wait! I fuggin' love that rink on the Wabash!

Hopefully the MKE boys show up again- last year produced some excellent match-ups and i'm eager for that level of play again this year.

-W.

First look: Marino custom polo frames

Here's Jasmine's frame. Nice color, eh?

The triple triangle, which i really like.

BB shell and crimped chainstays.

The track ends are pretty small. My joust has twice the room that these do...

Fork surprisingly not too heavy...

...and neither is the frame.
Sure we're still talking about an 8lb bike, but that's pretty good compared to a lot of the conversions and freestyles frames we have around here.

A few of the necessary tools for assessing build quality...

Here's Evan's frame.

Close-ups of the welds...

..not terrible, but also not great...


...again, this is a $400 frame. The welds on my Joust are way better, but you get what you pay for, right?

This is one thing that baffles me- if you can build a whole frame yourself, you should also be able to center your cuts... It's functional and will work fine, but it's details like this that highlight the differences between a true custom and a discount one.

Not too bad...

..and not too bad. The whole rig is still a ton lighter than the old Volume Cutter he's been using.

Now let's see how it rides!

Overall these are great frames for the money, but there's plenty of inconsistencies. Nothing that will make the frame fail, but it's the small stuff. Note that on Evan's frame there's three different stickers using three different fonts (gag!); the "made in peru" sticker was put on kinda janky and instead of a nice decal that just says "Marino" (like on jasmine's) we get this "MarinoBike.com" slapped on there... god damn that thing is cheesy as shit (and was promptly taken off). Again, i'm just nit-pickin' but these are the kinda things you wouldn't expect from a "custom frame", but then again it's only $400 so there's not much room to complain.

-W.

Look what was in the mail today!

Evan and Jasmine's Marino frames have arrived!

Already took some quick shots- look for them tomorrow morning!

-W.

Nate Mumford's custom Squarebuilt polo bike

Look at how beautiful this thing is! and advanced! Propriety coupler system, reinforced track ends, wishbone seatstay... hell, even the textured industrial paint on the fork is a step forward! Lance at Squarebuilt has outdone himself. I can't wait to ride this thing- the geometry seems so.. forward. Then of course there's the details... Tompson setback seatpost, custom Squarebuilt bars, Profiles cranks, Tree sprocket, White Industries freewheel, Ribmo tires... that's the kind of quality we should all aspire to!

Sweet bike Nate, thanks for sharing the photos!

-W.

A few more portraits from the 2012 Lock-In

Not everyone took both before and after photos, but I just had to post more... these are just too good!

..and Lembo should be a model. We've always known he's one suave mofo, but shots like that last one just prove it!

-W.