Owner:  Daniel Justice

City:  Perth, Australia

Frame/Fork:  Tommaso

Bars:  Squarebuilt

Seat/Post: Bontrager / Bontrager

Pedals: Generic swap meet jobs

Cranks/BB/Chain ring:  FSA vero / Fucken shithouse rocket brand

Sprocket: White Industries 22T

Brakes: Sram apex

Wheels: Front: Ukai with pink Fixiepop / Rear: Nothin rim with Gatorskin

Why did you choose this bike?

It was a swap meet special

How long have you played on this bike for? Have you played on anything else?
Since AHBPC2012 – less than 6 months.  I have also played on an Indi 500 step through a Trek mountain bike and a Specialized Langster (pictured below).

What are the best things about your bike?
It has a puffy name tag

What are the worst things about your bike? What would you change?
Back tyre is not a pink Fixiepop

By Mike Critch

Photographs by Emily Dimozantos and Mike Critch

If you missed checking out Mike Critch’s bits, you can see them here.

Mallet #2 – Jamie Barber (Brisbane Australia)

If any of you have met Lindsay Shaw (reclusive ex-polo player from Brisbane), you will know he is a perfectionist. 2 days in a forty plus degree warehouse, watching a heavily tattooed autistic redhead slaving over a lathe, when all you want to do is play polo is not the best way to spend a weekend. However, the result was definitely worth it.  Since being made it has undergone a facelift, with the head being replaced. However I still love my mallet dearly, it is perfect.

My overseas adventure was about to start and Lindsay had decided that I needed the perfect pair of mallets. He worked as an instrument technician and had access to industrial plastics as well as a lathe and some serious mallet making hardware including a drop-saw and drop press. Pity his warehouse was in the middle of nowhere and seriously under ventilated.

The original heads have since worn down and been replaced, but incorporated one capped side with 2 degrees of angle toward the capped side to reduce wear on the non capped side, seriously drilled out for weight. It was the first I had ever played with a capped head, or a drilled out head. I immediately felt a improvement in my shots and a decrease in mallet hand fatigue. These magic heads were drilled to the 2011  vintage Fixcraft black shafts (in my opinion the best combination of low weight and bend and breakage resistance). I still have the longer of the pair, the other resides with Netje, somewhere in NZ or far north QLD.

Not only do I love my mallet because it traveled with me to worlds and London Open, but because it has also been used to fend off deadly kangaroos at a mental hospital and  to scare off potential villains on the midnight train to Ipswich. The mallets took so long to make, they were perfect; noone will ever own one like it. It has since been retired and sleeps next to me. Really, ask my girlfriend.

If you have special love for one of your mallets and want to share that with the world, send us an email at goalholepolo@gmail.com 

If you missed seeing Hazels’ shaft, you can check it our here.

The Aftermath Bench Tournament will be held in Brisbane on 29 and 30 September 2012.  The six chosen captains recently spent several painstaking days selecting their teams one player at a time.  Here’s how it ended up:

Dasha’s Team

Dasha (Auckland) / Anya (Melbourne) / Carol (Auckland) /  Kiki (Brisbane)
Cooper (Brisbane) / Locky (Sydney) / Rob (Melbourne) / Shane (Brisbane)

Virginia’s Team

Virginia (Sydney) / Daniel (Sydney) / Danny (Melbourne) / Jamie (Brisbane)
Kent (Sydney) / Nick (Brisbane) / Red (Brisbane) / Rupert (Brisbane)

Andrew’s team

Andrew (Brisbane/Melbourne) / Ben (Sydney) / Claire (Perth) / Domenico (Brisbane)
Jordan (Brisbane) / Katie (Brisbane) / Ray (Melbourne) / Sam (Melbourne)

Mattie’s team

Mattie (Perth) / Andy (Brisbane) / Benee (Melbourne) / Brook (Sydney)
Lefty Ben (Brisbane) / Scott (Brisbane) / Tsz (Sydney) / Nikki (Sydney)

William’s team

William (Melbourne) / Dr Drew (Melbourne) / Erin (London) / Gemma (Melbourne)
Hazel (Auckland) / Mace (Brisbane) / Morgan (Sydney) / Stephen (Sydney)

Ollie & Scottie’s team

Ollie (Brisbane) / Scottie (Perth) / Bennett (Gold Coast) / Damon (Melbourne)
Handsome Rob (Brisbane) / Jack (Sydney) / Mark (Sydney) / Max (Brisbane)

Aftermath Facebook event page is here

By Virginia Castellan

Owner:  Mike Critch

City:  Perth, Australia

Frame/Fork:  Redline Monocog 26″

Bars: Titec – Hell Bent

Seat/Post: Cinelli Unicantor, Redline post

Pedals: Redline

Cranks/BB/Chain ring: Redline / Redline / Shimano 30T

Brakes: Diacompe V brakes – Dual Lever

Wheels:  Front – Alex, Rear – Velocity

Why did you choose this bike?
It was the most suitable steed in the stable for polo with cro moly tubing.

How long have you played on this bike for? Have you played on anything else?
All my polo life.

What are the best things about your bike?
Solid, BMX roots, 26 inch. Set up for left hand so no one can borrow it.

What are the worst things about your bike? What would you change?
Stronger rims/wheelset

By Mike Critch

Photographs by Marty Drdy

If you missed checking out Ash Williams’ bits, you can see them here.

The new entries are in italics.  Check it out here.

We are still looking for new entries, so send us your suggestions.  Our email is goalholepolo@gmail.com

Dai Matsushima from Adelaide has put together this great video from their 321 Killers Tournament.

Thank you so much Dai for sharing (and also to Rob Moss for uploading it to his vimeo account).

We always love getting videos at GOALHOLE.   If you have made any videos of Australasian Bike Polo that you want to see on GOALHOLE, send an email to goalholepolo@gmail.com

If you missed our last video on Brisbane Bike Polo, you can access it here