I had the pleasure of playing with Shane Blackmore in the T-Town Terrors team at the Taupo Tap-Out last year.  In a year when a lot of people seem to be moving towards custom polo frames, Shane has built his own bike in his back shed in Taupo, New Zealand.  The only thing he didn’t build was the wheels.  This is his first frame build and I think it looks amazing.  Shane already has more ideas and will be starting another one next week.  Here are some photos of his progressive build.

By Virginia Castellan

Photographs by Shane Blackmore

Name: Nigel Tipene
City: T-Town – Taupo, Nth Island, New Zealand
Frame/Fork: 1990 Milazo Rock’n'Comp Fully rigid cro-mo frame
Bars: Original Cheap Taiwan steel flat bars
Seat/Post: Phillips 0′ Alloy
Pedals: Shimano Clipless/Odessey Bmx
Cranks/Bottom Bracket: Truvative DH cranks and B/B
Brakes: Deore XT V-brakes and levers with custom cable splitter (Ed: I saw this set up personally and it is sick!)

Sprocket: 20th
Freewheel/Rear cog: Freewheel with Magic Chain set up
Front Wheel (Rim,Hub,Tyre): Original Deore hub circa 1990 – Old Skool Araya 45mm wide rim 36 hole
Rear Wheel (Rim,Hub,Tyre): Original Deore hub circa 1990 – Deep section Araya Triple wall Rim 36 hole

Why did you choose this bike?
Cause it has “OLD SKOOL KOOL” and has an amazing geometry for Polo.

How long have you played on this bike for? Have you played on anything else?
Played for about a year with this bike. I have had about 6 polo bikes in the past, but this bike is the best so far.

What are the best things about your bike?
The steel frame, with the old MTB geometry. It handles so well, and has a pink squiggle 1990′s paint job. Also I think it’s the only 1 of it’s kind in the world of Polo I know of.

What are the worst things about your bike? What would you change? 
Love everything about the bike, and I spent time making it bullet proof, and wouldn’t change a thing.

If you missed last week, we took a look at Vive’s bits.

By Oliver Wykeham