The future of Cosmic Bike Polo can now be found here:
NEW COSMIC SITE
Come over and see us....
08/02/2011
28/11/2010
Cosmic Winter League 10/11 Fixture 3
We played our 3rd league fixture today down Newington vs newbie team JAH.
Ray was the ref and kept scores with his little helpers....
-Mat
14/11/2010
LDNBFF/KRH/KNSTNZ POLO
Here's a short edit by Rupert of the London BFF as well as footage from his recent trip to Karlsruhe and Konstanz....mixed to two good sound tracks.
LDNBFF/KRH/KNSTNZ POLO from Snoopert on Vimeo.
Looks like fun times were had.
Cosmic needs to get back on the road.
-Mat
26/10/2010
PoloMotion, Utrecht, October 23/24 2010
PoloMotion was part of the BikeMotion Benelux Expo which ran for 3 days over this last weekend. 32 teams competed on a slick indoor court, though the surface was nowhere near as slippery as last February's Greif Masters Court.
Format was the Karlruhe Wheel, with teams playing 6 qualifiers each and the top 8 going through to knock-out finals. I formed a team with Bianca and Jamal, we named ourselves Bride of Franklinstein, and we had a heck of a lot of fun. We won all 6 qualifier games, finishing 3rd in the rankings for the finals. We then demolished Berlin's Rakete in 4 minutes, before succumbing to Karlsruhe's Shark Attack in a tense 4-3 semi-final.
Bambule took the trophy, which was definitely a deserved win. Sharks came second and we tied for 3rd with Polosynthese.
All in all an awesome weekend of polo. Lots of friendly faces, great games and plenty of laughs. As a team, we'd never previously played together, but this won't be our last outing. We might need to change the team name next time though. Dutch Cosmic anyone?!
19/10/2010
COSMICV2...
COSMICV2 = the darker side of polo....welcome all the crazies, cross dressers and child haters!
-Mat
09/10/2010
07/10/2010
A Cosmic Wedding
On Tuesday 5th October in Amsterdam...a cosmic tandem of unity was united between Cosmic Tom and Cosmic B....yay! Congrats guys....we're so happy for you both!!!
Here's to cosmic love and happiness! xxx
Oh...and guys...now you're a Mr and Mrs, you've got to get one of these...
Then not before long...maybe one of these...
-Mat
03/10/2010
The London BFF 14th - 17th Oct
Don't forget during 14th - 17th October the Bicycle Film Festival roles into London town.
Celebrating 10 years of the festival...the film line up is looking awesome. From the usual unique mini shorts to exclusive docu's, such as the awesome film all about BMX legend Matt Hoffman as well as an anniversary showing of ET...the film which made every kid want a Kuwahara BMX!
Our good friend Brendan Mcnamee of BAD Polo and Blunt Films, has two films being shown this year in the Urban Bike Shorts collection.
One is ''12 Miles of Style' a film about the now famous Tweed run which takes place in London every year.
The other is a creative edit called 'We've got it on tape' and features Bike Polo from recent tournies as well as some more unique footage - watch carefully and you might see the beautiful silhouettes of Toddy and I.
To view the full film listing and buy tickets check here
In addition to the BFF there's the annual BFF Bike Polo Tourney, which this year will be on Sunday 17th at Newington Gardens Court.
The format for this years tourney is a bit different, as the focus is more on games being 'experimental'. With this, a few standard Bike Polo rules have been changed and no-one can play with their usual team or with players they've played with before. As a result...cosmic have split to form the following experimental super teams...
Toddy, Gabes (Apples), Aidan (BAD).
Mat, Em (Apples), Greg (MGM Paris).
The format has been controversial to Bike Polo purest...but regardless I'm sure it's gonna to be a fun day....so get down and support!
-Mat
30/09/2010
WHBPC 2010 Cosmic vs Team Grizzly
A whole lot of cosmic pressure....5 banging goals and one hell of a post whacker...
-Mat
25/09/2010
COUNT THAT!
Thanks to an epic performance by Rory, East Van come from 4-0 down to take the win over Seattle's Smile in the East Van Crown.
Rory MVP!
Amazing Bike Polo Final Game from brawcast on Vimeo.
-Mat
19/09/2010
Resist Bike Parts Co.
Resist is a new bike parts co. from the dudes behind Volume BMX.
Basically, the feeling was that Volume had always meant to be a 100% BMX focused...but in recent years, what with the success of the Cutter and Thrasher 700c frames, Volume increasingly had eyes on other areas of the bike market. As a result, the original vision behind the Volume brand had slipped away a bit. So, the launch of Resist now means there is a new platform to release all sorts of nonBMX bits n pieces...which leaves Volume to go back to following it's true roots in BMX - awesome plan I think.
So fingers x'd we might start seeing some Bike Polo parts from Resist in the near future.
Watch this Resist space.
-Mat
Beautiful BMX Edit
The filming in this short BMX edit is stunning...you gotta love any thing shot in slow mo...
7D 1000 fps from Oton Bačar on Vimeo.
-Mat
Pac Bike Polo Top Tube Pad - Review
The good guys at BLB have given us each a custom made top tube pad which has be specifically designed to hold mallets and produced by Canadian bike bag brand PAC.
I was so in need of this item because using cut inner tubes as mallet straps just wasn't fitting the image + now my cable and (rusty) top tube get's a bit of protection!
Having now used the pad for a few weeks I can honestly say the design is spot on for function. The design itself is simple...the pad is of a tough material construction with full length velcro closure. Then to strap the mallets on (fits two comfortably), two lengths of velcro at either end of the pad are used, which wrap around the mallet shaft holding firmly in place - simple, but effective.
My pad is in solid black (an assortment of colours are available) with a little PAC tag stitched on one side. Overall, the design is very clean and does it's job perfect. The only downside is I can no longer see the 'eye of cosmic' sticker which is stuck on the top tube, thus I can't look at it to gain cosmic strength. I'm sure the eye will burn through the pad eventually, but perhaps a cosmic x pac colour way is needed?
Anyway....the standard PAC Bike Polo top tube pad is def worth a purchase.
-Mat
18/09/2010
17/09/2010
Shop14 London Open in Pictures by Agata
Here's a few great pictures from the London Open taken by the wonderful Agata...
Toddy sinking the pool balls by just the power of cosmic vision....
A missed cosmic face...
The whole London Open players and supporters...
Shop14 London Open Best Bits Video
Here's a really awesome best bits video of the London Open...nice to see me rocket one past L'Equipe at 2,40sec in....
London Open 2010 Highlights from Jon Marshall on Vimeo.
This is exactly why I play and love polo...great fun times!
Thanks Jono and Polo.
I miss the cosmic summer of 2010!
-Mat
16/09/2010
WHBPC 2010 Cosmic vs The Odds
Just found this nice edit of our first game on the double elim day us vs The Odd's, who were the North American Champs...tough draw...and hell, we nearly, I mean should have had them.
With 1.30min left on the clock and after us going 3-2 up from Toddy's wheely take to goal, I should have ended the game due to a clear shot on goal...but I was going super fast on the break and could feel the dude chasing me hard. With the pressure there, I shot late only to hit the post! The good damn post! 9 times out of 10 I would have got that in...but it wasn't to be. I left the shot so late, I didn't even have the space to turn away from goal, so ended up crashing into it. Then Chris from The Odds picked up the loose ball went on the attack and to his credit scored a great goal to suddenly make it 3-3 with less than a min left. I went from hero to zero - sucked hard!
Then The Odds applied ridiculous physical pressure...body checks, charges, hassles on the keeper, but it paid off and they got the winner with 8 secs to go!
Painful result.
whbpc2010 cosmic 1 from D-TOX on Vimeo.
After that game, we knocked Malice out (sorry) and with it ended one of the longest team relationship in London Polo history (team BAD are still the only original team together from the early London day)...
MALICE RIP!
Just found this one too...the moment when El Club knocked out The Odds...Euro sweetness!
Watch carefully at 18 sec in when Lucas comes up against Chris with a legal shoulder to shoulder, only for Chris to push him off with his hand. He was good at doing that kinda stuff...he was all over me in our game. But I still he's fast with skills and rides a FBM, so I'll allow it....just!
-Mat
09/09/2010
The Joust v.2
The FleetVelo Joust version 2 has just gone into production and it's looking good.
The frame is now built for 135mm rear hub and can now take 2.0 tyres (though 2.5 with a bit more space would be awesome).
This is the first prototype which has been set up for adjustments.
After seeing version 1 at the Worlds, I was really excited about seeing the new version and would love to get my hands on one.
I've been looking a lot at frames built for 26" wheels pretty much all of them are too long especially mtbs. Jump / trial frames are an option but I don't like the builds so much.
The market is about to get flooded with 26" trick frames so more options will be available yet all of these will have long top tubes for bar spinning.
I think the Joust is the nearest there is to what I want....
-Todd
02/09/2010
CULT
CULT the NOS (new old skool) BMX brand...doing it how a bike brand should.
Here's a walk through of the Cult Clubhouse with Big Rob-o...
Toddy should start offering walk throughs of his cosmic bedroom full of charms and trinkets...I've heard a lot of magic goes down in there between certain hours of the day.
-Mat
DIY Court
Maybe it's time London found some dead space and built a court like this...
Everyone chipping in for a sheet of ply.
Excited to see Polo in Tokyo...cosmic holiday destination next Autumn?
Be good to see some Asia rep in the Worlds next year.
-Mat
01/09/2010
Cosmic Mallet - May 2009
I was just going over some old images from the days when Cosmic first formed right up to the present day, and was really surprised to see how much we've progressed! Even the game we play today and all the equipment we use is so far from what we started out with. Bikes have been and gone, beards have grown, team logo has changed, tournaments have been played, friends have been made, and god knows how many mallets we've been through!!!
So nice to look back at our history and have so many fond memories.
And throughout all the changes, it seems the 'eye' has always been with us.
Long live Cosmic!
-Todd
Cosmic Polo Bike Build Project
Stage one complete...thanks Ryan...
Now just need to prime and spray, before digging deep in the pockets for a few new parts.
-Mat
31/08/2010
Dans Ta Gueule, Puceau
The biggest brand in polo has just launched on youtube with a bunch of short stings...
I like Pimp/On the most. But no surprise that the vid with the most views is the Porno one starting Guthrie...if he doesn't flash enough leg on court...now he goes all the way to flash his Dans Ta Gueule, Puceau! I mean, c'mon man, there's really no need for that.
-Mat
Cosmic at The Shop14 London Open
Spotted some nice photographs of cosmic at the Shop14 London Open taken by Luis Davis...
For the full set check here
-Mat
30/08/2010
The Shop14 London Open Final Edit
Here's the final between Chicago's Machine Polotics vs Team Frown (aka Smile) from Seatle...
London Open 2010 Final from Jon Marshall on Vimeo.
A tourney 'highlights' edit is in the works.
Missing tourney season already!
-Mat
29/08/2010
Who's the new cosmic one...
- Who are you and what you do off the Bike Polo court?
I'm Rupert (aka Snoops), off the court I make bags, watch BMX vids, declutter, cook well, watch good films and get really good shut-eye.
- What's your Bike Polo background?
One and a half years in the game. I started playing in Manchester, I formed Netto Superstars with Chan and Mirek. We played together for about 8 months, placing in the top ten at the first EHBPC and finishing second in the London BFF 09. I moved back to London just over a year ago, began playing Buffalo Bill of Moving Target Magazine and Mark Horatio in Three Beards. I had an awesome time playing with them and am very grateful for times on and off the court we shared. Now I'm playing with cosmic, we were the highest ranking UK team at the The London Open our first tournament together, which bodes well for the future.
- What motivates you to play Bike Polo?
I have a funny relationship with Bike Polo. Sometimes I play for fun, just to knock the ball about and do silly tricks, but then there are the tournaments and league fixtures where I can feel myself taking it more seriously and it becomes my sport. Bike Polo is my sport and is my past time.
- Describe your playing style in three words?
Slow, fast, goal.
- What's the new bike set up you're now rolling on?
I ride a DAMP Cycles Butterbean. I approached Per (DAMP owner) when I saw the first pictures of his Butterbean frame, I told him it could be great for Bike Polo with a few tweaks. He's a lovely guy, a long email conversation begun about how it could be more specifically for Bike Polo. So after a few tweaks he sent me a frame to test. So far I'm loving it, it turns on a dime, it's built tough and the craftsmanship is top notch. Very clean welds, good design and the paint finish is a rubberized matt black. I ride freewheel, 700c 27-18, rear brake.
- What's your take on Bike Polo at the moment?
Bike Polo is getting interesting, it is in transition. I started for fun, I got good, I now play for sport. I feel that is what is happening to everyone world-wide. We are all aware that this thing we used to do for fun is now bigger than we ever imagined and we are on top of it. Right now, players are still in control and that's a beautiful thing. Although, I fear soon, there will be tournaments popping up that are not arranged by players. This could change the game for the worse, but right now, this is an amazing time be a part of Bike Polo.
- Why did you join cosmic?
I joined cosmic to play Bike Polo at the highest level. It helped that Mat and Todd are good friends and a joy to play with.
- What are your visions for the team?
My visions for cosmic are that we play as a team of equal thirds, that we play own game and no one else's and that we only get better. I want to be UK and European champions next year, anything else is a bonus. I think it's possible but it's going to be tough.
- Where do you most want to play Bike Polo next?
I want to play Bike Polo in Barcelona, the Spanish players excite me. They play so fast and are new to the game but so far are good. And I heard they have a circular court with lights till 2am!
- Here's a quick fire cosmic test...answer a or b.
1. a) wizard - b) magician.
2. a) squares - b) triangles
3. a) telepathy - b) hypnosis
4. a) dragons - b) unicorns
5. a) thunder - b) lightning
6. a) deep ocean - b) deep space
7. a) believer - b) dreamer
1. a) wizard
2. b) triangles
3. a) telepathy
4. a) dragons
5. a) thunder
6. b) deep space
7. b) dreamer
- Say three words to close this interview...
play, more, polo.
Thanks
28/08/2010
27/08/2010
26/08/2010
Another Cosmic Bike...
With so much Polo having gone down this summer, esp over the past month, thought I'd take some time off the court. But of course not off a bike, so I decided to dust of the blue tarpaulin in the garden and build up my other cosmic bike...my 2007 Metal Rebel Contender.
The basic bike spec is...
2007 Metal Rebel Contender 20,75TT in mint green with new cosmic decals.
Rear Union purp 36h cassette hub on a chrome Primo rim with an amber wall tyre.
Front Union black 36h hub on black Odyssey rim with an amber wall tyre.
Odyssey Twombolt 175mm cranks with Odyssey Twisted plastic pedals.
Odyssey Race forks with Union and S&M cock pit.
Currently the build is brakeless, but I might put a Union rear U brake on depending how I feel...its been awhile since I rode BMX let alone rode freewheel brakeless.
Cheers to John and Kev at Volt BMX/ for hooking me up with new parts....atleast my bike looks back in fashion...if I don't.
There's a few from London Polo who have recently bought either 20" or 24" BMX's, so the plan is just to take it easy and go for a few low key sessions in between Polo throw-in nights...basically have a bit or fun!
Fingers x'd no-one gets hurt!
Also, on going through some archive tape I found this very short edit from an evening session probably back around 2006, at a spot we used to ride called 4Feathers. Think it might still be open to ride, but with a different set up. Was an awesome winter hang out from 2004 - 07.
Wish I had more footage of our riding and the scene back then...good times!
-Mat
25/08/2010
DVS x Cadence Holiday 2010
To follow up from the successful Summer/Fall10 DVS x Cadence colaboration story, for Holiday10, there is a fresh new range of clothing as well as an updated version of the Milan CT shoe (removed toe box panel) in very stealthy waxed canvas, as well as a high version. Both are very nice...
I'm really into wearing my current Fall10 Milan's and they're holding out good, despite some heavy tourney wear action...so I'm looking forward to slipping my sweaty feet into the new editions.
Check the DVSxCadence blog out for product and general bike related updates.
-Mat
The Shop 14 London Open in Pictures
Here's a few cosmic pictures from last weekend's Shop 14 London Open...
A cosmic magical blur:
To see more cosmic pictures as well as all sorts from the tourney, view this Flickr Pool
Thanks again to Jono, Andy, all those in the London community who helped make this tourney happen and of course to all those who came to play and support.
-Mat
24/08/2010
WHBPC 2010 in Pictures
Here's a few cosmic pictures from the WHBPC 2010...
The first batch of pictures are from the always great photography of Guidoline.
The eye of cosmic is always watching:
You can see the full batch here
This second batch of very professional pictures are taken under the name of Just Ekosystem.
One for the sponsors:
Cosmic Tom, always in his smart shoes:
Cosmic Tom with a trademark classic shot follow through:
Rotten Apples Emily hugs up next to Cosmic Tom:
Cosmic Mat focused on the ball:
The full batch can be viewed here
This third batch are taken by London Polo player and all round nice dude Rob aka Slamm.
Cosmic's No.1 Wag:
Cosmic Tom in the purple eye of cosmic:
Cosmic vs Machine Polotics:
Cosmic Mat in a early AM throw-in aka pick up session:
More cosmic believers:
Cosmic Todd charging in:
Cosmic closing in on Clowns game 1:
Cosmic vs Machine Polotics:
To view all the awesome pictures taken by Rob during the WHBPC check here .
Hopefully more great visual moments from WHBPC 2010 to come...
-Mat
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