Over a year ago, myself along with Marc Muller at Waterford Precision Cycles set out to design a bike that would accommodate the needs of a hardcourt bike polo player as well as the urban cyclist.
During my time working at the factory, I mentioned that I had played bike polo and actually traveled to places all around the U.S. and Canada to play and I felt that my current ride wasn't cutting it. I expressed some ideas that I had for a frame concept and mentioned that there wasn't much of a place for me to practice during my time away from Chicago. Marc said that he would take on the project and offered to let me practice my shot and handling on his backyard hockey rink.
Marc, a former road racer himself, bike designer for over three decades, and current Wisconsin State High School Champion Hockey Coach (co-coach with son Kevin) would watch me practice after work and compare notes with me on how a bike moves during a typical match. During work hours, I would send him internet video links of bike polo games and he would watch with excitement.
What came out of this collaboration was a bike that would fuse the agility needs found in Hockey and the niblness found in BMX street and flatland bike design to then be applied to a bike polo bike.
After many months of prototyping, testing, and collaboration, we have a bike that we are proud to present to a community that Waterford believes is doing something remarkable and pushing the needs of cyclist from the street to the hardcourt.
We titled this bike the Joust because it is the first move in a hardcourt bike polo match and is a test of who is the fastest and the most fearless rider on the court.
. . .
Now that I got that off my chest, I hope you enjoy my Fleetvelo Joust Blog.
-Tucker
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