Haro Gen 1 re-issue

[DJ]

Stodgy, what gives you that idea?? Still working for Haro just mega busy with "proper" job @Heathrow, trying to juggle everything!
I'm waiting as much as you guys but only so much I can do from over here... will do my best to get some new info soon

[Stodgy]

Sorry DJ - for some reason your column said that you weren't working...I put 2 & 2 together and got 37.    Sorry mate.

Lets have an update then!!! 

[DJ]

Haro is my "other" job, all year round but not full time or enough to pay the bills so, I still work in the building trade hence, sometimes theres work, sometimes there isnt..... easy mistake to make!
as soon as theres news I will let you all know.

[darkersomeday]

if i try hard enough i can just about understand the fascination of "old school" bikes,

i even thought the recent mongoose os replica was cool!

but this is beyond me!

its a taiwanese nasty dressed up to look like an 80's icon, corporate haro pillaging the history books to earn a few more bucks now that mirra's dumped them?

most of these will be bought up by old men who just want to sit and look at them whilst trying to re-capture there long lost youth, why else would you put a short 20.5 toptube on it?

lets be honest here this is like digging up marilyn monroe and expecting her to be able to dance like beyonce knowles!

are you all that blinded by a few stickers and a bit of shoddy chrome that you'd actually pay £250+ for a cheesey corporate shitter?

haro may well be the stuff of legends but in the here and now

they suck.

i'll get my coat.
 

[muttley]

He has a point but if i bought one i would ride it so i hope for Haro's sake it ride's well.

[Stodgy]

if i try hard enough i can just about understand the fascination of "old school" bikes,

i even thought the recent mongoose os replica was cool!

but this is beyond me!

its a taiwanese nasty dressed up to look like an 80's icon, corporate haro pillaging the history books to earn a few more bucks now that mirra's dumped them?

most of these will be bought up by old men who just want to sit and look at them whilst trying to re-capture there long lost youth, why else would you put a short 20.5 toptube on it?

lets be honest here this is like digging up marilyn monroe and expecting her to be able to dance like beyonce knowles!

are you all that blinded by a few stickers and a bit of shoddy chrome that you'd actually pay £250+ for a cheesey corporate shitter?

haro may well be the stuff of legends but in the here and now

they suck.

i'll get my coat.
 

Hmmmm, good opinion on an old-school site.   

I know Haro bikes have an image issue now, but I really don't think Haro are trying to make an extra buck by pillaging the history book - quite simply, it won't sell in big enough numbers to make a pile of cash. And I imagine that the time spent in R&D will outweigh any significant profits anyhow.

On another point, Haro made the history...so, if they want to reflect on it, then they can.  MINI does, VW does and just about every other car manufacturer does - so why the hell not? It's just a bit of fun. Without companies like Haro, BMX would not be where it is today.

Oh, and I'm old (36) and I will buy one to slap in the collection as it's a nice trinket. But, I'll be riding something else new school (I agree dude, there are much much better bikes out there!). Try not to slag off too many 'old men...recapturing their youth' - remember you will be old one day too, and it's nice to reflect.
Stay rad.

Dave

 #

PS The facination for old-school bikes comes from riding them when we were younger - your first BMX is always special, whether you start now or back in 1980. The memories they evoke are real nice...the days before jobs, mortgage, kids and keys. We're not saying it's bad now, it's just memories.

[DJ]

We are still talking about the old school bike that Haro are making right? The one that's been in the making since before dave left? the one that is the 4th in line after the white "master" 25th anniversary edition, the black Sport & the teal/chrome Sport? All made before Dave departed?

[darkersomeday]

ok, ok, thanks for not savaging me too much for posting that,

i admit i do find "collecting" bikes that will never be ridden a little odd but thats just opinion,

what i have masses of respect for are the lengths old schoolers will go to to restore these lovely old bikes,

theres a white s.e racing in the museum thread that is possibly one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen!  just looking at it reminds me of my own ripper back bitd, i love looking through old school sites myself reminiscing and admiring the bikes,
but,
i never stopped riding, i saw how the big companies took a shit on bmx when it ceased to be popular, so many of them, haro included simply jumped straight on the MTB bandwagon and left bmx to rot.
they get no love from me.
now bmx is becoming its own industry and at last starting to stand on its own two feet the big corporate companies want back in!
and it's not happening.
companies that stuck with bmx purely for the love(not the big cash payout)such as s&m, standard,fly,g-sport,terrible one, fbm, are who YOU should be supporting if you buy a new school bike.
not "THE CHANG WING INVESTMENT MANUFACTURING CORPORATION" or "whoever" happens to be the owner of the oldschool companies now,

more and more new school companies are now offering a full range of good quality completes so the days of haro and gt,etc in bmx are indeed numbered,mirra new this when he left to form mirraco, i cant see nyquist sticking around much longer either,
bmx is becoming too big to just be a "a corner of A bike shop" with the scooters and the kiddies bikes!
like skateboarding its not a fad anymore and this is a very,very good thing!



my coat is now on the floor and my sleeves are rolled up

[Stodgy]

Some very good points made there Darkersomeday - I must admit, I agree with them. Bikes you don't ride?! It's a mental activity, but like you point out about that SE - they are beautiful and do you really want to spoil something you can't necessarily replace? They have become pieces of art.

I agree that the big corporates are ramping up their marketing now the market is bigger again. But, in the same way we needed Burners BITD, we still need the supermarket brands (GT, Haro, Diamond Back, etc.) to get kids into the sport at a certain price point that only big corporates (doing big unit numbers) can provide.

This interest will then fuel the hunger for smaller, cooler brands as people seek upgrades - if you don't have the cheap mass-distribution brands, you do not have a market. What I mean is, unless there are cheap accessible products to get people to try bmx out (without the massive investment needed for a custom), you will not have an upgrade market. And the bigger the aftermarket, the bigger the demand - hence smaller companies can build more to get better economies and make products cheaper for all.

Yes, there were many big companies who dropped out of the business or re-focussed on other more-profitable lines, but they did stay in, despite the fact that it was not massively cost-effective to do so. You could even tar Hoffman Bikes with selling out in recent years and providing supermarket bikes...but Hoffman was one of the saviour's of BMX - and the hardcore have turned their back on the company. Weird. There may well be some Chinese parent company financing it, but it's still mostly the same guys running the place.

I have no affiliation with Haro, so no interest whether they sell bikes or not. But, I do think the retro range is a bit of fun and they make nice collector pieces - whether they are good bikes or not. Personally, I think the 25th Anniversary bike was a bit lame (just a mirra with different stickers), but the 05 and 06 Sports really bought back good memories and are a nice little bike (to look at). I really like the idea of the new Freestyler, but I am with you that it should be 21" (or at very least 20.75") with a nice short back end - but like any big company, you have to make compromises to ensure you please the majority of people.

I firmly believe Haro should be applauded for the effort they are putting in to this project, because if they didn't we'd all be slating them for 'forgetting their roots', 'turning their back on the old-school market'...blah blah.

BTW - I also agree that we should be supporting the brands you mentioned plus a whole plethora of other cool small brands; Fly, Proper, Sunday, Fit, Superstar, etc, etc. They set the fashions and lead the design that influences next year's supermarket bikes - so, it's clearly a co-dependent relationship.

Anyhow, enough babbling. Better get on with some work.

BMX Rocks!

Dave

[DJ]

& this is the Haro brand that have built BMX  bikes since 1982, branching into MTB's later in the 80's but NEVER NOT making BMX bikes/components etc? The company that for quite a while were still one of the innovators that these "cooler" companies claim to be? Would be Haro for instance who originally came out out with bashguards? Is that the never uncool FLY bikes that have just bought out a new Bashguard? Cant be surely!!

with the exeption of standard & s&m the others fly, T1 FBM etc have hardly been around for an age have they? I totally agree their frames/parts etc are exceptional.
I do have an affiliation with Haro but I would NOT be involved with them if I didnt believe in what they do. They may not be the coolest brand on the planet, (albeit if Mike Aitken/Joe Rich/Tj/Rueben were to roll up on one, especially if it were distrubuted by Seventies or 4Down they would be fookin amazin every cool bmxer would want one) but they have always supported BMX, even through the tough times & continue do so. Using Colin Mackay, Rob Darden & the Euro riders I dont think anyone can disagree that the new Forum bikes is shite, even though they will.
Good forbid any company that tries to bring BMX  a decent equipped bike for under £400 eh?

I too, have never given up on BMX, even through the "dark days" riding while getting abuse & grief from everyone who wasnt, trying to find bike parts, magazines & people to ride with but  cause I now work for Haro who am I to comment on BMX eh? Nevermind....

[retrorider.u.k]

a bit too deep for me...

[Stodgy]

Hey DJ, don't get too upset dude...no one said Haro's were bad, nor has anyone said they are not an innovator - they invented freestyle ffs. They are part of the fabric which is BMX. I also didn't say that Haro dropped out of the market - they simply re-allocated budget to more profitable areas, such as MTB...like any company would do.

They are just out of fashion, like Hoffman...which is a shame, the Forum looks good (especially under £400), never riden one, but they certainly look up to most complete standards! Like you said the current riders are ripping - I was at the Masters last year and watched Hennon & Wallace tear the mini-ramp apart on their Haro's - fecking rad...even with your commentry!  .

It's only a matter of time and fashion will turn round again...

[steve1275]

hi all,
 I think its shame that the young guys dont know the history of there chosen passion, ok harobikes may not be on the top of the wish list for most teenage riders, but the fact that the company still exists is pretty cool in my eyes. you wont survive making a couple of frames and t shirts, and budget bikes are where we all began.
how cool it would have been in 84 to buy a haro shredder . haros were out of reach for most of us, but not for kids now.  Anyway we are all old gits who have an interest in our roots, and it might suck that haro is more corporate these days, but its nice to see them give back a bit of old school flava, as to me bike frames are like skateboards now, they have no real identity, they all function real well, the only way you can tell the difference is by the decals.
 I look at my current ride a 2006 proper houdini and its a rad bike, but i look at my 85 haro sport and i know which one looks more pleasing.

I think its cool that you have all these rider owned companies but they all wanna be big fish in a little pond that does dry out time to time, and making the COOLEST stuff is not gonna keep you afloat.  I had a haro airmaster in 92 93 with a bash guard and i thought it rocked. Carlo and fellow riders used to ride them with carlo doing 16foot airs and 10ft 540s, i dont think he would have chosen to ride them if they were shit

sorry if i bored you

steve    

[Stodgy]

I know what you mean Steve...it all comes down to fashion...Fit were the flavour a few months ago and now it's Fly, who's it gonna be next month? Only true substance will survive.

[Rombloke]

im still of the opinion that whatever ride mag prints is what the younger generation tend to do.....

i mean three years ago you had to have 14mm axles, now they are too heavy and 10mm is order of the day again....its all about fashion end of....

like dave said too, whatever the big guns tend to do is the cool thing....if bestwick was doint triple flairs on a grifter, every fooker would want one....

Dave

[DJ]

I'm not upset guys, I just bugs me when peeps spout off without truly knowing a full story... & i dont mean you Stodgy.
My commentary is what powers these guys, its a proven fact, without my rambling they'd be nobody's!!!  but feck me, what a mini ramp event eh? I wrote an article about it in Ride mag which said it was the best mini ramp comp ever & I'll stand by that til it gets bettered... possibly this year?!!!

[Stodgy]

I'm not upset guys, I just bugs me when peeps spout off without truly knowing a full story... & i dont mean you Stodgy.
My commentary is what powers these guys, its a proven fact, without my rambling they'd be nobody's!!!  but feck me, what a mini ramp event eh? I wrote an article about it in Ride mag which said it was the best mini ramp comp ever & I'll stand by that til it gets bettered... possibly this year?!!!

Dude - the day of the mini-ramp final was the raddest day of BMX ever...me and Pete were speechless on the way back to the hotel. Two words; 'FECK' and 'RAD' were all we could muster. From the Pro vert practice, where we had a private demo by Mat Hoffman (no one else was around!), through Mark Webb banging flairs nearly off the flat, to the legendary "DAVE OSATO!" chant. It was fecking awesome. I'll take that day to my death bed.

 

[darkersomeday]

im still of the opinion that whatever ride mag prints is what the younger generation tend to do.....

i mean three years ago you had to have 14mm axles, now they are too heavy and 10mm is order of the day again....its all about fashion end of....

like dave said too, whatever the big guns tend to do is the cool thing....if bestwick was doint triple flairs on a grifter, every fooker would want one....

Dave

1 haro still suck, the forum frame is ok but it just lacks any character, hence the low level of interest in it, how much did haro spend on developing there mtb range? mirra knew that haro had dropped the ball and saw no reason for them to keep making money off of him.

2 i'm hardly a teenager at 34,i started on a team murray way back in the day when i was like 10, 24 years later i'm still riding.

3 999.9% of rear hubs are 14mm, 10mm is fine for the fron but running one on the rear is asking for trouble.

4 if you think bmx is about copying what "the big guns" are doing youre sadly older than you think you are, that isnt the game anymore, innovation rules today.

5 jamie bestwick dumped gt for being a pack of rabid corporate dogs, they even had him in court,

6 FIT has been close to the top of there game since they first started 6 years ago, hardly fashion!

7 HOFFMAN is still very popular if you think they arent, again you are mistaken, the younger guys all know what hoffman did for bmx ,his legacy is safe in there hands, they have a great team and still have a positive effect in newschool bmx! the range of completes AND there frames are very good, loyalty,bama,rhythm,etc.

8 all the big companies that "persued" other areas of cycling such as mtb and road bikes, effectively gave up and there roots as a company, how can you argue this?
as for supporting bmx haro did little else than support mirra and nyquist and co, i remember "pill" was sponsored by them from a while but never got much for it!  where were the ROAD TRIPS? where were the BIG COMPS?  where was the support for the uk scene?
dont piss on my head and tell me its raining


9 "supermarket" complete bikes from the likes of gt,mongoose,haro,etc  now have a limited life expectancy as they are rapidly being replaced by rider owned brands such as fit,federal,wethepeople,

10 the true innovators and saviours of bmx are also the likes of CHRIS MOELLER and RICK MOLITERNO who actually pushed and developed stronger better quality bikes, like one of you said all the big corporate companies just COPIED WHAT THEY DID!


11 I m genuinely glad and pleased that haro actually has someone working there that obviously cares about bmx so much, i honestly do wish you well with the project ,
but these forums are about opinions and last time i checked i was allowed one, all i do is tell the truth as i see it.

i think thats all off them,
now,
who wants another pop!

[retrorider.u.k]

lets just hope china can keep up with the demand ...

[MartyC]

Wow!  This thread has suddenly become lively 

[Rombloke]

another pop....

what as in soft drinks or having a dig.

999.9% eh...strong statement but wrong....mmmm
http://www.cyclesportuk.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=649

and please dont miss quote me, nor take what i said the wrong way when i said 'big guns'. when i said that i was talking about the big name riders, not the corperate companys, thats why i followed the line with the bit about bestwick on a grifter.

why is it that people hate the big companys so much, and always manage to use the words sold out and profit and money.....


i actually thought bestwick got the elbow cos he wouldnt wear his gt shirt after winning a comp?
but then again its all hearsay and what you want to read or believe in ride or dig

dr pepper anyone?

Dave

[Stodgy]

BTW - I also agree that we should be supporting the brands you mentioned plus a whole plethora of other cool small brands; Fly, Proper, Sunday, Fit, Superstar, etc, etc. They set the fashions and lead the design that influences next year's supermarket bikes - so, it's clearly a co-dependent relationship.

Darkersomeday - dude, chill. No one is having a pop at you, we're just having a friendly debate - like you say...we're all entiled to an opinion!

Read my post again and you'll see that I support most of your comments! I clearly stated that it was the smaller cool companies that innovate and mold next year's supermarket brands (see above).

All I stated in my post was that we needed the big companys to spread the word with their big marketing budgets, get people on board through cheaper 'supermarket' bikes...and then the smaller companies step in and guide the customer through the upgrade path. In return, the smaller companies set the fashions and trends for the big guys to take to the next generation of supermarket bikes. It's market dynamics, one can't exist without the other and we should all accept the big corporates as part of BMX - they have their place, just as Raleigh did back in the 80's.

The small popular rider-owned companies of today, will be become the big corporates of tomorrow - Haro, GT, etc all started in the same way.

Haro & GT were forced into product diversification due to the market dropping off. They had staff, premises and investment in so many places, that they had to make it work somehow - and if people weren't buying BMX's, then they gave them something that they wanted. I don't believe either company stopped making BMX's during the dark years, despite not knowing whether the market would ever come back. That to me is dedication.

I'm also glad to hear that the word on the streets is that Hoffman Bikes are still cool...I understood that they preferred all the more trendy brands (Fly, Sunday, S&M and the like) - that is brilliant news!

Right then, I'm off to buy a new Loyalty frame.

Oh and make mine a Tango.

Let's love each other. Old, young, big, small, who cares - just ride.

[billstup]

I like this thread 

Darksunday, I`ll bet you`ve never written posts as long as that on the ride forum 

It`s good to have an opinion, and even better to share it 

[Stodgy]

It`s good to have an opinion, and even better to share it 

Absolutely! 

[TwoBobRob]

I'll say this;  Lets all try and be nice eh?  There's a lot of effort going into these things and a little bit of support from our end would be greatly appreciated....

Rest assured it'll be a nice thing. Lets also be assured it wont please everyone, but then what does? We'll all ultimately have our own opinions and thats fine - but we're not the ones making them, are we?   

I think most people on here will like it 

Do I need to repeat myself again?


And  since when was 20.5"  a short toptube?   Short memories, some people......


Good debate, agreed.  But way off the spirit of this bike in my opinion.  A trip down memory lane for some, an addition to a collection for others and a perfectly rideable budget bike for yet more others.

It's not trying to compete with anything, and its not promising to be summat it ain't.

Where's the problem here?