Here is a little more information on the 85 Frames and differences. I posted this on the museum a few months back.
Guys - during my research for the Rise of BMX Freestyle book last year, I spent time with a lot of people who were involved in the early BMX Industry, but who are off radar to the collecting community. I also made some observations about the '85 Bike ranges which may be of interest to those who are inquisitive like me.
Firstly - It would appear that the first production run of the 85's began in around March of 1985. I do not recall seeing any pre March serials unless on the bikes that were given to pro riders (more on that in a moment). This odd delay, and the delay of the bikes landing from the frame manufacturer Anlen (not to be confused by the sister company that produced parts called Anlun) was largely due to factory capacity, trade inventory and prototyping issues. The 1984 Sport, Master and FST ranges went into production as early as June of 1984 as complete bikes in a box (Torker were still manufacturing frames also in the US until November when they went down). The FST was first produced as late as October of 1984, and along with the 84 Sports and Masters ( the third Generation 1984 bikes) they were the first of their kind being produced as complete bikes for Haro. The bottleneck wasn't in the Haro warehouse, as demand outweighed supply, but the shipping time from Taiwan created a long wait for Bike dealers and a sell through period was also agreed by Haro to ensure that dealers didnt lose margin when selling the 84 models that were still coming through in early 1985.
In January of 1985, three prototype '85 models arrived in the US. There was a Blue Sport (given to Ron Wilkerson), a Green Master (given to Dave Nourie) and a Chrome Sport (given to Brian Blyther). The Red 85 FST was created using a Torker made 1984 Haro sport frame as seen in the "Alone at the Top" advert shot at Pipeline. This example was likely painted in the US.
Some pics to illustrate... See the gusset behind the Bottom bracket on the Red FST and the thin coaster anchor.That's a US Made Sport.
Notice no cable guides on either the Master or Sport in the advert....
No cable guides on Ron's Venice Beach Bike He has cable Ties
And on Dave's early 85 Master - Cable ties again
This is the chrome Sport that a friend of mine owns, and this is Brian riding the Sport in early 85 at the UK at the Kellogg's freestyle event. Again, no cable guides.
I will find some pictures of this particular bike, as the Serial Number is stamped at an angle in the non drive side dropout (the incorrect side) and the frame has some odd texturing on the rear chain stays unlike any others I have seen.
The Pre May 1985 Master vs the Post May 1985 MasterExample 1. Most of these are stamped 8503 or 8504. Notice how tight the down tube is up against the twin top tubes. Almost no space. The gusset is also quite deep.
Anything beyond April has a shallower gusset and some clearance between the twin top tubes and the down tube...
The second example shows that after April, Anlen stopped manufacturing individual tube sets and gussets for the 85 Master. The clearance seen in the second picture (in comparison to the first picture) is evident because this is a 1985 Sport down tube and gusset. The sport had a thicker tube meeting the head tube, so it required a shallower gusset and more clearance between the top tube and the down tube.
The other clear difference between the pre April '85 Masters and those produced beyond that date is the lack of knurling on the rear chain stays.
The 86 range. So with the delay in bringing the 85 bike range to market - The first 85 Models didn't reach dealers until late May/early June of '85 - Haro weren't going to allow that happen again and were driven by enormous levels of demand. This accounts for the quantity of Masters that were painted and marketed as 86 Models. These examples (serailed 8510, 8511 or 8512) were effectively produced using 85 Tube sets and forks. This also accounts for the higher fork peg holes.
I have been sitting on that information for a while and had to get it off my chest :cool: Enjpy.
I guess all that needs to happen now is for you all to look at your bikes and serials and post up some examples so we can find out if there are any other evident differences.
