Haro Freestyler 40th anniversary ride out

4 05 2022

If you’re in California in early July, this might be the event to check out!

John Buultjens is organizing a ride out with none other than the OG freestyler himself, Bob Haro!

It’s all being done in support, and celebration of, the 40th anniversary of the Haro Freestyler.

They’ll be giving away a 26″ Haro Freestyler after the ride, along with a bunch of other prizes (plenty of Haro swag, I would imagine). The Lost Abbey brewery is also aboard for the post-ride beverages and East Coast Pizza will be providing the post-ride carb replenishment.

Sounds like a good time if you can make it!





Which racer is using cloak of invisibility?

1 04 2012

In the lead up to the 2012 Olympics, racers, along with the companies and countries they represent, are pulling out all the stops to give themselves the edge going into the big event.

Whether that’s a carbon fiber frame, a 20mm axle set up or top-secret training technique, no stone is going unturned.

To what length are racers going to give themselves an advantage?

Would you believe cloak of invisibility technology?

Cruiser Revolution has uncovered some top-secret spy photos of a racer (nationality unknown) using the cloak of invisibility.

Check out this photo taken at a top-secret training facility in remote area somewhere in Nevada. The red bike is clearly being piloted by an invisible man!

Rumors have been circulating in the smoke-filled backrooms of the BMX industry about how long this technology has been in the works.

No one knows for sure.

But this undated photo clearly shows the unnamed rider piloting an early-90s model Haro.  It also highlights how far the technology has come–in the present day — as the cloak of invisibility, in this iteration, clearly can’t quite cover the rider’s 100% cotton riding attire.

Where will we “see” the invisible rider next?

Again, no one knows for sure.

But it may be sooner than we think.

Check out this photo that ABC News confirms was taken from their special doppler radar satellite orbiting Chula Vista, California this weekend. Satellite coordinates indicate it was taken just outside the Olympic Training Center.

The plot thickens.





Chromoly: don’t call it a comeback

28 03 2012

Is the race community’s love affair with the carbon fiber fork coming to an end?

It’s beginning to look that way.

Heck, when you have a big name like Olympic contender Mike Day saying things like, “always good to have a chromoly fork…and not have a road bike fork on your 20 inch” (when he’s being interviewed about GT’s 2012 lineup) then you know things are starting to shift.

On the Bodogs Race Report, in a post called Chromoly is the new carbon fiber, the writer talks about his own experiences with the different types of forks that are currently available:

Speaking only from experience I have personally witnessed no less than half a dozen cases where carbon fiber has failed, two cases where aluminum has failed (Both at the welds) and no cases where chromoly has failed.

He also sees a move back to chromoly in response to what he’s observed out at the track:

The new trend has returned to the beginning. Parts companies are building affordable chromoly forks that are stiffer and lighter than the most expensive carbon fiber forks on the market.

These same companies are also starting to play up the benefits of chromoly in their marketing. In a recent ad in Pull Magazine, CLIQ/Haro compared the chromoly Cliq fork to the Sinz carbon fiber fork.  At half the price, no rider weight limit and (as an added blow) a lighter weight overall it’s hard to argue that carbon fiber is a better choice. The ad finishes with the tagline,“Does any of this make sense to you, cause we’re still confused.”

Clever.  With more and more people getting the sense that they’ve been sold a bill of goods with carbon fiber forks, I think we’ll continue to see people voting with their wallets and going with the tried and true benefits of lightweight chromoly forks.

4130…It’s good to see you back at the race track, my old friend.





Kicking it old school…or just kicking ass?

15 07 2009

I don’t think words can describe how stoked I am on this video.  If you remember the Haro team back in its heyday, you know how great that team was. So many awesome memories…It’s great to see these guys back in action.

I know I may have said that something else was possibly the best thing on YouTube, but right now this one takes the top spot for me.





An army of giants take over the trails

21 01 2009

McGoo, an industry insider from way back in the day, has seen it all..from Martin Aparijo doing infinity rolls to street riders wearing girl jeans to everything in between….his ascerbic answers to dumb reader mail questions were one of the highlights of Ride magazine in its early days. McGoo is now the driving force over at SNAFU and has a pretty good take on things on the industry. I check out the SNAFU blog from time to time and noticed that they have  a little something on the new bike in their “test stable”: the Mirraco Icon 20Forty.

mirraco-icon-20forty

They’ve spec’d it out with all sorts of goodies like the new OLA sprocket and prototype Splitter stem in bronze ano. Squint and you’ll see them in the picture above.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about the post is what he leaves till the end:

Mirraco isn’t the only progressive BMX company to offer a 24-inch trail/street bike for older and taller riders: Fit Bike Co., Subrosa and Haro also have two-fours in their quiver, and according to insiders at all these companies, they can’t keep ’em in stock. Does this mean an army of giants might take over the trails in 2009? Who knows. All we know for sure is this: 24-inch BMX bikes are fun to ride, and that’s good enough for us.

The italics are mine but I can’t help but share the sentiment… 2009 is going to be a big year for cruisers…there are just so many good options available now.  Older, taller riders (as well as everyone else) are starting to see how much fun they are to ride and are jumping on the bandwagon. Is an army of giants going to take over the trails in 2009? There very well might be…that is, when they are not taking over the streets, racetracks and skateparks.





The bike that started it all….

10 11 2008

It was the bike that always taunted me.

Back in the day when all the kids in my neighbourhood raced, Hutch Pro Racers were the bike of choice. Chrome-plated 4130 pieces of 1980s state-of-the art BMX technology. If you didn’t have a Hutch bike you were either saving your pennies or trying to convince your parents why buying you a Hutch was the most important thing ever. In those days we didn’t have the internet, the X-games or BMX showing up in commercials…despite this I was a BMX media junkie, camping out at the convenience store waiting for the next issue of BMX Action, BMX Plus!…even buying (ugh!) Super BMX  to get my fix. But reading those magazines was just a sideline to my other addictions…racing and riding my bike. I was on my bike, it seemed like, every waking moment I wasn’t sleeping or at school. When I finally got my Hutch Pro Racer frame, I was stoked beyond belief. My brother and I put it together after I got home from school and I raced it that night. I can’t remember how I placed but I do remember loving that bike…to me it was the best thing ever.  I would go riding after a night of racing…I just liked being on my bike.

After a while I noticed that some people at the races were getting more riding time than I was…the people with cruisers. One kid in my neighborhood had both a 20″ and 24″ Hutch. Too say I was envious, was an understatement. Not only was he racing his age class and open…he got to race the cruiser class. Since I was only racing my age class he was racing 3 times as much as me! I felt robbed!  That Hutch Cruiser was my nemesis…a chrome 4130 cro-mo beacon to the fun I was not having. Cruisers were another chance to race, to have even more time on my bike. I think at that point the seed was planted that I would one day get a cruiser.  Through the years I got into freestyle and jumping and kind of pushed the idea of riding a cruiser out of mind….cruisers weren’t made for serious riding, I thought/rationalized to myself.

As fate would have it though I would soon get hit hard by the cruiser bug again. Finding myself in Chatham (Ontario) one thanksgiving weekend for a family thanksgiving dinner I convinced my girlfriend to check out the local track. I had thought there would be race but it turned out that just a few people were practicing. The track director offered me a loaner bike (20″ Redline) to ride and I took her up on her offer. It was a bit small for me but good enough to get the job done. I was chatting to a local between laps and he offered to let me try his Haro Nyquist 24. I took him up on his offer and took it for a spin. It was so comfortable…and fast. I could not believe how good it felt. I was hooked. From now on, I was going to go big wheeled, or go home!