1983 Haro Freestyler
Hey All... First of all, I love BOTY, it's an honor to submit a bike in the midst of all these amazing bikes, from awesome collectors!
This bike was more of a journey for me, than just a "build". I've loved Haro Bikes from the 80's for a long time. I thought I had collected all of my favorites, but realized one was missing. The original... Haro Freestyler.
I worked pretty hard to find one, and when I found one, I jumped on it. Unfortunately, it was in pretty rough shape. I hope that I'm allowed to post all of these pictures, but if not, please let me know, I'll take them down. The journey of this bike is one of a kind in my opinion.
Here is how I got it:
So... obviously, I need to strip it down, and re-chrome, decal, etc, right?
I had a little more faith in this early chrome than that.. I said I needed to give it my best clean up to see if it first could be saved the way it was, if not, I'd contemplate either selling, trading, or going with new chrome.
I'm so thankful I listened to my gut... here were the results:
Ok, WOW, so I was shocked, and pretty impressed with how it came out. Yeah, a little pitting here, and there, but amazingly, the chrome was pretty fantastic underneath!
Now I had to focus on how I was going to build this thing. I looked through the 82/83's.. there was an obvious theme: Vector Bars, Black Skyway Mags, Blue Parts... they were everywhere! Damn near everyone had built their Freestyler the exact same way. So... I have a couple conversations with droc (Derek), and chromey (Matt), and get some good ideas on how to change this up a bit.
I knew I wanted to do regular bars, with a stem, and also spokes. Also wanted to add a bit of color in there, even if it was some odd colored pedals. Between the guys I chatted with, and seeing some pics of Dale Matson riding his... I figured it out...
Here is my parts list:
Frame - 83 Haro Freestyler
Fork - 83 Haro Freestyler
Headset - Tange 125
Stem - Hutch Western H
Bars - Skyway EZ Bar - First Gen
Grips - Oakley B2
Levers - DC Tech 4
Brakes - DC 1000
Seat Post Clamp - DC Hinged
Seat Post - Hutch Layback
Seat - Shotgun II
Cranks - Redline 401 Single Pinch Full Wrap
Bottom Bracket - Redline Techmatic - First Gen (Hadley Made)
Chainring - Redline 44t Bubble Font
Rims - Ukai
Hubs - Bullseye
Tires - Panaracer Freestyle
Here was my idea in a nutshell. I wanted to go all out. I found the rims, and I new I had to match them with a sweet set of hubs. I was looking for some Blue/Silver Sunshine, or Bullseye, but then I found these Two-Tone Blue Bullseyes. They were perfect with the two different Blues in the decals. Chromey helped me decide on the bars. Great lines, and looked great with the twin chrome tubes on the Freestyler frame. Now... where was that splash of color going to come in? I was going to do Blue/Yellow Oakley B1B grips, but ended up with solid blue B2's... I decided I was going to play off of the Red in the decals.. so I went with Red Brakes. Lastly, I struggled with the stem. I had a Tuf Neck for a while, but then found a SUPER nice Hutch Western H, in Anno Blue!
Now, I know there are plenty out there that weren't a fan of the Red Brakes... and honestly, not sure I was as well... BUT, I wanted something different... something that stood out from the rest.
So, here was my vision, with some help from some friends... hope you all like it!
Hope you guys like it... to me, I love the simplicity of this bike. No real gimmicks yet. Clean, smooth, and amazingly light. Rides fantastic!
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