Complete Nightmare 2014
Location: Bristol, UK
Number of Bikes: 6
Words and Photo’s: Dunk
Thanks To: Crucial BMX Shop, The Crucial team riders, and Paul Turner my not so beautiful assistant.
That time is upon us once more, where a bunch of super-cool mid range completes are delivered to our door ready to be put through their paces in one solid day of testing. The boys at Crucial BMX shop took care of the build and the team were gathered together to choose what they wanted to ride. We decided the best way to tackle this was to just go for a cruise around the city. As this has been the smallest ‘Complete Nightmare’ to date it meant we could give each bike the time it deserved, it was just the right number to go for a session and shoot some pics, as you would on any other day on your won bike. The bikes range from £320 to £480 and all had their good and bad points, but despite a few mechanical failures everyone seemed to have a good time. We haven’t marked the bikes out of ten or chosen an over all ‘best’ bike, so if you’re in the market for a new complete then read on to make up your own mind.
HARO MIDWAY
Bike Test: Haro Midway
Website: Harobikes.com
Distro: Moorelarge.co.uk
Who is the brand? Haro Bikes
About the bike:The products that Haro are coming up with these days are looking pretty good. The lineage line of products for instance has a slight retro feel and looks great for it. The Midway takes the simple approach – nice looking graphics, black and chrome sitting on whitewall tyres – a combination which is hard to fault. The parts on here are, as you’d expect, the best Haro could do to fit the budget. For instance, the chainring is press cut not CNC’d, and the seat seems it may tear easily, but to counter this you will find a set of fully sealed wheels. I think with the Midway, what you see is what you get, a well built do-all bike, which won’t break the bank.
Who rides for them?In the UK: Jack Clark, Dean Cueson, Vincent Mayne, Angus Gough. International Riders: Dennis Enarson, Ryan Nyquist, Seth Klinger, Pat Casey, Dennis McCoy, Matthias Dandois, Jason Watts, Mike Grey, Tyler Fernengal.
Brand Background:Haro have been in freestyle since freestyle began. The name Haro comes from the legendary original owner of the company Bob Haro, one of the innovators of BMX freestyle at its inception.
“Haro Created the very first freestyle-specific BMX frame and fork, and it would change the way most kids ride their BMX bikes for ever. A new way of riding quickly led to a generation of kids who defined themselves on their bikes; it was their outlet for self-expression and their bikes gave them the freedom to go where they wanted to go and be who they wanted to be. Today, with countless innovations, X-Games Gold Medals, Dew Cup Champions, and a ton of fun under our belt we’re psyched to be a part of your journey.” – Haro
Words from team member, Vince Mayne:I was honoured to be asked to ride for such a prestigious company. The offer came about a year and a half ago and saying yes was a big deal. They’ve been around for so long and have such an awesome worldwide team, not to mention it was started by one of the biggest legends in BMX. Complete Haro bikes have obviously been around for a long time too, but the stuff they are producing these days is just getting better and better. I’m looking forward to seeing where they take things from here.
What do the manufacturers say about it?Every bike has a new frame with inbuilt seat clamp, tapered forks, Lineage style stem and sprocket.
All the model names are based on where your bike may be ridden – the Downtown, the Boulevard, the Midway, the Plaza, etc. – familiar terrain for any kid on two wheels looking for a good time on their bike.
What are the stand out features of the bike?Nothing really ‘stands out’ as such; it’s just an all round good bike for the money. It looks good, rides well and just does what it’s meant to.
What is the geometry like and what is the weight of the bike?A bit heavier than what I’m used to but I adjusted to it pretty quickly, I mean I’m pretty Hench nowadays. I don’t really know about geometry, I just know this bike felt good when I rode it. It feels like the geometry is perfect for the set up, like everything has been considered.
Is there anything that could be improved on the bike?Nothing really, it all held up good. The seat isn’t going to take much abuse though so that’ll be the first thing to go so I’d say just that really.
Specs:Frame: 3 tube chromoly frame (top tube, down tube & seat tube) 20.5” or 21” tt.
Forks: Internal threaded chromoly steer tube fork with hi-ten tapered legs
Bars: Hi-ten bars 8.50″ (on 20.5″) or 8.75″ (on 21″)
Grips: Haro Team grips
Stem: Haro alloy front load stem
Cranks: 3-piece chromoly 8-spline 175mm cranks
Sprocket: Steel 25T sprocket
BB: sealed Mid
Pedals: Haro “Recycled” plastic pedals
Wheels: Fully sealed wheels with Haro single-wall alloy rims.
Driver: 9T
Tyres: Haro La Mesa tires 2.4″ front and rear
Seat: Haro padded Tri-pod
Post: Alloy Tri-pod post
Colours: Black, Maroon, Chrome
RRP: £379.99
Name: Michael Jordan
Age: 22
Home: Frimley
Favourite thing about this bike: Feels really good to nose manual.
Can-jam on ‘that’ street quarter, which incidentally wasn’t grippy in the slightest. If you can ride at it, you can air it. At least that’s how MJ thinks while boshing in a fine looking table at the street quarter in Bristol.
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