Matthias on HARO!

[byke]

K.Wong

More so thinking of this one :

[K.Wong]

yeah, i've forgetten that the earlier ones had bended oversize downtube; was thinking of this.
there's a late model one in my lbs with separated t.t/ h.t juncture due to crappy welding, looks like a plain-jane version of the deco...

[K.Wong]

checked out the frame at the haro site, the dropouts looks small, peg and feet unfriendly...very similar to the ares s-kill.

[chamnaplong]

I wish I was a competition between Matthias Dandois and Matt Wilhelm

[2flat2furious]

It's strange. I can't tell if Haro is interested in Matthias as some strange cross-over brand and original face, or if they're interested in flatland. Either way, Haro? Seriously? Good things could come out of this relationship.

[out~riding]

It's hard to say right now what Haro is planning..

Are they just trying to get more respect and brand recognition from the community?

or are they going to re-start some sort of flatland line?

I'm betting on the first...

[OldYeller]

He's pretty visible even outside of strictly flatland riders, so he should be good for the brand and stand out more than just another unidentifiable street or park rider.


With the way bikes are progressing, I could see Haro adding foot friendly dropouts to all their frames and some shorter lengths to their line and calling it good enough.  No flatland specific line up needed.


Honestly, other than dropouts there isn't any difference in flatland specific frames anymore and Haro sells to such a wide market that some shorter bikes are probably needed in their lineup anyway.  You could say stand over height is a difference, but would a street or park rider complain about a lower stand over?  I highly doubt it.  An Intrikat doesn't look like a flat bike and it's a huge success.


Besides that, we're already starting to see more riders on longer street frames.


I think Haro will get a lot of benefit for little investment.

[wolverines]

It's strange. I can't tell if Haro is interested in Matthias as some strange cross-over brand and original face, or if they're interested in flatland. Either way, Haro? Seriously? Good things could come out of this relationship.

THIS

[TOflat]

It's a very odd move for Haro to sponsor one of, if not the top flatland rider in the world if the freestyle market is pretty much dried up. There are very few marketable companies offering any flatland parts to begin with. I believe it's more to boost up the diversity of their street team by saying "Hey, Matthias rides the Haro SD frame and does all this stuff on it, it's a great frame" and that is probably it. I don't even think they'll even try to remake a Master frame for 2013/2014 unless Matthias drops/is dropped by Odyssey. 99% sure it's a cross marketing strategy rather than a call to flatland in general.

[2flat2furious]

Something I thought about earlier.

It doesn't matter what he does or what he rides (flatland/street/dirt) because they're not concerned with flatland. I doubt haro will do anything with flatland moving forward. This is about marketing, and grabbing up one of the most image friendly riders on the planet. For Matthias it means more money, and for flatland it means next to nothing.

[D]

This is really cool.  Since Matthias rides a normal sized ramp bike AND is arguably one of, if not the, most influential flatlander of this generation, this is a big win for Haro.  They won't have to market or manufacture a flatland bike that serves a microscopic sub-market of an already small market, and they'll get to sell their bikes to kids who want to be like Matthias.  Win win. 


TJ, I'm not sure what you mean by moving flatland forward.  What were you expecting from Haro?  More flatland specific product innovations?  Matthias runs most ramp bike parts, right?   

[johnu773]

Something I thought about earlier.

It doesn't matter what he does or what he rides (flatland/street/dirt) because they're not concerned with flatland. I doubt haro will do anything with flatland moving forward. This is about marketing, and grabbing up one of the most image friendly riders on the planet. For Matthias it means more money, and for flatland it means next to nothing.

I agree 100%  people will see a video of him and if their son/daughter goes into a bike shop to buy a bike will connect with haro (versus a trek or specialized).
 It's similar to the ironic signing of DMC and the release of the 30th anniversary twin tt frame.  oldschooler are gonna eat that crap up by the dozens

[2flat2furious]

This is really cool.  Since Matthias rides a normal sized ramp bike AND is arguably one of, if not the, most influential flatlander of this generation, this is a big win for Haro.  They won't have to market or manufacture a flatland bike that serves a microscopic sub-market of an already small market, and they'll get to sell their bikes to kids who want to be like Matthias.  Win win. 


TJ, I'm not sure what you mean by moving flatland forward.  What were you expecting from Haro?  More flatland specific product innovations?  Matthias runs most ramp bike parts, right?   

I'm not sure what you didn't get from my comment. It won't increase flatland's exposure any more than it already has because Matthias is already one of if not the most covered rider on the planet and even then most of what comes out of his riding is street these days. I just don't see a net benefit for flatland as a whole. It's not bad at all and I hope Matthias makes bank doing what he does with haro, but it's a drop in the bucket and nothing has changed because of this.

[Phatman]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, only just seen this! I think its awesome for Matthias to pick up such a big sponsor. I would imagine he will have some sort of signature frame even if its as mentioned just a modified version of something Haro is already making. I can see it being 75, 20"/20.5", 71, 11.5, 13" I know thats pretty bog standard flatland geometry at the moment it seems most companies are heading this way, but with the money Haro has i can see them knocking out a great frame with great attention to detail at a competitive price.


Edited due to my idiocy!

[2flat2furious]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, only just seen this! I think its awesome for Matthias to pick up such a big sponsor. I would imagine he will have some sort of signature frame even if its as mentioned just a modified version of something Haro is already making. I cant see it being 75, 20"/20.5", 71, 11.5, 13" I know thats pretty bog standard flatland geometry at the moment it seems most companies are heading this way, but with the money Haro has i can see them knocking out a great frame with great attention to detail at a competitive price.

Matthias rides street specs fyi. His frame would be exactly that.