Matthias on HARO!

[D]

Flatland started being shoved out of mainstream BMX when the bikes started evolving into separate disciplines, which led to ramps and street skyrocketing in popularity and flatland falling into a crater we've never gotten out of.  No  Hopefully this will be a beginning of even a slight reversal. 

[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 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.

Im a retard, i just noticed i said i CANT see when i was supposed to say CAN. Sorry for the mix up guys!

[2flat2furious]

Flatland started being shoved out of mainstream BMX when the bikes started evolving into separate disciplines, which led to ramps and street skyrocketing in popularity and flatland falling into a crater we've never gotten out of.  No  Hopefully this will be a beginning of even a slight reversal. 

I hope not. I don't see any reason to integrate bikes back into the realm of something used to ride street and flat.

[Phatman]

Have agree with TJ. I think there should be Flat bikes for Flat & Street bikes for Street. Ive very nearly finished my hybrid, I love riding Flat & although my shoulder has something different to say, i love riding street too. My bikes are worlds apart too. 20"/13" 75.5 with minimal offset forks for the hybrid & 19.25"/12.75" 74 with zero offset forks for Flat. As mentioned i do like to ride both but i wouldnt want the two to merge & lose out on the 2 different styles.

[tod miller]

I feel the opposite.  I think new comers will maybe feel like they can ride flat on whatever bike they have...no need for a second bike to ride flat. 


Besides, these days...flat specific geo is getting much closer to street frame geo more than ever.  A lot of people are running straight tube frame and two piece bars now too.


I'm currently setting up a "hybrid" bike of sorts...I'm tired of having two bikes.


Matthias riding for Haro is a great  thing.

[OldYeller]

Nothing stops you from getting a flat specific bike.


How many newcomers have been told to get some expensive, short, easy to break bike when they aren't even sure what they want to do?


We should be telling them to get two more pegs and go ride.


If the bike doesn't fit, they'll eventually figure it out for themselves but limiting yourself to a flat only bike isn't appealing for a vast majority of people, myself included.


I didn't start out on flat, I started out doing stupid sh*t on a BMX bike.  Freestyle meant whatever we wanted it to mean and it was a lot of fun, but we had one bike.


Now it almost feels like people are training for the Olympics.  Start out young and sacrifice your life for this one narrow minded pursuit.  Screw that, ride whatever you feel like because it's a blast and if you become specialized because that's what you love, good for you.


But let's don't push people into specialized bikes that don't need them, that just pushes people away.

[D]

I don't know if the two things are related, but ever since there were "flatland" and "ramp" bikes, flatland has lagged in popularity while ramps and street has exploded.  Something similar happened to skating 20+ years ago.  No one wanted to bother with having two boards.  Seeing as how BMX is generally populated by people almost guaranteed to have no money at all, trying to convince someone to invest another $1000 is a second bike is a stretch.   

I have two bikes now because I'm old and can (mostly) afford it, but I rode ramps on my main bike for years without any problems.  No one bike will be perfect for everything, and it's true that some thing are easier on some setups, but getting people to realize that you don't need a zero offset, 18.5", no top tube, 12" back end circus bike to actually be very good at flatland would be a very good thing for everybody.   

[2flat2furious]

I started out on a Dyno zone. It had a 19 inch top tube and was, for all intents and purposes a flatland bike with sh*tty brakes, rims, tires, bars, seat, pedals. It was just total junk, but it was flat geometry and that helped a lot.

[johnu773]

i rode everything back in the late 80's-early 90's and it was impossible to be completely happy on just one bike.  either it was not strong enough for street or it was too bulky for flat.  just the battle between gnurled pegs for flat, but slick pegs for street was a mindf**k.  But honestly, I can't say I was any happier having two seperate bikes either.  Fact is, you might have to scarifice a trick or two here and there, but bmx as a whole (not just one discipline) is awesome and life is full of sacrifices! 
RIDE ON BROTHERS!

[JoeKickass]

Obviously Haro thinks this is a good move for Haro.
But for Flatland? -- That's adorable.

[londonflat]

Nothing stops you from getting a flat specific bike.


How many newcomers have been told to get some expensive, short, easy to break bike when they aren't even sure what they want to do?


We should be telling them to get two more pegs and go ride.


If the bike doesn't fit, they'll eventually figure it out for themselves but limiting yourself to a flat only bike isn't appealing for a vast majority of people, myself included.


I didn't start out on flat, I started out doing stupid sh*t on a BMX bike.  Freestyle meant whatever we wanted it to mean and it was a lot of fun, but we had one bike.


Now it almost feels like people are training for the Olympics.  Start out young and sacrifice your life for this one narrow minded pursuit.  Screw that, ride whatever you feel like because it's a blast and if you become specialized because that's what you love, good for you.


But let's don't push people into specialized bikes that don't need them, that just pushes people away.

I couldnt agree more yeller

[Kouto]

Just.


Ride.


It's that simple. If you want a flat only bike, ride one. If, like me, you want to move back toward a more overall type of bike, that's cool too. Matthias seems to be doing okay with a street spec bike, is he not? Others seem to be doing great on hybrid or flat only bikes... freakin' great!


That said, I hope Haro gets back into the flat game, I liked that last Master they had out. Not the one with the ugly platform, the last one. The one that I just barely missed out on buying the kit from FF when it was available for cheap as hell. I want to see something like that again.