Miscellaneous
If you've ridden BMX in the past 35 years, there's a good chance you've either ridden a Haro or know someone who has. The company was founded in 1978 by Bob Haro. Bob started out producing number plates for BMX bikes in his home. While the company was gaining popularity, Bob was also growing the brand new sport of BMX freestyle. The BMX boom was in full swing and the company built a reputation for developing innovative, top-of-the-line freestyle bikes and accessories. In addition to Bob himself, many of the sport's biggest names have ridden for the Haro brand including, Mike Dominguez, Joe Johnson, Rick Moliterno, Brian Blyther, Dennis McCoy, Mat Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Chad DeGroot, Ryan Nyquist, Dennis Enarson, Chad Kerley, and Matthias Dandois. Back in 2011, Haro had come to a crossroads as it was losing steam to remain relevant in the BMX industry. In addition, the company was searching for its next leader to help the brand return to prominence. Who better than the man known as "Scottish John" to take the reigns. After all, he was the most enthusiastic person anyone has ever met when it comes to Haro bikes. John took over the job back in 2012 and put Haro back in the fast lane almost immediately with a variety of throwback signature bikes, the Haro Lineage componentry line, and repop frames and complete bikes like the Master and Sport that brought many mid-80s Haro fans back to BMX. John grew up in Glasgow Scotland, and after an extremely traumatic childhood, he moved to Australia to pursue a BMX career and more recently moved to the United States to run the brand he loves most. A lot has happened along the way and John has lived an interesting and at times difficult life, to say the least. In fact, he has a full-length movie being released based on his life simply called, Ride. Most of the interviews John's done lately are more about his movie and life story than anything else. However this time around we wanted to focus on John's passion not only for BMX but for Haro as well. In addition we talked about how the movie E.T. made a huge impact on his BMX career, his first BMX bike, his own BMX company called Pilgrim, his massive Haro collection and which bike he loves the most, which components were the hardest to find to complete certain bikes, creating and releasing the Haro reissue bikes, what Dave Mirra meant to the brand, why he decided to sell most of his BMX collection, what's next for Haro, and what it takes to be the brand manager for one of the most iconic brands in BMX. So get comfortable, crank up your speakers, and get to know the main man behind the Haro brand... John Buultjens!