BMX Rider
Bob Haro
Bob Haro is an American rider and designer who helped invent freestyle BMX in the late 1970s and founded the Haro bike brand.
Updated 4 min read810 words
Bob Haro is an American BMX rider, artist and designer who is widely regarded as the father of freestyle BMX. In the late 1970s he began performing tricks on a BMX bike at a time when the sport was almost entirely about racing. He founded Haro, first as a number plate company and then as a bike brand, and his early demonstration tours helped establish trick riding as a discipline of its own.
Early life and background
Haro was born in 1958 and grew up in Southern California, the region where BMX first took shape in the early 1970s (see origins of BMX). As a teenager he raced BMX and drew constantly. The two interests fed each other. He began making custom number plates for racers in the late 1970s, working from home under the name Haro Designs. The plates sold well and gave him a foothold in the young BMX industry.
He also did illustration work for the BMX press of the period, which put him in contact with the people who ran the sport and covered it.
Career
Haro's riding career took shape between about 1977 and the mid 1980s. Rather than race, he and a small group of friends started doing tricks: kickturns and carving in empty swimming pools and skateparks, and ground-based moves such as rock walks, endos and bar tricks on flat ground. These flat ground moves were the roots of what became flatland.
Around 1979 and 1980, Haro began putting on freestyle demonstrations at BMX races and skateparks. The crowds responded, and the demos grew into a touring freestyle team that travelled the United States to perform at tracks, shops and events. These tours were the first time many riders had seen BMX tricks performed as a show in their own right.
In 1982 he worked as a stunt rider on the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, performing some of the riding in the chase scenes. The same era saw Haro Designs grow from plates and accessories into a full bike brand. The Haro Freestyler, released in the early 1980s, is generally considered the first production frame designed specifically for freestyle rather than racing. It had a reinforced rear end and a platform for standing on, which suited the ground tricks and ramp riding of the day.
As the company grew, Haro spent more time on design and business and less on riding. The freestyle boom of the mid 1980s brought magazines, contests and a flood of new brands, and Haro was positioned at the centre of it. He sold his interest in the company in the late 1980s and later focused on design work outside bikes.
Riding style
Haro's riding came before the vocabulary of modern freestyle existed. His tricks were simple by today's standards but completely new at the time: carving pool walls, kickturns on banks, fakie rolling, and flat ground balance moves. He treated the bike like skateboarders of the era treated their boards, borrowing from skatepark culture and bringing it to BMX.
His riding was performance-oriented. The demos were meant to entertain crowds who had never seen anything like it, so flow, showmanship and clean execution mattered more than difficulty. That approach set the template for the freestyle shows and contests that followed.
Video parts and notable moments
Haro's riding peak came before BMX video existed as a format, so there are no video parts in the modern sense. His notable moments are recorded in magazine coverage and in the memories of riders who saw the early tours.
Key moments include:
- The first freestyle demonstration tours around 1980, which introduced trick riding to crowds across the United States.
- His stunt riding in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which put BMX in front of a global cinema audience.
- The launch of the Haro Freestyler, the first mass-produced freestyle frame.
Legacy and influence
Bob Haro's legacy sits in three places. First, the discipline itself: he showed that a BMX bike could be ridden for tricks, and that people would pay to watch. Every later freestyle discipline, from flatland to vert to street, grew out of that idea.
Second, the equipment. The Haro Freestyler established the concept of a purpose-built freestyle bike. Design choices made in those first frames, such as standing platforms and reinforced tubing, shaped bikes for a decade.
Third, the brand. Haro outlived his involvement and became one of the most important names in freestyle, backing riders such as Mat Hoffman in his early years, Dave Mirra through his X Games dominance, and Ryan Nyquist across a career of more than two decades.
Haro himself returned to the BMX world in later years as a designer and as an elder figure at industry events. He remains the reference point for where freestyle began.
Related
Frequently asked questions about Bob Haro
Did Bob Haro invent freestyle BMX?
No single person invented it, but Haro is the rider most often credited with turning trick riding into a recognised discipline. He was among the first to perform tricks publicly, tour with a demonstration team, and sell bikes built for freestyle rather than racing.
Does Bob Haro still own Haro Bikes?
No. He sold his interest in the company in the late 1980s. The Haro brand continued under new ownership and later sponsored riders such as Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist.
Was Bob Haro in the film E.T.?
Yes. He worked as a stunt rider on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), performing some of the bike riding in the film's chase scenes.
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