RFC

Beautiful bike and in great shape!

likebike23

I scored a sweet 1986? Ross Mt Hood today. It's pretty much original except for the tires and saddle, and in decent shape. The chrome has some surface rust and it's missing most of the decals, but it'll clean up nicely. Oh yeah, check out those brakes, Sweeeeet! Some pics "as found".

WNG

Place holder! Just a quick photo update on my 1991 Haro Impulse Comp.
Almost done overhauling, and outfitting it to play in the desert. Replaced some of the original Exage 400LX parts with Deore DX and transplanted a modern Deore 8/9/10 freehub body to upgrade to an 11x32 SRAM P850 cassette. I need to install the chain and fine tune things. More pics and details later.


Haro Impulse Comp Refurb-002 par WNG555, sur Flickr

BluesDaddy

^ Nice fork!

gt eunuch

^^ I am trying to figure out if he can join the Chainstay Brake Mafia

BluesDaddy

Maybe as an associate member... "Mob Flunky" lol

cyclotoine

looking forward to updates, that thing is hot!

WNG

There you go now....treating me like the red-headed stepchild!
I am the son that was steered away from the family business. But has returned. "Say Hello to my little friend!"


Haro Impulse Comp Refurb-020 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Sixty Fiver

1987 Kuwahara Cascade ATB / Expedition Bike

Loving my new wheels... Arvon touring hubs (triple bearing rear) laced to CR18 rims, they roll out like warm butter on glass and am running a Suntour Ultra 7 freewheel I built up.

Sixty Fiver

Two words.

Belt

Drive

Italuminium

O yes. I've been wondering if that is possible, and been wondering too why most builders go with complicated split chainstays instead of e-stays.

cyclotoine

Wow, that never even occurred to me! Hmmm is there a rocky mountain e-stay in my future? hmmmmmm.... alfine 11..hmmm

bane

That would be the perfect frame for a belt drive setup, but I still don't think I've ever heard a gushingly positive review of belt drives in general. Not sure what the hype is all about. Maybe just because it's new and different?

WNG

Hmmm, intriguing idea Sixty Fiver. But maybe in the future, as this is the only mtb I have for the desert trails.
@bane That's because there are a good number of belt failures being reported by Gates. They were supposed to be maintenance free, quiet, and durable. Perfect for an IGH set up, commuter, rental/share bike.

Back to the Haro....I finished it Sunday and took it to a trail for a test ride. It worked well and only needed the derailleur trimmed. But the ride was very stiff!


Impulsive-025 par WNG555, sur Flickr

TRW Trail-Impulse First Ride-001 par WNG555, sur Flickr

It's a '91 Haro Designs Impulse Comp with Shimano Exage 400LX and a 19.5" frame. It's essentially the same as a Haro Extreme with a component downgrade. 4130 Cromoly throughout, and a chromed straight taperless fork. The front end looks reminiscent of their BMX offerings. The rear is of the E-stay design that was popular for a short period.
Haro's take on this was a sloped top tube that levels out to a short head tube. A very low profile frame that looks like a time trial mtb! I think Rocky Mountain and Mantis offered a similar but unique approach to a sloped top tube.



Impulsive-003 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Impulsive-024 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Impulsive-033 par WNG555, sur Flickr

A few design elements of the bike are clever and ahead of its time. It has a 1 1/8" Ritchey Logic headset, a Haro Cromoly oval stem called a Wing Strut, for stiffness. And a 31.8mm clamp for their aluminum 31.8mm handlebar. The combo is surprisingly light, and very rigid. About a decade before this size bar is commonly used.


Impulsive-009 par WNG555, sur Flickr

The Haro seat post looks like an ordinary Kalloy, but turns out to be heat-treated thin-walled cromoly tube. Once again lightweight but strong. A lot of BMX strength influence. The cabling is cleverly routed along the downtube, starting at a pair of reinforcement plates welded to the head tube. The brake cable runs along the top through a pair of elevated cage bosses. It actuates a massive Shimano (Deore2 spec?) U-brake on the E-stays. Overall, it's an eye-pleasing shape, very compact and angular.


Impulsive-035 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Did I mention it's stiff?!? The ride was bone crushing compared to my Giant drop-bar conversion. The front end felt like it had no give to it. Maybe a CF rigid mtb fork would be a possibility. The rear end traction is excellent. Better than the Giant, but the front end of the Giant is more forgiving and confidence inspiring. I could ride the same trail faster.
The Giant is lighter though due to layout and wheels.

.......

WNG

Other than dirty wheels and some paint chips, the bike was in very good condition. The Rapid Fire shifters weren't engaging, typical. Bike got overhauled, new complement of Jagwire housing and cables.

The Exage hubs were buttery smooth, Araya rims true, so I elected to use them. The 7 speed freehub body was transplanted with a modern Deore 8/9/10 model and a SRAM P850 11x32 cassette installed. I needed the 32t low cog!


Haro Impulse Comp Refurb-021 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Haro Impulse Comp Refurb-016 par WNG555, sur Flickr

The Exage 400LX derailleurs were retained. I had a Deore DX banded top-pull FD that I wanted to use, but the frame couldn't run a top pull even though the cable is routed from above.
Sunrace 8 speed trigger shifters replaced the Shimano units.


Impulsive-008 par WNG555, sur Flickr

The 400LX crank with steel Bio-pace rings got replaced with a lighter Deore DX unit. The BB is a sealed cup model from another bike, that I repacked with 11 loose balls per side to support the loads from the jumps and descents. A pair of Sakae TP-170 pedals replaced originals. But these toe-clips aren't working for me. SPDs when I can afford to, at my earliest.


Impulsive-015 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Brakes up front got a modern upgrade of Shimano BR-550 cantilevers in place of the 400LX steel/plastic cantis. The plastic levers were replaced with Deore spec SLR 2-finger aluminum levers. The U-brake was polished up and re-installed.
I added a pair of silver Avenir bar horns to replace the broken set on the bike.


Haro Impulse Comp Refurb-014 par WNG555, sur Flickr

Haro Impulse Comp Refurb-009 par WNG555, sur Flickr

For tires, I am very impressed by the Vee Rubber Flying Vs on my Giant, therefore I picked up a Vee Rubber Mission 2.10" for the front, and a Speed-R 2.10" for the rear. This tread combo is supposed to work nice together. The Tioga Mud Dawgs were still usable, but they are heavier.
So there you have it, I finally get to ride a nice E-stay mtb. I had purchased a project 3 years ago, and an Alpinestars AL-Mega-DX frameset last year, but this one was an easy turn-around project. N+1 strikes again. If this is wrong, I don't wanna be right!


Impulsive-012 par WNG555, sur Flickr

frantik

wow even the exage looks nice on there i had some wheels with the same hubs.. the hubs look nice but overall the ride is very poor on them.. maybe if you felt the ride was stiff this could be one area to check out

cyclotoine

Wow wng. That thing is immaculate!

DorkDisk

Thank you for those great pics. They bring back many memories. I used to have a 92 Haro Extreme.

orangeology

Parkpre in progress.
90% of parts came in, started to put things on.
Phil Wood BB + Stronglight Mod93, an oddball drive train for an old school MTB frame.
will keep it updated as making more progress.

Fred Smedley

Looks like a good candidate for 650B if that sort of thing floats your boat. , I have a Redline 55 Estay and it would work also.

Italuminium

Love that Haro, @WNG. So clean! And a really nice fork, too. It's original to the bike, right? I could see many older MTB's greatly benifiting from a fork like that to swap out the original suspension forks that lost al springiness over the years.

Fred Smedley

That would not be my choice of a rigid fork, something with more taper on the bottom will be tons more compliant. Specialized DD forks, Ritchey Logic forks .......

cyclotoine

They just need new elastomers. Many vintage forks are perfectly servicable, rock shox mag for example, though they are pretty noodly by todays standard. I am looking forward to running a mag 21 on my 1993 AMP B3 type full suspension.

neo_pop_71

Okay WNG, that is one amazingly clean bike, really nice job on the fine touches my friend!!!

I wanted to hold off posting until you posted a trail report, plus I was hoping for some of your tasty photographs too, thanks for being generous with the pics! Your report of bone shaking stiffness is just as imagined and feared it would be. I had an early model "Team" frame like yours that was designed by Richard Cunningham of Mantis. It had an aluminum front with a bolt on chromed steel rear. Now before everyone jumps all over me about Richard's connection with the "Richard Cunningham" Nishikis from the same era, I know all about them, as WNG mentioned about me in his first Haro posting I have 3 Richard Cunningham Nishiki bikes (1988 Ariel with flat chainstays, 1989 Alien with e-stays, and 1990 Ariel with e-stays). The story goes like this, Richard designed the frames for Nishiki (that we all know) but at that same time he was approached by Haro to design a factory team bike and a full suspension model as well. Richard basically designed a frame that was very similar to his Mantis and Haro began production. As far as the full suspension model, he passed the job over to his mentor Tom Rightmyer. Tom taught Richard how to weld frames, back in the 70's when Richard was all about land speed records, Tom built the woman's land speed record setting in 1980 with a triple that did 47.59 mph. Here is a link: The Recumbent Bicycle and Human Powered Vehicle Information Center The bike was a 3 person recumbent skinned in aluminum, it looked like a missile, the bike hung from the ceiling of his workshop. Sorry, back to the Haro, Tom made only 3 full suspension frames, one was painted and used for promotion in photos and ads (that eventually died), one was a test bike, and the last was used as a downhill racer. Tom had a glossy ad framed in his shop of the full suspension bike in addition to an awesome photo of a downhill rider in full leathers and a motorcycle helmet flying down the mountain in Mammoth. WNG, I'd suggest a curved tapered fork, that will help take the edge off and prevent any pain in your wrists. I know that'll be unpopular as most like the look of that for as I do as well but the beefiness of those straight steel tubes will never be forgiving. My Haro had a 1 1/4" head tube, so when I dumped the suspension fork I went with the same chromed straight blade fork as yours, that's how I know about the brutal ride. After I swapped out the fork with a curved taper model instead, all was well but the stiffness was still there. As yours sits, it'll be an awesome pavement screamer with some 1.25 or 1.5 slicks... for those rutted trails in your backyard desert... I don't know. How about another ride report after a dozen or so mid-length rides?

Always great to see good things coming your way!

Peace, brother!

-D-

WNG

@frantik @cyclotoine @DorkDisk @Italuminium
Thanks guys! So many nice rides here that it inspires and keeps my enthusiasm high. This one was a pleasant surprise find.
@neo_pop_71
Fantastic bit of history, and thanks for sharing it. I thought, "Hey, it looks a bit Mantis-like." when I first saw a Haro Extreme posted by RFC. So Cunningham had a part on these!
I'm honored you like the way it turned out. I do too. It was a fun project. As for the fork, I'll try riding it some more and see if I can get used to it.
If it felt this unforgiving on the easiest of the trails, I wonder what it will feel like on the intermediate and difficult ones! :-P
I do have another threaded chromed fork (aftermarket) that is curved, but not tapered. I don't know if it's worth trying. It may be Hi-Ten as well.
I think this one's a keeper, so I'll look for a kinder/gentler fork. And there is always a suspension fork option. But that won't help keep the weight down like a rigid.

And yes, it hauls @ss on pavement. I have about 5 miles of street riding to reach the trails. I air up when I leave, and let air out on the trails. Heading back I stop by a gas station to fill up. Even with the knobby tires, this one is not slow. As fast as my Bianchi Premio road bike along the same route.

For all who would like to see more pics, plenty in the Flickr set, just click on the photo to get there.
That's what I love about this place, the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience of its members. Learned something new about my Haro. Thanks again neo!