1991 Haro Extreme Comp NOS Build, Aussie Content, *Finished*

[haulawayjoe]

Well I have been a member of the site for a bit over a year now and I thought it was time I posted my first build which I finished in October 2010. I meant to post it up at the time but I had already moved on to other projects.

For my first build I wanted something representative of my first mountain bike; an Apollo Everest, an Australian brand. It had elevated chainstays, a Deore LX group set, was bright emerald green and made of steel from memory. The pics below are of the top of the line model from that year (1991).

I came across a NOS 1991 Haro Extreme Comp 19.5" frame on ebay and it ticked all the right boxes. It had elevated chainstays, was chromoly and had an outlandish paint job. It came with the original forks which are Haro and the Ritchey headset as well as the owner’s manual. Then it was down to sourcing all of the parts; seeing it was an NOS frame I wanted the build to be NOS as well. I decided to build it with a Deore DX groupset as that would have been the most I could afford back in 1991 with a few bling parts like the Syncros stem, Ringle cage, Hyperlite bars and Salsa skewers thrown in for good measure. All parts were sourced from ebay apart from the stem which had been refurbished and I got from canuckinboston on the site – thanks mate.

I was also lucky enough to pick up a 1991 Haro catalogue from ebay and I found an ad for the bike in a 1991 buyer’s guide from MBA. Here are the pics of all the parts and paperwork with complete build pics and spec sheet to follow. Let me know what you think.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

Ooooooooohhh!!! Thats well nice!!

Have a look at my Haro Extreme in my signature. I'm doing it mainly with DX/XT with LX mechs to make it look standard (ha!). skinwall Ritcheys.

I have the original Haro WingStrut 31.8 bar and stem, bought through here in NOS condition, looks fantastic but your syncros will look very good too.

ONE REQUEST - have you got scans or good pics of the rest of the catalogue - I can't get the catalogue for love nor (resonable) money!

Or if you would sell me yours.... ;-)

great bike!!

 

[haulawayjoe]

Thanks Rob,

The build came together pretty well and for the most part I am happy with it. I would love the Haro bars and stem you have - I'll swap you for the catalogue.

Your bike looks great, love the colour and most of all the inventive packing. I had a frame show up the other day in a box packed with disposable nappies, makes you wonder. They ride pretty well even if the front end is pretty low with the flat bars.

I will post up the rest of the catalog for you, I'll have to take pictures as I don't have access to a scanner at the moment.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

Thanks Rob,

The build came together pretty well and for the most part I am happy with it. I would love the Haro bars and stem you have - I'll swap you for the catalogue.

Your bike looks great, love the colour and most of all the inventive packing. I had a frame show up the other day in a box packed with disposable nappies, makes you wonder. They ride pretty well even if the front end is pretty low with the flat bars.

I will post up the rest of the catalog for you, I'll have to take pictures as I don't have access to a scanner at the moment.

Thanks for the catalogue pics in advance.... I'd like to know the original spec of mine plus what (if any) differences there were between the frame materials in the elevated chainstay models.

I've just taken some new pics which I'm about to put on my build thread so check it again soon. The Haro stem on mine is about 130mm but with a 40 degree rise (ish) so it brings the bars up a bit. I think on your frame (mines a 17.5" - still got the sticker on it!) it'd be a 150mm job - one was for sale on ebay recently, I'll check if its still there.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

From the scans of the catalogue it seems that the Extreme and Extreme Comp had the same frame just painted differently. The Comp had XT with the Switchblade-like forks, the Extreme had LX/XT mix with chrome Tange forks. The Comp also had Kevlar Megabite tyres rather than wire.
I'm doing mine up with XT controls and brakes, DX chainset and LX mechs. Hopefully I can get some XT mechs one day but they aren't cheap.

I must admit to being jealous about your paint job - can't resist a good neon fade!!

 

[Retro_Roy]

hi
that haro is going to be a beauty!!!! but now i want one of those apollo's!!!!
are they rare? do you see them around in any frequency?
thanks
roy

 

[Coleman]

This is going to be nice!! Well done on collecting all those sweet parts - DX is really good stuff IMO.

Can't wait to see it finished

 

[haulawayjoe]

hi
that haro is going to be a beauty!!!! but now i want one of those apollo's!!!!
are they rare? do you see them around in any frequency?
thanks
roy

Thanks Roy. I haven't seen any of those Apollos since a friend had a later model about 15 years ago, there really isn't much of a retro scene in Australia. I am sure though that there a plenty of old gems throughout the country gathering dust in garages. They are a brand that are still being manufactured although they were never really held in high esteem in Australian mountain bike circles back then, everyone lusted after the American brands. They were good in the fact they had a team and supported racing, actually Cadel Evans was sponsored by them when he was a junior mountain bike rider, he has come a long way since those days.

This is going to be nice!! Well done on collecting all those sweet parts - DX is really good stuff IMO.

Can't wait to see it finished

Thanks Nevada. There were alot of nights spent trawling ebay to get this stuff, but it was worth it in the end. I always thought of DX as the work horse group, dependale and got the job done without any flash. It is also good to show my mates who only got into mountain biking in the last ten years DX wasn't always about BMX and downhill.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

Grrrr, why didn't I think of using the avatar you have? "We are 138"!

 

[haulawayjoe]

Grrrr, why didn't I think of using the avatar you have? "We are 138"!

You've got some "Attitude"