Greg Watts stars in Haro commercial

Most bicycle companies don't generally advertise on network TV due to the high costs associated with the production of a commercial as well as the price of the TV spots themselves. We're no exception...too rich for our blood...but just in case a suitcase full of money shows up on our doorstep sometime soon, we have a commercial ready to roll!

Adrian Syben, a friend of Greg Watts, has a video production company called Umlaut Productions. He'd like to start producing commercials, so he decided to make Greg the subject of his first project.

"I had been wanting to do this commercial for a while," said Adrian. "After reading the Decline interview with Greg (whom I knew from growing up in the same area), I knew that he would be the perfect rider to bring a certain degree of professionalism to this video that I would not have been able to get from anyone else."

Adrian is a graduate of the UCSC Film and Digital Media program.

So check out Adrian's first commercial project we've dubbed "Greg Watts Daydreaming". If you see it on your local TV station, you'll know that suitcase of cash showed up...

Greg Watts Daydreaming from Haro Bikes MTB on Vimeo.

Greg Watts Bike Check

Watts had a quick bike check up on pinkbike.com at AT's showdown, where he took the win!

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/5848725/

Greg Watts wins AT's Showdown!

Greg is finishing the season strong with a win this weekend at AT's showdown at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

He did way too much stuff to write in this update, but on of the crazier things he did was ride half the course underhanded, ending with an underhanded flipwhip, which I'm pretty sure has never been done before and is absolutely insane. He took the win by just destroying the course and was pretty much untouchable. Greg says this was one of the sickest contests of the year, both for the level of riding and how good the course was. Oh and to finish things off he hopped on his 110 mini dirtbike and flipped the big trick jump on it, just to put the nail in the coffin!!

Unfortunately Phil had crank/bb troubles during qualifying and couldn't get his bike fixed in time to make it to the finals. His buddy David who is now riding a Haro was riding really strong, this was his first mtb contest ever and he represented well, flipping and whipping his way through the course with some big flairs at the last quarterpipe.

You can check out a bunch of pictures of Greg on this Pinkbike post.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/AT-Showdown-finals-2010.html

Also this video has most of Greg's gnarly stuff in it, along with a great shot on the webpage of Greg backflip barspinning the huge stepdown!!
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/at-showdown-finals-video-2010.html

Team Haro competing at AT's Showdown at the SF Bike Expo this weekend!

Hey all you NorCal folks! Heading to the San Francisco Bike Expo this weekend? Be sure to check out AT's Showdown...Greg Watts, Phil Sundbaum, and Brian Miller will all be competing in this cool dirt jump event.

Here's a little Showdown preview video that shows the course coming together and a bunch of the riders guinea pigging their lines. Watts shows off his Metal Mulisha style with a back flip on the mini bike. Woot!

Mike Steidley to ride down a mountain of cash!

Have you ever wanted to ride your bike down a mountain made of cash? Haro trials rider Mike Steidley will get to do just that...sort of. Mike was chosen to star in a TV commercial where he will be "riding" down a mountain of money. The cash will actually be animated in, so unfortuantely Mike wasn't able to reach down and grab a wad of it as he was riding along. Here's what Mike had to say about his experience:

"Last week I had the chance to work with a large Boston based marketing company and get involved with a TV commercial shoot. The marketing firm is putting a variety of commercials for the CT Lottery. One of my contacts from the MTV project got me in touch with the group that was facilitating the project.

The campaign features 15 commercials and each one highlights a different New England celebrity. I was filming with in a giant green-screen room and the group is going to completely animate me into a giant ski mountain of cash in CG effects. I spent a week riding down a green ramp a few hundred times and they will pin the 20-foot sections into a downhill run with jumps, berms, skids, etc. as I navigate down the mountain. The best part was that since I got to “play” myself, I’m in my full kit and on my own bike, thus all my sponsor logos and full product placement will be seen throughout the commercial.


The commercial will air on a bunch of stations out here starting on November 22nd. I’ll get a full impression summary and most importantly a QuickTime video for you to see the finished project."

We'll post up the video as soon as we get it!

Porter's Jackson, WY trip report

Well a couple weeks ago I went on a trip to Jackson WY to ride the famous Teton Pass trails before the snow closed them for the year. Turns out we picked the right weekend because the very next week a big storm came through and snowed them in for the winter! These trails are really unique because they were built illegally on forest service land, and then they were legalized and brought under control of the forest service. Now the same people are building and maintaining the trails, but they get paid by the gov't to do it! Amazing! Anyway the trip was amazing, Jackson is a really fun town with a great local crew, the trails are out of hand fun, and the trails all end at a sweet bar so you can grab tacos and a beer after riding! Enjoy the video, and get out to Jackson if you can, it's worth it!

Eric Porter's road trip to Jackson WY from Haro Bikes MTB on Vimeo.

Haro and Norco bikes stolen from Norco storage facility

Our good friends and Haro distributors up at Norco in Canada just had a bunch of high-end Norco bikes and Haro BMX bikes stolen over the weekend from their storage facility. Be on the lookout!

Here's more information we grabbed from their website:

This past weekend Norco had their off-site storage facility broken into. The thieves in question went straight for the goods, stealing a selection of high-end Norco Downhill, Freeride and Haro BMX bicycles.

If there is one thing, for better or worse, that will get a group of cyclists riled up, it is bike theft. It is something that affects us all, but when our communities unite it is something that we can put a stop to.

We are putting the call out to all riders in the Vancouver BC area to help us keep an eye out for the Norco and Haro bicycles below. Whether it is online, on the trail, from the back of a van or elsewhere we are asking that you please contact your local Police immediately if you come across anyone trying to sell these bicycles, frames or parts kits from them.

The bikes that were stolen are:

• 10 x 2011 Norco Team Dh

• 2 x 2011 Norco 250

• 1 x 2011 Norco Shore 2.0

• 2 x 2011 Haro 400.2 BMX

• 2 x 2011 Haro 400.3 BMX

These bikes should be easy to spot!! Of the bikes stolen, the 2011 Norco Team Dh’s had just arrived at Norco and only one dealer and a couple of Norco staff have possession of these bicycles in Western Canada. This makes the Dh’s unique and easy to spot as they have custom decals and a full Saint group, so if you notice anyone posting either complete bikes or parts for sale or riding the new bikes that are not associated with Norco again please let the Police know ASAP.

The West Coast riding scene is made up of some of the most dedicated cyclists around and we appreciate your help in trying to stop the low down scum and scourge of the cycling scene – bicycle thieves. With your help we are hoping to nail these thieves and we thank you for helping us stop the “fun-wreckers.”