The Bob Haro Story
Known around the globe as the originator of Freestyle BMX, Bob Haro grew up influenced by the skateboard and BMX race scene in southern California. As a kid he started doing tricks on a BMX bike and wound up spearheading something radically new, and influencing generations with his riding style, artwork, and designs.
Also a stunt rider in the now infamous BMX chase scene in Steven Spielberg’s production of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, today Bob is known as the legendary athlete, designer, artist, and businessman who introduced a new sport to audiences worldwide as he started the first trick team, built the first freestyle bike, and started the first freestyle bike company, Haro Bikes, which continues as a mainstay in the bicycle industry to this day.
After selling Haro Bikes in 1993, Bob founded Harodesign, a design, brand and marketing company that went onto become a creative force working with global action and power sports brands such as Red Bull, Vans, Oakley, Nike, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Ducati Motorcycles to name a few. At the same time, he developed his own brand of performance luggage called Axio for the tech and power sports markets, which company was sold in 2009.
Today Bob’s story and relevance to BMX continues as an often-highlighted action sports personality in various media, invited guest of honor and speaker at events, and has over 50,000 fans that follow his social media channels. Bob also remains current in the market through his work with brands on various projects, including with Nike 6.0 where he acted as spokesperson and creative design partner for the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic BMX teams.