I give Haro a pat on the back for jumping into the water. Although it may seem like a luke warm market I think It has a place.

Viva 650b

Thanks again

Jill from Haro here. This is all really good conversation. Since someone asked for a Haro rep to comment, I’m here to offer up some (hopefully) colorful commentary.

Regarding the price ranges being confusing for the dealers and consumers, I really don’t think this will be an issue. Yes, the price points of the Mary and upcoming Beasley bikes are close, but I see the Beasley and Mary customers as being different to a certain extent. I’m sure there’s going to be many people who gravitate towards a 650B bike because they don’t “buy into” 29ers for whatever reason (heavy, tall, ugly, slow, whatever…everyone has an opinion). I also think there will be quite a few people who end up buying a 650B bike to add to their stable of bikes…which might include 26″ wheel and 29″ wheel bikes. 650B is simply another choice for this buyer.

With our Mary 29ers, we have noticed that most people do buy these bikes as an additional bike…most people aren’t buying these bikes as their sole ride. Recognizing this, we spec’d them nicely…but not so nice (read: expensive) that they become unaffordable for the vast majority of people who are buying these bikes as an addition. The same philosophy applies to our Beasley line.

Regarding education, we will be putting some educational efforts in place via sales rep clinics (who will pass on to dealers), info on our website, bike hang tags, etc. Unfortunately, this info will not be included in our catalog…the pagination just wouldn’t allow it ( for those who know a thing or two about printing, you can’t just add in one page…pages need to be added based on what fits on the form). Honestly, with most people getting their information online, this really doesn’t worry me much.

Additionally, while I agree that we will need to do our fair share of education, I personally think that most all “big wheel” bikes (29er or 650B) are sold to consumers that already have a pretty good understanding of the benefits offered by a larger wheel size. I’d say the vast majority aren’t novice riders…they are seasoned riders who are more educated about trends and niche products. Obviously, we will educate since I think there is a compelling story to be told by dealers about the larger wheel size that can be passed on to their more novice consumers.

Frameset….yeah, that’s a tough one. I’ll be really honest…historically Haro has SUCKED at selling framesets unless we sell them at a few bucks over our cost. Our bikes have traditionally been a great value, so we just don’t sell framesets. Right now, I’m going to stick by our guns and maintain that we won’t be bringing in framesets…they just don’t sell well for us.

12″ frame size…we’ll take a “wait and see” based on 14″ frame sales. I can tell you that currently, we sell so few 14″ bikes (hardtail or suspension) at any price point, I’d be hard pressed to “sell” a 12″ frame to our buyer. Not ruling it out…just going to wait and see what happens.

OK, I’m done rambling. Feel free to throw any questions my way!

One argument against a frameset only offering might be that many 26″ frames can be retrofit to 650B by simply moving the pads up slot on their brake arms. Besides the bb moving up 12.5mm no significant geometry changes occur with this switch. Perhaps Haro was thinking that the savvy rider could pull off a conversion with an existing frame and perhaps a brake switch, so a frame only offering wasn’t necessary.

The other possibility is that the choice had nothing to do with the about and was based on the fact that for major companies frameset revenues are tiny compared to complete bike revenues.

Dizzy: I think that in reality, a lot of companies are still in “wait and see” mode. I am betting that the success or failure of Haro’s endeavors with 650B will determine a lot of other companies decisions.

I’m not stating this will be the end of anything or the beginning. I’m just saying there is a lot of money teetering on the investment of 650b for Haro. I hope they are planning to do a lot of marketing around the release of the bike. Start a buzz, get folks excited, educated.

Perhaps Haro is being careful about the production run of these and perhaps they are only producing a number that will allow for a calculated risk.

Perhaps it is too soon to jump in like this - but I give them credit for giving it a go. Maybe they’ve got nothing to lose and only room to gain with this venture.

Too bad there isn’t more affordable suspension fork options - because if these two were both offered with forks - it would have at least set the SS Beasley apart from the rigid 29er Mary SS offering.

I guess only time will tell.