If you were a bmx rider in late 80'es, being in Turkey had some certain difficulties. Turkey was not still entirely open to the rest of the world, imports and exports were not a big deal and you had to pay a fortune to customs for your bikes or parts to get cleared. Although the sport was booming in mid 80'es and even had started declining by the beginning of 90'es in USA and Europe, there were maybe not more than 20 riders in Turkey in 1990 which did not make the business interesting for importers.
Consequently everyone was trying to get a bike through a friend or relative living abroad or the ones with financially well off parents were basically ordering bikes which were reaching them in minimum 2 months' time.
I was coming from a middle income family, and had to save money for my bicycles and parts. I had a few Turkish brand bmxes with poor quality, basically made of nicely painted and welded iron water pipes. I had a Bisan Freestyle without a rotor or gyro, which was a popular bmx in Turkey at the time. Unfortunately I would like to put here a photo of a Bisan Freestyle but although I dug deep on internet I was unsuccessful to find one. Although I contacted Bisan factory in Turkey I could not get a reply from anyone. That's another indication of lack of popularity of bmx in Turkey at the time.
Drooling on BMX Plus magazines and dreaming of having a GT or Haro one day, throughout that winter sacrificing from my lunch, I saved barely enough money to afford to buy a second hand bicycle. Sold my Bisan Freestyle and started waiting for a good opportunity to buy a second hand decent bike. Informed everyone that I had the money and any second hand GT or Haro would be welcome.
Finally one spring day, my friend Kerim called me and said there was this Haro Sport for sale. It was one of the guys who lived on the other side of Istanbul. The bike was said to be in pink color and a weld under the seat post clamp,but honestly I did not really care about the color or the weld, so I happily accepted to buy the bike. Arrangements were made and we met in the Kadikoy port. There the bike was, 88 Sport, half pink, half chrome, haro freestyle handlebars in purple, pink GT seat post, Haro sprocket, 128 brake levers and a GT stem on it. It had the chrome frame standers on the original Haro fork which are difficult to afford now. That was love at first sight, paid the money shook hands and I sat on the white dominator seat.
The guy said he was reluctant to part the bike as it once belonged to a French ramp champion so the bike meant a lot to him. I was surprised and asked him to tell me the whole story. He said there was a bmx show in Gulhane park in Istanbul and one rider from France broke the bike under the seat post clamp on the ramp. The guy was one of the spectators in the crowd, so somehow the French rider gave (or sold I can't remember this part of the story) the bike to him, he fixed the bike, rode for a year and then decided to sell it. What was the name of the rider I asked. Michel he said, but he didn't know the surname... I didn't believe him much as these bikes were iconic those days and kids loved to deliver such cool stories. Anyway I recorded the story in my memory and kept it for years.
Haro Sport was probably heavier than the GT's or Mongoose's my other friends had and it had a way longer frame. But I was so happy having her, had my first wheelies, squeakers, cherry pickers and so on, and it was the coolest bike in my eyes.
I spent two summers with my Pink Haro and there I was 17, still loved my bike, but my friends were buying newer bicycles which did not have the wears and tears, no dents, dings welds and they felt free to try sickest jumps without the fear of breaking their bikes. So I decided to sell her and buy a newer bike. That's probably something I would not even cross my mind today, but we appreciate the value of things we have after we miss them... I heard the bike was broken a few weeks after I parted it. I was still feeling so attached to her and felt deeply sorry to hear that. Then I bought my GT Aggressor which I still lovingly keep today, but my Pink Haro has always been a good memory and the cause of my today's obsession on Haro bikes.
And year 2011... 18 years after parting my Pink Haro, call it mid-life crisis or whatsoever, I started restoring my old bicycles and collecting old school bikes and started keeping this blog. Deep inside somewhere I always wondered if the French champion story was true. so I decided to investigate it...
I first asked my friend Ertan Uckumru-legendary BMX freestyler who is still riding at age of 44. He told me that back in the time there was a French rider Michel Delgado who was said to come to Istanbul for a show. That was a good lead. Searched for Michel Delgado and came across with some BMX footage and links from oldschool bmx France. He definitely existed but there was no e-mail address so I could contact him and get the story confirmed.
I typed his name on Facebook found a few Michel Delgado's but there was no evidence any of them were veteran bmx riders. I almost gave up my search. At the time, I was searching old school riders on Facebook and adding them to my friends list. There was this guy Christophe Boul, a very talented illustrator and artist who had amazing illustrations on Bmx and other stuff. I added him up on Facebook. One day I realized he shared one of his illustrations:
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| An Illustration from Christoph Boul- José DELGADO, un des 3 légendaires MBK "MAD DOGS" (Michel Delgado et Adolphe Joly) |
That was it! I had eventually found the trace of the Delgados. Looked up on Boul's friends list, I found Jose Delgado. There was no sign of Michel Delgado, but Jose could be heplful! He was probably his brother and would know the story! I sent him a friend request and not long after he accepted it!
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| Jose Delgado, Denis Langlais, Ron Wilkerson, Adolphe Joly and Martin Aparijo at Pony Park, Slagharen, Netherlands |
It was a bit embarrassing and weird to come up with a strange question like that, but I could not help myself and started messaging Jose:
- 20 Jan 2012
3 days...No response... mmm... well, ok;
- 23 Jan 2012
- 23 Jan 2012
One month passes but I can't resist my curiosity, and shoot another question;
- 4 March 2012
- 9 Mart 2012
Yes, that was it. Despite Jose's talkative(!) attitude, I had had the story confirmed by him. I had even learned its original color which proved the bike was painted in pink afterwards which was a surprise. I was truly satisfied but my regret had grown bigger that I had sold my Haro Sport... My next goal now is to try to find my bike. If only I could remember to whom I sold it. Yes strange but true, although I can remember many other details, I can only not remember to whom I sold my bike. I will keep searching for old photos, and try to find out to whom I sold it. I may never achieve to find it but who knows, one day you may be reading another story on this blog regarding how and where I found it...
Adamı taciz etmişsin resmen :) Umarım Pink Haro ile buluşma yazını da okuruz birgün burdan!
YanıtlaSil