A quick how-to guide for reading the serial numbers on your mid-school and new school Haro BMX bikes. This is the fourth post in the series. Mongoose, GT and Redline BMX serial number guides are already up on the blog.
As I'm sure you know finding out what year your Haro BMX bike was made is important information. The date will help you find the correct decals for your bike and also help to figure out what your Haro BMX is worth if you are going to sell.
This post is intended to be used as a guide to help you read the Haro BMX serial numbers and find out what year your BMX was built and sold. The serial number guide will help date Haro BMX bikes made between approximately 1990 and 2009. This guide may not work for all Haro BMX bikes built between this time and I have listed below which Haro serial numbers it does work for. I spent quite a bit of time looking into the Haro serial numbers on a few of my bikes as well as checking against other Haro BMX owners to see if my serial number crack was right. As with the other 3 cracks, this holds up too.
For early 1980's Haro serial number information refer here to this post on BMX Museum.
The late 1980’s Haro had a pretty simple serial number system. Generally, the year was stamped as the first part of the serial number.
For example my 1989 Haro Invert has a serial number H8808XXX. The second two digits - the number (88) refers to the year – 1988 and the month of build is referenced as 08 for August.
The serial number below can be read in the same way. July 1989 built bike. This bike would be known as a 1990 model.
1990 to 1999 Haro BMX Serial Numbers
In the early 1990's the Haro BMX serial number system changed, the build month often became a letter from A to L. The basic build year stamp remained - A91H. 91 is for 1991 and H is for August. See the month chart below.
A B C D E F G H I J K L
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
The example below is slightly different but still has the build year as a number in this case a 4. This makes the frame 1994 built, and listed as a 1995 Haro Group 1 Ci BMX. The CI is referenced at the beginning of the serial.
As with the serial above, some Haro BMX models also had the model name referenced in the serial number. The just the year stamp remained - dropping the decade. Month possibly remaining as number also. CO1271 - this was taken from a 1992 build Group 1. The model stamp always seemed to come before the year. Month of build often after the year.
For a list of model abbreviations refer here to this post on BMX Museum.
The above bike is a 1995 built, 1996 Haro Sport BMX
1995 built, 1996 Haro Group1 Si BMX
2000 to 2009 Haro BMX Serial Numbers
Into the 2000's once again the system changed slightly. However the basic structure remained the same. The number of digits at the start of the serial number increased, possibly as the number of frame models increased frames, but the year and month reference remained.
The above example is a Nov 2000 built, 2001 Backtrail Pro
June 2002 built, 2003 Haro Mirra Pro
Build date vs official model date
The Haro serial number will give you the build date of your Haro BMX. Frames were normally manufactured the year before being sold in bike shops. So a build date on a frame of 2003 usually means the bike was sold in 2004. A bike with a 2003 build date will be listed in the 2004 Haro Catalogue and would have the 2004 decal set and parts.
If you want to know more about your Haro BMX visit BMX Catalogue - you'll find all the original catalogue info you need including original parts lists, specs, colours and high resolution photos perfect for rebuild reference.
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