great bike for up hill/down hill/rock hop'n/great 4 jump'n..

**none**

this HARO 2004 xls r3 IS A GREAT BIKE @ A GREAT PRICE..
haro 4 life..

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**none** haro 4 life

Very strong frame. Solid handling. Great value. Cool color (yellow/ grey/ black).

Front fork is too cheap (Manitou Six). I already bent it somehow, and now it balances funny so my front tire doesn't face dead center ahead of me. I have to compensate for the difference in balance by shifing the wheel slightly to one side, but now I seem to have it balanced pretty well. Needless to say, I'll be upgrading this in the next few months. Crank arms are kinda cheap. Bike feels pretty heavy on ascents sometimes. Rear shock works really well, but is somewhat heavy. I may just be used to my lighter old Schwinn hard tail High Sierra (about ten years old now).

This bike is a little heavy on the climbs, which does slow me down a bit, but I do weigh 210 lbs. I do feel very balanced and controlled when in the lower gears, and I'm able to power up most ascents fairly well now (thanks in part to the wider tires, which add a little more weight). This bike feels great on both fast and smooth and slower technical descents.

I ride the medium size frame (I think its a 17), and its just about perfect for me (I'm 5'10"). The bike clearance is just a little high, and I've had a couple of bail-offs that may be made easier by a lower top bar.

I like the simple geometry of it. It seems really tough. I beat the crap out of it and it doesn't complain one bit (besides the bent fork, which is still rideable for now). I abuse it on the trail, but I keep it cleaned and oiled at home.

The bike seems to really tear up a lot of the terrain in the Colorado front range where I ride the most (think mostly dry and dusty, rocky hardpack with some sand).

I plan on slowly upgrading most of the components. First on the list is disc brakes. Then front fork. Then rear shock.

Bottom line, this bike has greatly improved my techinique, confidence, and overall enjoyment of biking in general. I'm very happy with this bike, especially at $450 brand new! I now bike almost every weekend for an average of 3 hours at a time, and this thing powers through everything I put it through.

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This is my first full-suspension bike. I've ridden my friend's Jamis Dakar Sport.

Rugged, low price, good brakes.

Heavy. Does not climb well

This bike is a reasonable deal for the money (around $750), but at this price range you give up allot of things. For example the Manitou fork. It is a Manitou 6 and has only an adjustment for loading. (Also check out the reviews on this fork). The rear shock is a coil shock and only has the ability to control rebound and spring tension. I would describe the rest of the bike as a quality bike but heavy.

As for the ride, it is reasonable. It is far better then my friends low end Iron Horse Warrior, but it doesn't even compare to a BMC fourstroke that I ridden. It seems to handle bumps and drops of about a foot with no problem. Bigger drops have not been a problem either, but I don't do to many of those. The bikes handling is a bit slow in the cornering and it tends to loose traction (rear wheel spins) going up steep hills.

Some of the strong points are the brakes and wheels. The bike has V-brakes and they work very well, better then some disk brakes. The wheels have also taken a beating and are basically still true. (I did have to do a bit of minor trueing my self). --When you have V-brakes, you definitely know when your wheels are not true!

The weakest parts of the bike are the combined brake and shift levers. They have this goofy piece of plastic on them that is a great leverage point to break and pop the top cover off. This has happened in a few of my crashes. The covers over the shifting mechanism barely stay on now. --So, now that the shifter and brake lever are combined, it can get expensive to replace these components. The other problem area is the front fork. It is very low end and is probably the source of my cornering issues.

All in all, it is a good bike at $750, but you might step up to a bike with a better front shock.

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Kona Caldera, BMC fourstroke, Iron Horse Warior

great handling,climbs great,very balanced.It's also fairly light for a full suspension.All and all it's built like a freaken sherman tank i have honestly had no problems with this bike.

might wanna change out the rear suspension later on,it would make this bike even lihghter.

this is a great bike and if you wanted to change out the components this bike is full of possabilities.

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none. before this bike a had a diamond back coil that bike weighed a freakin tone.

its a good bike if ur gonna ride xc

my downtube cracked in half about 6 inches from the headset

yea, im cory r from san mateo ca. i submitted a review on this bike a while ago and since then my frame cracked. The r3 is a great bike for cross country. I did alot of downhill freeriding(mainly dirt jumps and drops) and thats what i get, a cracked frame, whatever though i'll just get a bike that better fits my riding style. The xls r3 was a f***in great bike though(for cross country and cross country only)

Frame Geometry, Lightweight, Uphill prowess, Fast Descents, Haro engineering, Mono-pivot design works flawlessly, Low Maintenance, stiff accurate frame responds well on tight singletrack.

Rear Shock weight, Front fork, tire rims, High standover height

Due to the number of friends I have with really expensive mountain bikes, I've had the opportunity to ride some really high dollar multi-pivot and single pivot bikes. I had the cash to buy something more expensive, but settled on the Haro XLS R3 for several reasons.
Haro has been around forever and has a great reputation in the XC racing circuit and freeride/downhill budget crowd. This bike climbs extremely well on rocky narrow singletrack and flies on downhil descents. The frame is very sturdy for an XC bike yet the overall weight with tubeless tires and a lighter rear air shock can come in at around 26 pounds. The stock components are pretty good but I would definitely suggest changing out the rear shock. The X-fusion functions well, but there are a lot of lighter air shocks out there which provide a little more dampening effect on climbs. (Cane Creek Cloud 9)

All in all, this is a great bike for the money. Stock, this bike functions as advertised and will do anything from singletrack XC on up to 4' drops. The bike is a little too light for aggresive downhill (that's why it's an XC bike) and the 4" of travel probably won't accomodate anything larger than 4' drops. With a little upgrading to disk brakes and perhaps a better/lighter fork and rear shock, this bike is right on par with some of the best single pivot XC bikes out there. This bike has handled everything I've thrown at it from the front range singletrack trails of the Rockies to the slickrock trails of Fruita, CO and Moab, Utah.

This is a great bike for anyone wanting a quality XC bike with the durability to handle the rocky single track of Colorado and Utah. It gobbles up hills and descends very well for an XC bike. The frame is the same as the R5 and the R7 so with a few component upgrades, you can really turn this bike into something special (just look at the R7 reviews).

One side note, this is not a frame setup for short-legged people. The Haro XLS and Werks series have very high standover height geometry with the medium coming in at around 30" and the Large around 31". Thus, if you've got less than 34 inches of inseam, you might find the standover height a little too tall for those moments when you need to bail in technical sections.

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man this thing is a beast, just swallows up the terrain, very accurate handling, smooth ride, comfy seat, good pivot point for the suspension

a tad on the heavy side, and the fork lacks adjustment, causing a slight bit of bob in your ride uphill, the brakes took a few rides to break in, and it is not really a very communter-friendly bike because of how many small beads there are on the tread (but you shouldnt care anyway)

first off, i want to note: this is for the haro shift r3 (i think it replaced the xls)

at first, i was a bit skeptical about this bike. we were looking for a bike for my brother in a budget of about 500 bucks which is reasonable for a worthy trail machine, so we saw some north face bikes, a rockhopper, and just about every other major brand. i was actually looking for a fuji mountain bike so i called pedersen's and they told me about this haro, and i was really not too excited about it, but it was priced really well (they actually said 699 on the phone)
haro, as a comany, isnt one of the biggest brand names out there so i didnt really encourage the buying of this bike, but we went in and my brother tried it and said it felt pretty good. so i checked out the components and they're pretty nice...hayes disc, sram x-7 (deore equivalent)...i've never heard of pivit, but its pretty nice looking stuff and the tires are WTB (havent gotten any flats so far) so we bought it.

on the first ride i just kept thinking "his drivetrain is going to mess up, i know it, haro doesnt seem like a very good company" but in an ironic series of events, my bike's derailleur hanger broke (hardrock from specialized) so a few day later i rode his bike to work (the route i take to work runs right by the foot of this pretty fun bike trail) and on the way, did an hour and a half of mountain biking...

this bike is just amazing....i had no problem on the uphills and coming down, the brakes felt firm and didn't have any overheating problems (this is seriously like a mile and a half of me just riding the disc brakes)...i broke the fork in for him, and it just floats...i mean...this is one smooth feeling bike, it gives you this feeling of confidence and just takes the bumps like they're nothing. i even mistreated it a little and went off the trail, to which it responded by just eating up the terrain...and at the end, i took this small jump at high speed and the suspension just took in the landing

if you're not too concerned with the weight of your xc bike and dont have a very fat wallet, i totally recommend this bike, it is reliable, fun, and smooth...it even proved to be a capable downhill bike...this is a true all-mountain bike...

if you can find one, buy it...you will not regret your purchase

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specialized hardrock (crap), giant xtc nrs air, giant xtc nrs 1 (awesome), gt i drive 3, giant iguana se

Efficient XC suspension,no side flex(aka 4-bar),simply works well.Very Fast!

Brake lock out of rear suspension on DH in small ring(easily fixed).

Fast and dependable.Bought it for the frame and custom built for east coast XC trails.Holds a line on singletrack superbly.

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FSR,VPS,Haro X-3

Handling, Strong Stiff Frame

Tires

Great Bike, Same frame as all the xls series so why pay more for components?!? I have no respect for this bikes feelings, I ride it on singletrack, through rock gardens, small jumps and drops (1-2 footers), commute to work with it (street). I cant notice any Bob in the suspension, and if you dont like the front fork get the upgraded springs for it. Im 225 and have beat this bike considerably. My only gripe is the tires....they suck...I get flats EVERY time I ride, and yes I use the thick tubes with the slime! So get the rear tire changed out ASAP If you buy this bike...other than that its a steal.....even great for us big boys.

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Everything

Haven't found any yet

Great bike, light and handles well, good componentd for the price

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