RAD (The Movie) Cru Jones Bike Build

[SETFREE]

So this project has been a long time coming (25years in the Making? Lol) I remember when I was young watching this cult class BMX Movie called RAD, It shortly became my Favorite Movie as a kid and I dreamed of one day owning "that bike" one Christmas I got a bike close to it (A Mongoose Mini) but never got the real thing.


Now that I have had the resources and time I figured I'd attempt the Build, I honestly had no idea how HARD parts where to find for this Bike and how costly it would be.........Boy was I in for a Big Surprise.


So here goes! The Start to Finish of my "CRU JONES" Bike Build!

 

[boshwan527]

If you haven't already...you should head over to bmxmuseum.com

it's a great community and they have quite the for sale section with way better prices than anything you'd find on ebay.

If you need a bmx part and you can't find it there...it probably doesn't exist haha.

Anyways...i'll be keeping an eye out for sure. I love old school bmx!

edit: http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=402272
http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=399477
http://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=380766&p=1

 

[Burke]

Outstanding and good luck to you. I wore out my VHS copy a long time ago. But recently scored a DVD version on the bay. Looking forward to this build.

 

[Leigh]

I'm a member at bmxmuseum.com, as already said if you cant find the part there you wont find it Loads of good reference material there & all the BMX advise you could want

 

[SETFREE]

O' Trust me, bmxmuseum.com has been a huge help, got more then half the parts from there along with help on "what parts" are movie accurate.......it's been a fun build

 

[SETFREE]

So here goes, doing my research I found out the Bike was a 1985 Mongoose Californian, not extremely hard to find but I wanted to get one in decent condition so I didn't have to put too much work into or re-chrome it

 

[SETFREE]

Now as I was preparing to put the Bike together I sent Pictures over to a friend of mine who knows EVERYTHING about this Bike and BMX Bikes, I was told this WAS NOT the right frame, I guess Mongoose made 2 frames going from 84-85' and some marked 1985 (this one being one) was and 1984 that they tried getting rid of and you could only tell by the serial number and stickers, this one said "Chromolly Mainframe" and the 1985 should say "Chromolly All Tubes" ........

So I was back to square one, Not to mention I got the wrong bars too, These are considered "expert" bar and are 1inch shorter then the Pro class bars used on Cru's Bike, who would have known right?

 

[SETFREE]

Now that I have the Bars "Pro Class" it was Time to find the right Frame.........It was Farrrrrr from easy, I could have found a really beat up one but I wanted this bike to look brand spankin new!

In the mean time I got The Wheels and The Crank! The wheel are really hard to come by and The crank with a BLUE power plate was even harder, but I finally found BOTH!

 

[Leigh]

This will be a nice build thumbsup:thumbsup Looking forward to seeing this finished
I thought Cru's bike was a Mongoose Expert?? I thought I read somewhere :confused

Edit: I built this up a few years ago, it was the bike I'd always wanted.
I sold it 4 years ago because I needed the money, since then 84 Master's have almost doubled in value :cry & I'd love to get another :unsure

I do still have two BMX's though

 

[SETFREE]

Beautiful Bike, too bad you had to sell it!.........And yeh I found out by asking people involved with the Movie and even Screen shots of the DVD on my HDTV to confirm it was indeed an 85 Mongoose Californian not a Expert

 

[SETFREE]

So after finding out it was Indeed a '85 Californian I went back on the Hunt and found this Baby!.......Amazing condition ANDDDDD it came with The Right Handle Bars AND the right Wheels (Hard Anodized) You have no idea how pumped I was to find this, Paid a bit more then I wanted but it's cash I was willing to spend because I want this this 100% Movie Accurate

 

[SETFREE]

I was really torn on the Wheels, 1. because the 20" Pro Class Hard Anodized wheels are the one's used in the Movie, but I NEVER thought i would find them, they are EXTREMELY RARE, I had this Chrome pair (same style) but it just wouldn't be Movie accurate what do you guys think?

 

[hankey01]

I was at some of the filming of Rad. I never did see it tho.

 

[Weaselhammer]

Oh my holy crap this is awesome. I loved that movie and would love to see it again. This really brings back memories of my GT Mach one frame with Skyway mags, Odi Mushrooms, CompIII pool tires, Odyssey Gyro, etc. I'm really excited to see this build !

 

[TheRealMcFly]

Do you even have to ask?

You pretty much have to use the hard anodized screen accurate wheels if you've come this far.

Finally something from RAD. I think I've still got my VHS.

 

[nwjedidave]

Funny thing about that movie is I was racing against most of the "non star" racers at the time! (Canadian ABA racers) LOL

 

[Dirt McGirt]

Dude you are gonna make me cry years of JOY with this build!!! I can still remember watching this for the first time while spending the night at my friend Jack Callahan's house in 7th grade, and then riding my Diamondback to the PAL track the next day to "race" lol. Such a cult classic. I actually have "Send me an angel" as a ring tone on my iPhone. Some other great movies of note from this time, such as Breakin and Breakin 2 Electric Boogaloo. Both of which I have on DVD hahaha. Anyway keep up the good work.

 

[SETFREE]

Nighteyee, The only reason is The Hard Anodized wheels are scratched on the sides from using the brakes, the chrome ones are not

 

[boshwan527]

I think as long as it's in the spirit of the build, go for what you can.

I built my dad's race bike form 1980, and I was working on a pretty specific list of parts. I put red anodized Araya 7X rims on it even though he had only ever used chrome 7X, and red 7Bs. Red 7Bs are impossible to find and I liked the red 7Xs. I went with them and my dad loved the bike so I considered it a win.

So for you I'd say, pro-class rims are pro-class rims. Hard anodized vs. chrome doesn't seem like a huge visual difference at least. I'd say just try to get the strips inside the same color

I've never been a stickler for "screen accuracy" in my prop world though, so maybe I share the same feelings for bmx builds haha

 

[Weaselhammer]

I was so inspired I looked up the movie on Youtube and watched it again, then went on a bike ride