After a three-year hiatus, the Toronto Old School Rad Ride returned this weekend better than ever!
There were tons old school bikes to scope out and lots of laughs shared with old (and new) friends along the way. Super fun!
I even scored some SE Bikes socks in the raffle.
The stoke was high!
Rad movie references pop up from time to time. Television shows from The Simpsons to Daniel Tosh have all referenced the 80s classic BMX movie.
However, it was a bit of a surprise to see Hollywood heavyweight Brad Pitt get in on the action.
In a recent segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Brad Pitt sat down with Jimmy Fallon for a conversation about his new film, Bullet Train. A film that Fallon describes as “pretty rad”.
It doesn’t take long before Brad Pitt gets suited up to perform some rad maneuvers….all while “Send me an Angel” plays in the background….in an unexpected but funny homage to the Rad bicycle boogie/dance scene.
Word on the street is that Montana Ricky is the stunt double for this. Not sure if that’s true but kinda cool if it is. What a cool opportunity for any BMX dude (or dudette)!
Pretty rad all around.
Kinda dig that they used the #RADPITT hashtag…in the Rad movie font too….so there’s no mistake in what they are referencing.
Check out the Fallon segment if you haven’t seen it yet….and maybe check out “Bullet Train”….it looks like a fun movie too.
The nostalgia wave celebrating the movie RAD is in overdrive these days. Everyone from Etnies to Mongoose to Flite to you-name-it seems to have a marketing tie-in. And why not? RAD is a classic and something even the most hard-core of BMXers has a soft spot for.
The latest company to get on the Helltrack train is GT.
GT appears to have decided to really put the CRU in cruiser for this new bike and they showcased it this past weekend at the 3-day Classic BMX Festival the Frogtown Classic in Angel Camp, California.
With “RAD SERIES GT” on the the downtube , “CRU” in that iconic typeface on the fork and the CRU Jones-inspired pad set you know they’re really trying to pull on your heart strings for your favorite cheesy BMX movie.
Along with the classic touches, GT added some modern touches to this throwback cruiser. Peep the disc brake and comfy saddle to keep things safe and comfortable for rad dads flaunting their ride as they cruise the neighborhood.
Word on the street that these bikes are supposed to become available some time in December. I’m not sure how ambitious that is with supply chains being what they are but hey, just like in RAD, sometimes the hometown boy (or new bike buyer) has his day.
Austin, Texas is going to get a whole lot RAD-der over the next little while.
Bill Allen, who most BMXers know as Cru Jones, of RAD movie fame will be in town for an appearance at the Cult Classic Convention this weekend (Feb. 14-16)!
I suspect in addition to offering handshakes (or high fives) and obligatory selfies, he’ll probably also be selling and signing copies of his behind-the-scenes book on RAD.
Then….
And I can hardly believe this is true/happening:
In March, a remastered version of the movie RAD is going to get the big screen treatment as feature presentation at the SXSW festival!
So crazy.
So rad!
Harvester BMX has jumped into the whole podcast thing…and their first episode is with none other than Canadian BMX impresario and rider, Wade Nelson.
Wade’s roots in BMX go way back (in both Canada and US) and the podcast touches on a lot of the cool stories from Wade’s past, including the early Hoffman BS comps, the first X-games, working for Brian Scura and the west coast BMX scene.
Even yours truly gets a mention when the topic turns to zines (at around the 35 minute mark).
For those that don’t know I used to produce a zine in the early to mid 90s called Mob zine.
It was awfully nice of Wade to give the shoutout (Thanks Wade!)
What didn’t make it into the podcast were some fun stories I recall from my encounters with Wade.
One is the time that Wade managed to get the opportunity to answer the “letters to the editor” section of Ride Magazine. Keep in mind, this was in the early days of Ride and let’s say the typical letter was less than genteel in those days. Wade handled that assignment with ease though. I still remember our chat about it about it up on the deck of the ramp at the Boucherville Quebec Play contest (in ’95, I think).
More recently, in a previous Toronto stint, Wade had suggested we grab some food before a Sunday session at the Wallace Emerson skatepark. I wasn’t sure how that would work as Wade is a hardcore vegan….and well, I believe eggs are an essential part of a Sunday breakfast. Somehow, Wade found a vegan/vegetarian place that served eggs and off we went. That day ended with me driving Wade to the hospital….because even though Wade was (and still is) a big proponent of wearing a helmet while riding…he hadn’t quite embraced the same passion for wearing knee pads. As Murphy’s Law would support that would mean Wade would mistime a bar-spinny type maneuver and find his knee making a quick and unintended impact with the concrete surface of the Wallace Emerson park.
Wade’s got a lot more stories to tell though…and the Harvester podcast captures a pretty good collection of them.
Check it out.
Blogs…they grow up so fast.*
It’s hard to believe that this month marks ten years (!) at this little corner of the internet.
And by golly, it’s still so much fun.
Cruiser Revolution got its start when I found myself researching 24″ cruisers and got frustrated because I had to go from place to place to find information on cruisers.
Then it hit me. If I was going to be doing the “research” anyway I might as well blog about it. Surely some other folks must be interested in the same stuff I am.
Turns out that was true!
It’s difficult to put in to words how I feel about the continued support from y’all. Thank you for the great comments, kind words, rocking the CR stickers and just reading the posts…it means a lot.
I’ve written posts in three different countries, rode with so many cool people all around the US and Canada, and had so much cool stuff come out of this site.
Wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Thanks again,
Ed
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating….and good luck and good gates to everyone racing The Grands.
*I feel like I’ve used this line before…but it really does seem fitting in this case.
It’s been a couple years since The Simpsons/Duffman Cruiser collaboration but it looks like the connection between The Simpsons (and Bart in particular) is only getting deeper.
About a week ago, Bart Simpson got himself a BMX bike on the show.
(Wait….are those Zap Pads?)
Radness ensues…
Along with a freestyle contest…
There’s even a nod (I’m guessing) to the USA BMX Golden Crank Award…however, in this case it becomes The Golden Crutch Award.
And what’s that on the wall? A Quadangle, perhaps?
(And is that supposed to be Neil Stauss behind the mic? That’s a bit random.)
It’s pretty cool to see BMX popping up on The Simpsons after all these years.
Granted, American Dad did beat them to it with their kooky send-up of RAD. But given that Bart has always had any affinity for getting rad on his skateboard…we can’t really hold a grudge.
Still cool to see him on a BMX though!
(Pics from this BMXMuseum thread)
TMZ tracked down Lori Loughlin, the childhood crush of many a BMXer, and asked her the question we all want to know, “Any chance of a RAD sequel?”
For real.
I suddenly have a new respect for TMZ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTypCM32Qs0
It’s a bit ironic that a guy who played a character that skips his SATs, and all the good old-fashioned “book learnin” that entails, would find himself years later writing a book about the experience.
But here we are.
Bill Allen, who we all know and love as Cru Jones of the movie RAD, has penned a book called My Rad Career.
The subtitle on the cover reads, “It was the 1980’s…hollywood celebrites and the dawn of extreme sports.”
Will it be a tell-all about the bikes, babes and…uh...ass sliding?
Couldn’t confirm at press time but I am curious if there is a chapter on these two ladies from the movie.
It’s perhaps one of the oddest pop-cultural references to the movie RAD in recent memory.
In a new movie called Coffee Town (out now on pay-per-view) a character experiments with a recreational pharmaceutical and finds himself in a place “where love can only be expressed by BMX freestyle”…that is, the dance scene from the movie RAD. You know, the one that embedded the song Send me an angel into your memory banks like every BMX kid that came of age in the 80s.
Truly weird and cool at the same time.
Bonus info: Gabe Weed did the “stunt work” for this clip.
cruiser revolution 
