Evel Knievel

[RacerX]

Are there any other Evel Knievel fans here?  Did you catch the movie on TNT last night or tonight?  It's pretty good, and tonight, Evel's son, Robbie, jumped a bunch of vintage military aircraft on the deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid museum in New York as a lead-in to the movie.

I was a huge fan when I was a kid.  The Snake River Canyon jump occurred when I was in kindergarten, and I had the Evel doll and motorcycle with the crank that made it go.  

Tonight after Robbie's jump, he said, "You know where I'm heading next.  The Snake River Canyon."  I'm not sure what he meant by that.  He jumped over a 200 foot wide gorge in the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago on a motorcycle.  I wonder if he's going to try to jump the Snake River Canyon in a rocket like Evel did.  It should be interesting...

I know.  I'm a geek.  

[Tailgunner]

I saw the movie, but missed Robbie's carrier jump. Huge Evel fan as a kid as well. I had both the crank up bike and the sky-cycle, and remember watching Evel's attempt at the Snake river canyon live on TV.

Robbie has made a habit of successfully jumping things his father tried and failed at. It'd be cool to see him pull off the snake river jump.

[Zapper]

I loved that toy bike, I put mini-Knievel through hell. A few times I set him on fire before a jump.

[TOK]

I saw the movie, but missed Robbie's carrier jump. Huge Evel fan as a kid as well. I had both the crank up bike and the sky-cycle, and remember watching Evel's attempt at the Snake river canyon live on TV.

Robbie has made a habit of successfully jumping things his father tried and failed at. It'd be cool to see him pull off the snake river jump.

Robby is a good motorcycle rider, don't get me wrong, but it's a hell of a lot different to do those jumps on a modern bike. He's got a 250 pound Honda CR500 with 60 horsepower and 12 inches of suspension travel.
 
I'll be equally impressed with Robby when he does them like Evel did... On a 600 pound Harley twin with 40 horsepower and 4 inches of suspension travel. Look for movies in the Crusty Demons of Dirt series. There are guys that do jumps equivalent to Robbies while hanging onto the bike by the rear fender.

[RacerX]

Well, yeah, when you can turn on ESPN and see guys doing flips on bikes and stuff, it takes a bit of the luster off, I guess.  

But Robbie's jump of 200 feet over a 2500 foot gorge still impressed me a couple of years back.  And since I was around for Evel's heyday, Robbie means more to me personnally.  Did anyone here have the Robbie Knievel doll to go with their Evel one?

[danny_galaga]

im not an evil knievel fan, but didnt he use a harley flat  track bike? they are super-light, not like those hideous things middle-aged folk buy... hehe.

oh, i am a fan of vintage aircraft so im rather horrified they would have been put at risk   .

[RacerX]

Oh, they weren't really at much risk.  The distance was nothing compared to Robbie's longest jumps.  The hardest part was stopping.  He didn't have a lot of room to do it, so they put several rows of hay bales at the end of the carrier, and he ditched the bike and slid into them.  Otherwise, he could have flown off the side and fallen 70 feet into the water below.