Posted on 07/09/2018 5:37:14 AM PDT by C19fan
Travis Pastrana honored legendary daredevil Evel Knievel Sunday night in attempting three of Knievel’s most dangerous jumps in a row on Evel Live. Pastrana wasn’t just setting out to complete the stunts, however, but to break Knievel’s records.
Pastrana’s epic act started with the 50 Car Jump, followed by the Wembley Bus Jump. It ended with the infamous Caesars Palace Fountain Jump — a stunt that almost killed Knievel 50 years ago. “This is the most iconic jump in stunt lore,” Pastrana said. “In the history of stunts, this is the one. It’s the one because Evel never landed it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Terrible headline... he didn’t just “ attempt” it, he DID it!
Besides, people doing this kind of thing make me look sane/rational riding my bike. :-)
I remember growing up in the 70s all the boys set up ramps to be like Knievel with their bikes.
“Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble starts when you try to land it”
Evel Kneivel
I agree that this was a tremendous feat, and kudos to Travis, but the History Channel built a THREE-HOUR special around an event that could have been covered in one hour or less.
There was way too much build-up, background, trivia, commentary and chatter. I started watching at 8 and finally had to turn it off at 9:30, after watching only one actual (short) jump.
I guess they wanted to sell a lot of advertising.
I read somewhere that the Caesars Fountains will be sacrificed on the altar of reclaiming LV Blvd frontage.
Once upon a time, curb appeal and a beckoning entryway were considered paramount in LV. Either due to the scarcity of land or the realization that people didn’t much care about what the front porch looked like, the front facades of Strip properties are now chock-a-block with restaurants, shops, etc.
Unfortunately, this makes the life of a pedestrian rather challenging since sidewalks are already narrow and they are increasingly choked by promotional hucksters including ‘showgirls’ who are merely hookers sunlighting (as opposed to moonlighting). Then there are the legions of bums and beggars. And, of course, the Mexicans attempting to shove flyers for prostitutes into every passing hand are still there.
LV’s so-called solution to traffic gridlock was to all but eliminate street-level crosswalks. In some cases the only way to cross the strip or a side street is up, across, over, and back across (ie three sides of a square).
Perhaps it’s all part of the plan but eventually it will be quicker to walk from one end of the Strip to the other while staying completely indoors.
Future organ donor.
Awesome fete by Travis. My only problem with the show was the awful cast of commentators. It was like hipster convention.
The guy is skilled and ballsy, no doubt about it. I’m guessing that the major difference here is that the old way was seat of the pants, “hope this works” style. I’d bet serious money that this was all gamed out and simulated on computers that included every variable, including how much fuel was in the tank. It’s obvious that a lot more work (and thought) went into building those ramps...
Your description of Vegas is spot-on. I try to ride the tram as much as possible. Normally stay at Mirage. Close to center of strip. But still impossible to avoid all the human debris that congregates everywhere! Pan-handlers. Pickpockets. I always put a rubber band around my wallet. Makes it difficult to remove wallet from pocket.
* Suspension Travels of 12"
* 2 Stroke and even 4 stroke engines with power to weight ratios that make that Sportster look like a boat anchor.
* Stiff Chassis that E.V. couldn't dream of.
* Telemetry, if you wanted to practice and all sorts of science to put on your laptop to figure it out.
The real long shot that I guess he won't use is Electric Power. 1st size, or pick the motor of your needs. You could figure out just how much battery power you need for the ramp, and warm up, size it for that and the instant continuous torque to get up too speed would a advantage as well.
I was thinking what TrailDigger commented on. Travis’ motorcycle is light years better than what Knievel rode.
>>Next the Snake River canyon....<<
Then the Grand Canyon.
(remember?)
I wonder if the ramps and motorcycle are better or safer than what Evel used. They said the motorcycle is Indian and it does have big tires. The fountain jump looked the easiest of all three, probably due to the ramps. The ramps were so big I could hardly see the fountains.
* Suspension Travels of 12”
...
I think I heard them say 4 inch during the broadcast.
Evels stunt bikes were built just a few miles from me in Kewanee Illinois by Roger Reiman. https://www.reimanshd.com
Roger was a great guy and skilled mechanic and rider and a patriot. The dealership will store customers bikes for free who are deployed military. I’m a Beemer guy but if I bought a Harley I would go nowhere else.
The claim was that the bike had been customized to the same specifications as Evel’s bike.
Thanks, I was speaking in regards to Motocross tech in general. I guess he didn’t go the full monte and grab all that is available.
I think you nailed it. The engineering of the ramps is what made the difference. And as someone else said above, this was probably all computer modelled to build in a significant margin of error. Everything advances.
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