Evel Knievel dead at age 69 - RIP

What are your memories of this Motorcycle Legend?

I loved his wheelies in warm ups.... and his bravado before the jumps

he was a legend ... and his Uncle lived 3 houses away from me where I grew up

I think 'Legend' is an overused word. But, it surely applies to Evel Knievel.

RIP

When it came to our sport the guy was awesome but when it came to life the guy was a nut case. He was actually jailed in California for beating a guy with a baseball bat over something stupid. I guess the last few years haven't been to kind to him either.

Evel Knievel was one of my childhood heros, I mean come on he used to jump a streetbike. modern daredevils use MXers, they may jump farther but the machines are designed for it. besides me and Evel share the same birthdate!!!
BTW, how did he die?

sportrider_fz6 said:

Evel Knievel was one of my childhood heros, I mean come on he used to jump a streetbike. modern daredevils use MXers, they may jump farther but the machines are designed for it. besides me and Evel share the same birthdate!!!
BTW, how did he die?

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I saw him Crash at WEMBLEY stadium doing the double decker bus jump. He was my hero. I broke both my wrists and had stitches in my head as a nipper trying to emilate him. I used to love the Marvel Toy. The stunt bike. Man if I had it still I would still play with it awsome.

perryn said:

I saw him Crash at WEMBLEY stadium doing the double decker bus jump. He was my hero. I broke both my wrists and had stitches in my head as a nipper trying to emilate him. I used to love the Marvel Toy. The stunt bike. Man if I had it still I would still play with it awsome.

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LOL, I had the stunt bike too!!!

Yep that was a proper toy, dont be fooled by the 90's re-launched edition where the bike is two colours balck n white. The 1974 ed rocked. Thats the one you want.

I haven't seen that thing in years!!! I had it when I was my sons age (or younger) back in like 78-79. ohh ya it still looks cool!!!:rockon:

wow childhood days, but i hated to stick that plastic thing in cause if u pulled it out to quick u stripped it.

I just watched a two hour special on the Discovery Channel this afternoon about his life.

He came across as a bit of an ***, I thought. But I did admire his guts and zest to woo crowds.

Now his son will carry on his legacy.

sportrider_fz6 said:

LOL, I had the stunt bike too!!!

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I had one too...

I had one too. I remember playing with it and burning my fingers trying to slow down the wheel. I wonder if it had lead in it?

LOL. I had the bike too. He was the idol of every kid on my block. We lived to build ramps and jump trash cans. Whoever jumped the most was Evel Knievel for the day. The front forks on my bike were bent so far forward from the jumping that I had to coast through all turns with with inside pedal up or it would scrape the ground. The jump I remember most was the Snake river canyon rocket crash. We were devastated.

AJ...how many cans did you clear....

I had the stunt bike too. Used to send it flying down the stairs. When I was a kid a new housing estate was being built in our village. Back then they used to close down build works for the summer and didn't put any fencing up so we used to pile up bricks, get some wood for a ramp and do mad jumps. We would jump over each other!!!! I cleared four people once. Looking back we were nuts!!!!! Like Babaganoosh my front forks were always bent forwards. In fact my dad took them to a blacksmith once to get them bent back to shape. Didn't take long to bend them back. :rockon::rockon::rockon:

well....we are still crazy but our bikes are faster.....:Sport: