Did anyone else catch Travis Pastrana recreating 3 of Evel Knievel's jumps aboard an Indian FTR 750? It was on TV a few hours ago and I have to admit that I found it quite entertaining watching him jumping a bike based on a flat tracker as opposed to a motocross bike. While I love watching motocross, supercross, freestyle, etc., there's just something extra cool about watching a guy jump a flat track bike like that.
The television coverage was a bit bizarre. But they did make sure to point out the differences in the motorcycle being used compared to what Pastrana normally rides. When they started noting Pastrana breaking records in terms of distance covered aboard a v-twin bike he was quick to point out that the Indian was quite a bit faster and lighter than those bikes used by Knievel. Definitely a nice PR grab for Indian.
ABC news had a brief piece on it this morning. I saw clips of all three jumps. It was kind of eerie just how much he looked like Evel doing it -- the suit, the bikes, the jump set-up, etc.
I tuned in and out for the jumps. The Dodgers were playing so I had to do some back and forth.
I can't be bothered with all the pomp and circumstance for 2 hrs leading up to one of his stunts. It's just too much. However, it was certainly cool to watch the actual stunts. Like mentioned, done on a different type of bike than you see these kind of things done with.
Definitely good advertising leading up to the release of the FTR1200.
been amazing his whole career , think he is the one who once jumped in a suit or Tux many years back. he was a master on flying a bike = quick throttle to lift the front while in the air / hitting the brakes to lower the front while in the air = he can fly a bike.
--- watch the slow motion landing over the buses as he uses the throttle to lift the front ......
=
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIQj708tWxU
I recorded the program and zipped through most of the chatter to the actual jumps.
Cool that he pulled all of them off without incident.
I watched it live... sort of... I watched the first half hour of useless chatter, then started channel hopping getting back in time for all 3 jumps. Pastrana approaches jumping a little differently than Evel did. Pastrana has a team that computes angles, speed, distance etc, plus he's an excellent motocrosser used to jumping. Evel just said "what the heck, I'll try it" and went for it.
the bus jump was the most impressive imo.
The most impressive jumps I've seen were the ski jump that Robbie Maddison did
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YLjrgdqCxc
and his New Years Eve jump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLejkyXbJlc
although Robbie used a motocross bike for his jumps. That's a little different compared to the FTR 750.
I met Evel you know
..see post 5
http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....ht=Knievel
Pastrana is awesome. One of his prior stunts was to skydive without a parachute. Insane.
I saw Evel at the Del Mar Mile probably twenty years ago. He gave a short talk in front of the crowd. He appeared to be a physically broken man at that late point in his life.
remember watching Robbie Maddison's 2008 New Year's Eve jump .
that scared me just watching it both up and down . he sure had a nervous wife .....bubba blackwell was a local favorite who use to hang out and ride with our group of radical sport bike riders