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Travis Pastrana recreates Evel Knievel stunts

Travis Pastrana recreates Evel Knievel stunts
Evel jumps Caesars Palace fountains

American stunt rider Travis Pastrana will attempt to recreate three of Evel Knievel’s most famous stunts, including the Caesars Palace fountain jump, not on modern motocross bikes with long-travel suspension, but bikes Evel used.

The “Evel Live” event on July 8 in Las Vegas will be broadcast live by the History Channel in the US. At this stage there are no plans for either History or A&E channels in Australia to take this special.

Travis will start by attempting to recreate Evel’s 1967 jump over the 43m-wide Caesars Palace fountain on a 650cc Triumph T120 Bonneville.

Travis Pastrana recreates Evel Knievel stuntsTravis’s usual stunt bike is a 500cc, two-stroke hybrid Suzuki/Honda called “RM-Zilla”.

It has sophisticated fully-adjustable suspension, thick 49mm forks and 309mm of travel

Travis Pastrana recreates Evel Knievel stunts
Travis Pastrana on RM-Zilla

By comparison, Evel’s T120 had non-adjustable cartridge forks and twin shocks with just 119mm of travel at both ends.

We suspect Travis’s Trumpy might be a little lighter and include some modern suspension tweaking to help him successfully complete the jump.

Evel actually failed to land the Triumph safely and he suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, broken hip, wrist, and both ankles, plus a concussion.

More Travis stunts

later on July 8, Travis will also try to recreate Evel’s jumps over 50 cars and 14 buses on a Harley-Davidson XR750 that became Evel’s trademark stunt bike.

Travis Pastrana recreates Evel Knievel stunts
Evel jumps 14 buses in 1972

Is it any wonder Evel had a record 433 broken bones in his career?

Travis, aged 35, is also no stranger to danger. The professional motocross racer, 17-time X Games winner and multi-world-record-holder has had 32 major surgeries.

History Channel spokesman says the three-hour live show will include interviews with Evel’s family and archive footage of the daredevil in action.