page_title: Evel Knievel
section_title: Motorcycles
hierarchical_section_title: Evel Knievel / The Last Gladiator / Motorcycles
caption_attribution_description: English: Evel Knievel Jump Bike Suspended in the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, WI.
context_page_description: Robert Craig Knievel, professionally known as Evel Knievel, was an American stunt performer, entertainer and convicted criminal. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps.
  Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida, in 2007, aged 69.
context_section_description: Knievel briefly used a Honda 250cc motorcycle to jump a crate of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions, his first known jump. Knievel then used a Norton Motorcycle Company 750cc for only one year, 1966. Between 1967 and 1968, Knievel jumped using the Triumph Bonneville T120 (with a 650cc engine). Knievel used the Triumph at the Caesars Palace crash on New Year's Eve 1967. When Knievel returned to jumping after the crash, he used Triumph for the remainder of 1968.
  Attempting his jumps on motorcycles whose suspensions were designed primarily for street riding or flat track racing was a major factor in Knievel's many disastrous landings. The terrific forces these machines passed on to his body are well illustrated in the super slow motion footage of his Caesars' landing.
  Between December 1969 and April 1970, Knievel used the Laverda American Eagle 750cc motorcycle. On December 12, 1970, Knievel would switch to the Harley-Davidson XR-750, the motorcycle with which he is best known for jumping. Knievel would use the XR-750 in association with Harley-Davidson until 1977. However, after his 1977 conviction for the assault of Shelly Saltman, Harley-Davidson withdrew their sponsorship of Knievel.
  On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-propelled motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax, dubbed the Skycycle X-2. The State of Idaho registered the X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
  At the tail end of his career, while helping launch the career of his son, Robbie, Knievel returned to the Triumph T120. However, he used the bike only for wheelies and did not jump after retiring the XR-750.
  In 1997, Knievel signed with the California Motorcycle Company to release a limited Evel Knievel Motorcycle. The motorcycle was not built to jump, but was rather a V-twin cruiser motorcycle intended to compete with Harley-Davidson street bikes. Knievel promoted the motorcycle at his various public appearances. After the company closed in 2003, Knievel returned to riding modern street Harley-Davidson motorcycles at his public appearances.
  Evel's son Robbie sold limited-edition motorcycles from his company, Knievel Motorcycles Manufacturing Inc. Although two of the motorcycles refer to Evel (the Legend Series Evel Commemorative and the Snake River Canyon motorcycle), Evel did not ride Robbie's bikes.
caption: An Evel Knievel XR-750 suspended in air as if jumping, at the Harley-Davidson Museum
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