Just like Taber Nash faced adversity chasing his dream of hand-building the best motorcycles, learning to ride can be viewed as a rite of passage. It needs balance and fearlessness to get on the road with a motorcycle under you. But there are some people out there that are braver than others and intentionally put their bodies at risk to attain new heights – sometimes literally.
With a lot of practice, and fearlessness, some have upped the ante, inspired to go further and risk more by the likes of Evel Knievel, who jumped over cars, sharks, and rattlesnakes in the 1960s and ’70s. Some outdo each other in regards to how far they can jump and others stay closer to the ground and land tricks with their bikes that make you question the laws of physics.
So here are five of the best motorcycle stunts that we could find on the Internet. But, after you watch them, don’t you dare try any of these tricks yourself. There’s a big difference between riding on the highway and distance jumping.
Robbie Madison’s (Former) World Record Jump
Robbie Madison sure knows how to capitalize on a moment. 40 years after Evil Knievel jumped at Caesar’s Palace and a month after he’d passed away, Madison landed a 322-foot jump and set the then-record for the longest jump in 2007.
Note: In the past 8 years, that record’s been broken by Madison himself and was later shattered by a kid named Alex Harvill that landed a 425-foot jump. That even beat Levi LaVallee’s distance on a snowmobile of 412 feet.
Base jumping off a cliff
Base jumping – jumping off of a cliff and parachuting at the last second – is dangerous enough. But that wasn’t enough for Mario Pardo. No, he had to grab a dirt bike and throw himself off of a cliff in Spain for a 1,902-foot jump. That poor, wasted bike.
Robbie Madison — New Year’s Eve 2008
Robbie Madison has a long history of making history on New Year’s Eve. In 2008, he finished a 96-foot vertical jump to land on the Arc de Triomphe. If that wasn’t crazy enough, he also jumped back down onto another ramp right after. Guess he had to get down somehow.
Jason Sheehan’s Triple Backflip
You may remember how we all lost our sh*t back in 2006 when Travis Pastrana became the first person to land a double backflip at the X Games, right? Well, like in most sports, people in motocross are always looking to outdo the current standard of greatness. Jason Sheehan saw Pastrana’s two backflips and raised him three.
Evil Knievel — Kings Island
It just wouldn’t be fair to do a list of motorcycle stunts without including the man that brought it to the mainstream in the first place, Evel Knievel. This jump over 13 greyhound buses is a classic moment in extreme sports history that inspired a lot of the other riders on this list.
