Alright, so did everybody survive Sturgis? I know a bunch of you guys went, and I really would’ve liked to, it just isn’t in the cards this year. So what is all the gossip? See some T and A? Drink some brews? Eat some free grub?
Did you see Doug Danger and the 22 car jump?
I know that I can’t do it on a dirt bike or a Harley, but, I’m sorry. I still haven’t drank enough Kool-aid to think that he was riding a bike set up just like Evel Knievel’s 1972 Harley XR750. No way.
Now, I never wish ill on another person, but I think I’m just too old to believe that our good friends at the Chip are going to let stunt riders and patrons get rubbed out due to a mistake. It is just bad for business.
In fact, the word around the campfire is that he had made that jump dozens of times. He went a whole lot longer in 1999, I think, but he did it on a dirt bike.
So for the sake of research, of course, I dug around the virtual world and found a few versions of Evel’s jump in 1972 and compared them to Doug’s jump in 2015.
Same distance?
Check.
Same style of ramps? Sure looked like it.
Height?
Looked about right.
Overall weight of the rig and the guy driving it?
My guess is they were within a 24-pack of the same.
But there is no way, based on the way the suspension bounces in the 1972 jump, that Doug was running anything resembling a stock shock system. My guess? A high dollar custom valved system that would pass the “smell test” of the usual guys lingering around and the photo-shoots, but internally, that suspension simply had to have been gone through and built – not rebuilt – by real pros.
Now, I’m not saying that what he did wasn’t amazing.
I know I sure as Hell can’t do it.
But if you are selling it as one thing and it really isn’t, then call it something else and hype it as such. The folks at the Buffalo Chip always put on a good time, and there was no need to bring Evel’s miss into this. What really gets me is that we keep putting out for fakery. “We” act like we think tough bikers are supposed to act, run around chasing chicks half our age, drink too much and try to be “rebels” and pay with our Gold Card. We seem to listen to anything in our community and think it’s the gospel, even though we have learned to doubt every other source of media.
Gimme a break. I love riding, but I’m tired of everybody building the same trailer bikes or making the same comments on every custom job out there. Doug is a hell of a rider, the Chip is an awesome venue, and 1972 Harley’s are really cool. Let’s just leave it at that and have a good time. Nobody was in any danger that day, it was a heck of a jump, but don’t tell me that bike was stock.