Triumph was present last Sunday at the 50th anniversary celebration of the legendary Rocket Jump by Evel Knievel in Twin Falls, Idaho, USA. This was a 400-meter jump across the Snake River Canyon on September 8, 1974, using a «rocket» Triumph Bonneville T120.
Evel Knievel’s son, Kelly, led the motorcycle parade that opened the event on a Triumph Bonneville T120 with custom paint. Alongside him was stunt rider Robbie Maddison on a customized Rocket 3, honoring the Skycycle X-2 Rocket used in Evel Knievel’s jump. Also present was Colby Raha, six-time X Games champion, on a Speed 400.
The custom decorations were inspired by the Bonneville T120-TT «Color Me Lucky» used by Evel Knievel – a jump that solidified his status as one of the greatest stunt riders, despite only partially crossing the canyon due to the premature activation of the safety parachute during takeoff.
Kelly Knievel commented: ‘This bike is painted up just like «Color me Lucky» the Triumph he used, it looks great! He always had a soft spot for his T120, said it flew «straight as a bullet». Robbie’s riding a Triumph Rocket with the same custom paint scheme as this bike, which feels a very appropriate way to celebrate the anniversary’.
From Triumph Motorcycles, Director of Operations Paul Stroud said: ‘This was an uplifting celebration of one of Evel Knievel’s best-known stunts, and Triumph is thrilled to support his family and fans by creating these one-off custom bikes to lead the parade. Following his jump at Caesar’s Palace on a T120 TT, Evel Knievel performed many stunts on Triumph motorcycles during the 60’s, securing his name in the hearts of generations of fans. It’s good to see the latest generation of the T120 bike that was used to first promote this notorious Snake Canyon jump, now being ridden by the next generation of the Knievel family’.