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1976 AMF Evel Knievel

My 1st bike.

This bike was my Christmas present in 1976 and my first real bike. I guess I have always been one that paid attention to detail, and making sure Santa would bring me this exact bike was no exception. I remember seeing a picture of it in a retail shopping catalog and I cut the picture out and made sure to take it and show it to Santa. I was pretty small for my age and had to stand on picnic table benches, rocks, etc. to be able to even get on the bike. This bike went on family camping trips, was the first bike I jumped, & I even sprained my neck on it at age 8. I didn't even know BMX existed back then and would make my own jumps out of cinder blocks and wood. Eventually I got into BMX and got a BMX bike when I was older and I still held on to the Evel Knievel Bike, the decals eventually came off and some time in the late 90's I attempted to restore it. At that time I ebay didn't exist, or the Internet so I tried to make my own decals out of paper, markers and laminate. After the first restore I put the bike in the attic over my parents garage which turned out to be a huge mistake. The heat took its toll on the plastic and made it very brittle. Around 2003 I had my friend that is a custom painter paint the bike and all of the plastic. Instead of decals I had him paint everything like the decals. He even used gold leaf on the chain guard in Knievels name. I lost the number plate and made my own. The pictures I had found of the bike on the Internet were not exactly correct. So I took it back to my painter to have stripes added on the fender, he had the bike off and on for a few years and a year or so ago I finally have it all together and it is sitting on top of my entertainment center. I also had the seat reupholstered. Over the years I have bought a few more of these bikes and I have 3 complete and one that's missing a few parts. I will post pics of those also in the museum. One of the complete ones I had was in pretty rough shape and sat on a shelf in my garage for 4 or 5 years, I recently got married and made that EK bike part of my wedding guest book stand. I will submit photos of that to the museum soon. My wife hasn't had much problems with the bike in our living room- after all we met by her booking and having a interest in my bike show ...little did I know what this bike would have led to years down the road.