Evel Knievel Dare Devil Stunt Set

Approx. price: £29.99

Age range: 5+

Website: www.flairplc.co.uk

Thirty or more years ago, I ripped the paper off a Christmas present to reveal the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. Even the box looked exciting, with breathtaking artwork of Evel in action.

The toy itself proved just as exciting. Just like the real Evel (who was still jumping over things on his motorbike at the time), this scale action figure was utterly fearless. Point him directly at the skirting board and he’d ride flat out into it without batting an eyelid.

The recent re-launch of this much-loved 1970s toy created quite a stir, and our Retro Week coverage wouldn’t be complete without a review of the new version, created by Poof-Slinky Inc. and distributed by Flair.

The new version uses the exact same moulds that were used in the ’70s, so everything looks completely authentic. Evel is exactly as I remembered him, with bendy arms and legs and that cherubic face. His motorcycle is black, whereas the one I played with as a child was white, but this is no big deal and, although I didn’t know it at the time, Ideal made several variations of this toy.

New in this set is a pair of ramps – one for taking off, the other (which Evel apparently viewed as merely a suggestion) for landing. There’s a brick wall to smash through, a fiery hoop to leap through and loads of accessories, including a fire extinguisher.

You’ll want to get down to playing right away, but it really is worth looking at the informative booklet that comes with the set. Detailing Evel’s life, career and many injuries, this booklet is priceless for the many shots of the huge range of Evel Knievel toys available back in the day.

Back to the review – Evel’s hands really do take a tight grip of the cycle handlebars, and his feet stick into slots on the footrests. This means that no matter how bad a crash is, he’ll hang on to the bitter end. His helmet is removable and can fly off on impact, which is quite spectacular when it happens.

Load the bike onto the launcher, grip the handle tightly and start winding. It takes a few practices to get this right – as soon as you stop winding the bike sets off and your first few goes will probably see it roll a few inches and fall over. This is because you have to wind it up to a frenetic pitch before letting it loose (the wonderful sound of the cycle revving up will be familiar to many…)

When the bike is fairly screaming to be released, stop winding and Evel will zoom off. He is remarkably stable and rides on until meeting an obstacle. The front wheel is spring-loaded to lessen the impact, but this toy seems tough enough to take a lot of punishment anyway.

Bringing out the ramps, I couldn’t help thinking what a great inclusion these are. Having tried to build makeshift ramps back in my youth I could appreciate how much better these are.

The tricky part is aiming Evel correctly. You need the ramp to be far enough away for the bike to have reached a decent speed before starting up it, but it gets harder to make sure the bike runs true the further away the ramp is sited.

Get things right and the bike jumps beautifully and lands smoothly, either on the floor or on the landing ramp. Grabbing for the fiery hoop next, you get a real thrill when Evel jumps cleanly through it without so much as singing his brilliant white jumpsuit.

You may have noticed that no mention has yet been made of children playing with this toy. It’s undoubtedly true that many adults will be after this toy to rekindle that childhood joy, but it works just as well with kids of today – in fact, the addition of the ramps and hoop give it an edge over the original in terms of playability.

Our two testers, boys of six and three (it is recommended for five and up so our three-year-old was carefully supervised), simply loved watching Evel race, jump and crash. The winding mechanism took some mastering (and the three-year-old couldn’t really manage to get it up to speed), but the joy of setting up longer and more elaborate jumps was irresistible.

It didn’t take long for a variety of toy cars to be wheeled out for Evel to jump over. The great man himself would most certainly have approved.

Durability: 5/5
Longevity: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Score: 91%
Conclusion: A brilliant recreation of this classic toy.

Our thanks go to Hawkin’s Bazaar, who provided the Evel Knievel Dare Devil Stunt Set for review, and to Plaid Stallions for the fantastic 1970s catalogue shot.