The motorcycles that carried Evel Knievel over buses, canyons, and fountains now have a permanent home. The Evel Knievel Experience, an interactive museum built around the world’s largest collection of Knievel artifacts, is now open in downtown Las Vegas’ Arts District at 1001 S. First Street.

For riders, the draw is the hardware. The collection includes motorcycles Knievel jumped, the steam-powered Skycycle X-2 he flew in an attempt to jump Idaho’s Snake River Canyon in 1974, and the helmet from his 1967 Caesars Palace crash.

Knievel’s signature motorcycle was the Harley-Davidson XR-750 race bike, which he began jumping in December 1970 and rode through most of his prime. He used one to clear 14 buses at Kings Island in Ohio in 1975, a 133-foot leap that stood as his record for nearly a quarter-century. One of his XR-750s now sits in the Smithsonian.

The museum first opened as the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas, in 2017. It won a THEA Award from the Themed Entertainment Association before relocating and expanding in Las Vegas. Its collection grew from a single jumpsuit into an archive that now includes his red, white, and blue leathers, along with canes, jewelry, wardrobe pieces, cars, and archival film, much of it sourced from the Knievel family.

The Evel Knievel Experience in Las Vegas focuses on interactive exhibits. A 4D virtual reality station puts visitors on a rumbling motorcycle, in a custom helmet, for a simulated 16-car jump. A Jump Planner lets guests set up their own stunt and see whether they would land it. An exhibit called Bad to the Bones catalogs Knievel’s crashes and injuries. Also on display is the fully restored “Big Red” Mack truck and trailer that hauled his operation.

Some of the legend on the walls deserves a rider’s skepticism. The Evel Knievel Experience museum bills the Caesars Palace helmet as the piece that saved Knievel’s life when he “fell into a coma for 29 days.” He did crash hard on Dec. 31, 1967, coming up short on a 141-foot attempt and breaking his hip, pelvis, a femur, a wrist, and both ankles. However, the widely repeated month-long coma has been challenged for years by historians and Las Vegas journalists, several of whom say Knievel never lost consciousness and was never near death.

The Snake River attempt is on firmer ground. The Skycycle X-2, a rocket built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax, was launched on Sept. 8, 1974. Unfortunately, its parachute deployed early, drifting Knievel and the X-2 to the canyon floor. Knievel was largely unhurt, but the X-2 never flew again.

“What makes this experience different is the opportunity to step directly inside Evel Knievel’s story,” said co-founder and CEO Mike Patterson. “Whether guests are trying a 4D virtual jump, testing their own stunt-planning skills or standing face-to-face with the motorcycles that made history, there’s something around every corner that makes visitors stop.”

Born Robert Craig Knievel in Butte, Montana, the daredevil turned a short, battered career into an enduring piece of Americana before his death in 2007. He held a Guinness World Records title for the most bones broken in a lifetime.

The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. General admission is $35, with discounts for youth ages 6 to 12, groups of eight or more, locals, and military members; children 5 and under enter free. Most visits run 60 to 90 minutes. On-site parking is $4 per hour, and the building includes a retail store and cafe. VIP tours, guided tours, and private bookings are planned. Tickets and details are available at www.ekexperience.com.

Evel Knievel Experience Photo Gallery