Advertisers are in a constant battle to come up with something new, something unique, off the charts, something that hasn’t been done and overdone. Well, DC Shoes seems to have done it with this video of X Games competitor Robbie Maddison on a modified KTM dirt bike, surfing the waves off the shores of Tahiti. This is no waterbike. There are no gimicks or tricks, this is an actual video of his ride over the water and into the surf.
They rigged up some skis on the bike and paddles on the rear tire, which means he has to keep moving, but the bike still runs on land which you can see from the shots as he rides a trail, through a stream, over the beach and into the ocean.
Like every other stunt, once it’s been done, you can expect others to rush in and try to top it, but for now, Robbie Maddison is the rider who did it. I expect there are going to be some bikes under water really soon.
Link: Robbie Maddison
Joe says
Outrageous !
The next big thing in stunt /X-games ridiculousness no doubt!
Hilarious watching him motor past the longboat rowers!
Funniest and strangest thing I’ve seen in quite a while.
Just great!
Yeti2bikes says
Wonder how many times he swamped that bike practicing and during the filming. I imagine that if forward momentum stopped it would sink like a rock.
Nacho says
“… it still sunk 30 or 40 times, placing Maddison in serious danger. Every time that happened, Morgan (the mechanic) would have to spend four or five hours flushing the machine out.”
Paulinator says
Snowmobiles started off with limited capability. With enough interest from crazy weekend warriors however, they were soon able to skim indefinitely (so long as the fuel held out). Not sure that this will mature into a full-blown recreation for the masses, but some will pick up the gauntlet.
Paul Crowe says
The thing about snowmobiles is, first it was grass drags, then, although it’s a stretch, you could almost imagine doing the water thing, even before it became pretty common (among those who didn’t mind an occasional sunken sled), but this is entirely out there. How many beers did it take before someone said, “Hey, suppose we put some skis on this thing and a paddle tire on the back, do you think it would …?” Nope, it never crossed my mind. I gotta admit, it’s pretty cool.
Yeti2bikes says
They drag race snowmobiles on the quarter mile at the Brainerd, MN event in the NHRA (it’s coming up in a couple weeks by the way) by putting wheels on the skis. Some of them run in the 8’s.
Manx Pete says
You obviously didn’t watch the Chanel 4 documentary where Guy Martin builds a hydroplaning water bike and tries to break a world speed record, cue spectacular crash followed by a bit of a fishing trip to find the bike. Plenty of clips on chanel4.com.
Lost Boy says
Two things. First, I thought you were flaming out the kneeslider Paul. I’m happy you haven’t! I always love seeing the new things posted here. Second, immediately after watching the video a week or so ago I began scouring the internet to find what setup he had on that bike! 😉
Paul Crowe says
Not flaming out, but there are some necessary changes on the way. The blogging world and the economics of running a site like this have changed to an almost unbelievable degree since The Kneeslider began back in 2004. I’ll have more to say about that soon.