Richard Gasperotti, 46-year-old Czech extreme mountain bike freerider. The guy is a real daredevil on two wheels. The Czech has participated four times in the legendary Red Bull Rampage in Utah the most dangerous and spectacular freeride event in the world. In 2009, the then 32-year-old set a spectacular speed record: he achieved a top speed of 211 km/h on a downhill bike pulled by a motorbike. In 2018, he rocketed through the bobsleigh track in Sarajevo on his bike. And in the winter of 2022/2023, Gasperotti made a name for himself when he climbed three active volcanoes in Guatemala and rode down them on his bike. When one of the volcanoes erupted, it almost led to a catastrophe.
Now "Gaspi" as his friends call him, is the first to attempt the famous Wall of Death on a conventional e-MTB. The "Wall of Death", a classic fairground attraction, consists of a huge wooden structure in the shape of a barrel. Stunt riders are held against the wall by centrifugal force and spin their motorbikes along the vertical inner wall to the amusement of the spectators, performing breathtaking tricks in the process. Gasperotti relied on a Mondraker Crafty Carbon R with a normal, non-tuned Bosch CX motor for his record ride.
The French circus group Mur De La Mort has been touring the world with its Wall of Death for years. Richard Gasperotti got to know the group during a visit to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. "Ever since I was a child, when I saw pictures of this attraction, I wanted to try out the Wall of Death," says Gaspi. "But I never imagined how tricky this stunt would be."
The Wall of Death presented Gasperotti with several challenges. The biggest difficulty was switching from horizontal to vertical perception, but the extremely slippery wooden walls were no less critical, as the narrow tyres offered much less grip due to the lower inertia of the e-mountain bike compared to the heavy motorbike. Gasperotti also had to get used to constantly pedalling to keep his balance while riding on the wall of death. Good timing and pedal management are particularly important when changing from the flat to the vertical wall so that the cranks don't touch down.
While experienced circus riders let their bikes race over vertical walls with no hands and sometimes even blindfolded, Gaspi had to learn the hard way. During his first attempts, he had four serious falls before he was able to complete a few successful laps. One fall from a height of three metres was particularly bad. "It took me minutes to get my breath back. I only had my back protector to thank for the fact that all the vertebrae were still where they belonged at the end." It normally takes around six months to ride the Wall of Death on a motorbike safely enough to be able to attempt a few tricks. "Gaspi did it in an afternoon - I have a lot of respect for him," says Raoul, the longstanding leader of the French circus group Mur De La Mort, some of whom have been performing their tricks on the Wall of Death for over 30 years.
Wall of Death legend Jagath Perera: With the E-MTB at the Oktoberfest
Another well-known rider who has successfully attempted the wall of death is Jagath Perera, a legend at the Munich Oktoberfest and considered by many to be the best wall acrobat in the world. Perera is originally from Sri Lanka and discovered his passion for motorbikes at the age of 13.
Jagath is said to have the perfect mix of driving skills and entertainment qualities for this trade. "Actually," he says, "I'm not a show guy, but when you look at people, it's automatic, then you open up and just have fun." He only started doing circles on the steep face in his mid-twenties. Jagath worked as a technician in Colombo harbour, but was actually a passionate motocross rider. One day, Jagath was approached by a man from Germany: He was looking for steep wall riders, he said. "At first I didn't really believe what he was telling me, but three weeks later I started the paperwork. That was in December 1995, and on 4 March I was in Hamburg - and it was very cold." Jagath trained and trained, mainly travelling to events in the north - and soon ended up in hospital. "At least I had a nice view of the Elbe and St Pauli." His career literally took off. In 2005, he rode the Wiesn for the first time and took over Pitt's wall of death in 2007. Since then, he has been riding in circles in the six-metre-high barrel, without a helmet and often without his hands on the handlebars.
Pitt's wall of death is the oldest of these trades. Since 1932, the riders have been doing their laps in Pitt's wall of death, letting it crash and bang, speeding past people so that they flinch and cringe - the closer to the edge and the crowd, the more spectacular, the better for business. And mostly on old machines, on red Indian Scouts, American police motorbikes from 1928.
In 2018, Jagath Perera swapped his petrol engine for an e-mountainbike, albeit an extreme one: the M1 Spitzing R. The Spitzing is equipped with the TQ HPR 120, delivers 850 watts of maximum power and supports the rider up to a maximum speed of 75 km/h in the R-Pedelec version. Perera's fellow rider Benno had borrowed the bike from a friend who is a developer at electric motor manufacturer TQ. Despite the unfamiliar conditions, such as pedalling while riding and the narrower tyres, Perera mastered the challenge and rode 109 kilometres on Pitt's Wall of Death at the Munich Wies'n 2018 without an accident.
And what about the question of whether Richard Gasperotti or Jagath Perera is the first e-biker on the Wall of Death? Gasperotti managed it with a conventional pedelec, which only provides assistance up to 25 km/h. This does help him to accelerate up the vertical wall. However, he says he needs a top speed of around 35 km/h so that the centrifugal force prevents him from falling. That would certainly have been a bigger challenge for Jagath Perera too. With the super-fast power pedelec, on the other hand, Jagath quickly got to grips with the bike: "He hadn't tried out the R-Pedelec before," he said with a shrug. "We celebrated the premiere live at the Oktoberfest."
5 questions for Richard Gasperotti
1 - How did YOU come up with the idea of riding an E-MTB on the Wall of Death?
That was a childhood dream. The Wall of Death fascinated me even as a little boy. And when I saw the circus troupe at a performance in Prague, I approached them. They were immediately enthusiastic about the idea.
2 - One of the main difficulties was switching from the flat to the vertical wall. How does that feel?
You have to get involved and dare to lie really straight, otherwise it won't work, otherwise you'll fall or slip. It takes an enormous amount of effort. It's a completely different feeling of space, and at the same time you have to exert yourself physically to resist the centrifugal force.
3 - What other difficulties did you encounter?
You have to maintain a speed of 35 km/h. The motor helps you accelerate from level to vertical, but then you have to pedal the 35 km/h yourself. In addition, the wood of the walls was extremely slippery and smooth like glass. The biggest problem, however, was visual perception. The spatial orientation is completely different. After a few rides, you feel like you've had ten beers.
4 - Does the lower weight of the e-bike compared to the motorbike help?
No, on the contrary, the narrow tyres and the lower mass of the E-MTB - compared to the motorbike - mean that grip is much poorer. In addition, it is of course easy to maintain speed on a motorbike.
5 - Were you afraid?
At least I knew that the slightest mistake would hurt. And that's what happened. I was riding at medium height and wanted to pull further up to the edge, where the spectators would actually be standing. My bike slipped and I fell from a height of three metres straight onto my back. It took me minutes to get my breath back. Then I counted my vertebrae and ribs. Thanks to my protector, they were all still where they should be.
Josh Welz
Editor-in-Chief
