As we reported earlier this week, Triumph Motorcycles has partnered with the Bond franchise for their latest thriller, No Time To Die, supplying not only Scrambler 1200 XE models, but also Tiger 900s, the all-new, mid-weight model that replaces the Tiger 800 range for 2020.

The newly released movie trailer promises the high-adrenaline action we’ve come to expect from the franchise with plenty of stunts and jumps for motorcycle fans. One of the scenes that has grabbed attention is the jaw-dropping motorcycle jump using an arch as a ramp. When you watch the trailer, you fully accept that Bond is sailing off the top of the massive stone arch and over a wall in ancient Matera, Italy, on the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE we’d just seen him mount seconds before.

Intellectually, however, you’d probably assume the impossible-seeming jump was produced in a computer lab. 

Well, it turns out the only element of the scene that was computer-generated is the stone arch itself, which in reality was a steep ramp used to launch four-time enduro champion, Paul “Fast Eddie” Edmondson, rightly a Brit, over the wall in realtime. 

Behind-the-scenes clips shot by locals and crew members show Edmondson doing some practice leaps ahead of the actual takes where he would need to land just feet away from dozens of unsuspecting and also very real processioners. Some angles show him clearing the edge of the actual stone wall by seeming inches. A spotter is shown during the practice takes, though you wonder how much good he’d do if things went awry. 

Amazingly, Edmondson appears in complete control at all times, making the tricky jump look effortless, as of course it would be for beloved sport suit-clad James Bond. 

We also learn in the behind-the-scenes footage that what appears at a distance to be a Triumph Scrambler leaping from the arch is actually a dirt bike dressed to look the part. Totally fair, considering the 1200 XE that stars in No Time To Die weighs in at nearly 500 lbs. 

Watching these gripping footage come to life you cannot help being awed by the bravado and physical genius of the stunt crew and moto-camera pilots on No Time To Die. 

This goes to prove not every mind-blowing sequence in today’s action films is generated with the aid of computers. At least in this new Bond film, the time-honored spy chase scenes seem to remain the work of flesh-and-blood heroism.

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.