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CVO Social => Other Topics => Topic started by: skreminegul07 on May 17, 2008, 09:29:19 AM
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This has probably been discussed before, but I just watched (twice) that great movie. An amazing man and an amazing bike. Watching someone working in a shed casting their own pistons and then riding a 50 year old bike to set a world record is totally unbelievable (wicked pissa). Cutting the tread off a tire to make slicks was the best part, until he put his heart pill in the gas tank!
Then fast forward to the new millenium and a multi billion dollar company can't build a decent reliable motor using latest technology, materials, engineers.
I'd ride Burt's bike.
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yep, saw it again last nite on satellite. makes me cry, then jump up and cheer. specially when the youngun has been pissin on the lemon tree for his old bro!!
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Definitely, a well told event and inspiration.
It's too bad some American motorcycle companies couldn't out do the event. I won't mention who.
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Bert was an inspiration to many people! :drink:
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Inspiration! I'll say! All he wanted to do was to be free to ride his machine...! ;)
Best line of the whole movie was after seeing the Dr. who put him on the Nitro Pills after his heart attack, she told him, "And unfortunately, you won't be racing motorcyles anymore." And his response (and I couldn't have said it better my self-well I have, but they don't care for my wording on this site-my wording-"you got a better chance of seeing...") "The hell I won't!" :huepfenjump3: :huepfenjump3: :huepfenjump3:
Hoist! 8)
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Loved it too!
Check out this web site. Local co. I bought three bikes from there... http://bertsbikes.com/
hmmm makes no reference to New Zealand?
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Great movie...
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Don't believe there's a chance in hell for another Bert is there
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I loved the movie too. He lived for a quite long time afterwards and was able to return to the salt lake to shatter more records. :drink:
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This was in an earlier thread, look at the links at the top, describes the bike and Burt's life, this guy was great! I think his shelf was great, "Sacrifices to the gods of speed".
http://www.indianmotorbikes.com/features/munro/movie.htm
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This was in an earlier thread, look at the links at the top, describes the bike and Burt's life, this guy was great! I think his shelf was great, "Sacrifices to the gods of speed".
http://www.indianmotorbikes.com/features/munro/movie.htm
Awesome link(s) Craig! Thanks man! :2vrolijk_21:
Hoist! 8)
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Watched the movie a couple times. I didn't get the gist of what he did for money
B B
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Watched the movie a couple times. I didn't get the gist of what he did for money
B B
He was retired, getting a pension, can't remember that he did.
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Couldn't find out what he did for a living but this was a good article highlighting his life...
Ed
Part 1
Burt Munro
New Zealander Burt Munro was a motorcycle land-speed record-holder of the 1960s. One of his dreams was to run his homebuilt 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle, dubbed the Munro Special, on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. He saved for years in spite of limited means to make the trip to America. He finally came over on a shoestring budget in 1962. Munro was 63 at the time with a bad heart, yet he still managed to overcome numerous obstacles to set world records, even as a muffler was burning the flesh on his leg. In 1967, Munro coaxed his beloved streamlined Indian to 183.58 mph. That set a record in the category of "streamlined motorcycles under 1,000cc." To qualify, he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian.
"The World’s Fastest Indian"
Munro's inspirational story was made into the movie "The World’s Fastest Indian" in 2005. The movie, starring Anthony Hopkins and directed by Roger Donaldson, was met with favorable reviews. Many in the motorcycling community called "The World’s Fastest Indian" the best motorcycle movie since the legendary documentary "On Any Sunday" made in the early 1970s.
The early years
Munro was born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1899. He began riding motorcycles at the age of 15. His first bike was a British-built Clyno. He sold the Clyno to a blacksmith in 1920 and bought the Indian Scout, which he would continuously modify for the rest of his life. He later bought a 1936 Velocette, which he also modified and raced.
In his mid-20s, Munro began competing in various forms of motorcycle racing in Australia. He rode in hillclimbs, trials, road racing, drag racing, flat track and early scrambles events. In other words, if there was a competition on two wheels, Munro probably tried it. He also participated in economy runs and once recorded 116 miles per gallon in one of the runs.
In the mid-1940s, Munro and his wife divorced. He wanted to build a house with low ceilings to combat the New Zealand summer heat, but it was against local building codes. Instead, he got around the codes by building a low garage. It served as both his workshop and living quarters.
Dedication to motorcycles
Munro quit working in the late 1940s so he could devote his time fully to improving his Indian and Velocette racing bikes. During this period, he honed his skills at designing his own parts for the bike. Munro found unique sources for raw materials. As an example, he once carved out rods for his Indian using a Ford truck axle. It took him five months, but the rods lasted over 20 years, through countless high-speed runs. He experimented with a variety of metals by trial and error, once melting down old gas pipeline and combining it with other melted metals to cast pistons for his bike. He converted his Indian to overhead valves from sidevalve. He made his own cams, often filing them by hand. From wheels, to engine parts, to the streamliner's shell, Munro custom made just about every part of his bikes. It didn't take long for the Munro Special to have very little of the original Indian Scout left.
Munro's dedication to his motorcycles was enormous. For years, he worked 16 hours per day in the shed. In later life he backed off a bit and was working just 70-hour weeks. While many of his neighbors viewed him as somewhat eccentric, he did not live the life of a hermit. Munro was a member of a motorcycle club and attended many club events and had a lot of friends whom he helped and who in turn helped him in his racing endeavors.
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Part 2
Land speed record attempts
Starting in the 1940s, Munro earned a number of New Zealand speed records. His first record was the New Zealand open road record set in 1940 at a speed of 120.8 mph. That record held for 12 years. He earned the New Zealand beach record of 132.38 mph in 1957 at the annual Canterbury Speed Trials.
By the late 1950s, Munro's bikes were getting so fast that he was running out of room to run them on New Zealand's speed courses. He considered trying to run on some of Australia’s dry lakes, but in 1957 after visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, his goal became to compete on the flat and vast expanse of Bonneville's salt bed.
The 1962 trip to Bonneville
With his savings and additional funds from motorcycling friends in New Zealand, Munro finally made the trip to America in 1962 aboard a rusting cargo ship. In order to pay for his ocean crossing, Munro worked as the ship’s cook. Once in the U.S., Munro bought a dilapidated Nash station wagon for $90 in Los Angeles to haul the Munro Special to Bonneville.
Munro arrived at Bonneville ready to make his runs only to be told he was not pre-entered so he wouldn’t be allowed to compete. At home in New Zealand, riders simply showed up, signed up and raced. Munro's American friends, among them Rollie Free and Marty Dickerson, both of them long-time, well-respected members of the Land Speed Record fraternity, talked officials into letting Munro make his runs. Tech officials looked the other way, ignoring many of Munro's unorthodox means of putting his ancient Indian together.
In his inaugural run at the Salt Flats, Munro set a world record of 288 km/h (178.97 mph) with his engine configured with 850cc of displacement. Munro continued to compete at Bonneville through 1967, when he 68 years old. He survived a crash at top speed in 1967.
In a New Zealand motorcycle magazine, Burt was quoted as saying, "At the Salt in 1967 we were going like a bomb. Then she got the wobbles just over half way through the run. To slow her down I sat up. The wind tore my goggles off and the blast forced my eyeballs back into my head - couldn't see a thing. We were so far off the black line that we missed a steel marker stake by inches. I put her down - a few scratches all round but nothing much else."
Later years
In 1975, Munro’s failing health cost him his competition license. In spite of this, he still managed to make a few clandestine runs on his beloved Indian and Velocette. Doctors said Munro’s lifetime of heavy crashes caused damage to his heart. In January of 1978, Munro had returned from his daily walk when his heart finally gave out.
During his life, Munro’s accomplishments were little known outside a select group of motorcycle enthusiasts. With the release of "The World’s Fastest Indian" in 2005, Munro suddenly became a cult hero in New Zealand. There, the movie became the biggest domestically produced film ever produced.
Munro had a son and three daughters. His son, John, said that Munro would have shrugged his shoulders and smiled at the popularity he obtained after his passing.
"I'm sure he would have never believed the popularity the movie gave him," said John Munro. "I think he would have been quietly pleased at being able to share his life with millions of people."
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My second favorite movie :2vrolijk_21:.....even have it on my I pod so I can watch it on the plane
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My second favorite movie :2vrolijk_21:.....even have it on my I pod so I can watch it on the plane
What's your #1 ?
Finding Nemo ? :D
B B
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What's your #1 ?
Finding Nemo ? :D
B B
MIDWAY....azzho....Big B :2vrolijk_21:
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Munro is an inspiring man. He had goals that he set for himself and was not going to let the little things in life stop him from accomplishing them.
I believe him to be a real Role Model....
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Munro is an inspiring man. He had goals that he set for himself and was not going to let the little things in life stop him from accomplishing them.
I believe him to be a real Role Model....
In what fashion.......motorcycles or being a ladies MAN :2vrolijk_21: :coolblue:
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In what fashion.......motorcycles or being a ladies MAN :2vrolijk_21: :coolblue:
harr harr.....
as in if more kids looked up to him, we would have less shooting in schools.....
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In what fashion.......motorcycles or being a ladies MAN :2vrolijk_21: :coolblue:
but come to think of it his motorsickle was purdeeeeeeee........
never saw a picture of the real man, just anthony hopkins playing him....
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Sorry for the ignorance...what is the name of the movie to watch it? :o
thanks
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Sorry for the ignorance...what is the name of the movie to watch it? :o
thanks
check this out mi amigo! http://www.worldsfastestindian.com/
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check this out mi amigo! http://www.worldsfastestindian.com/
Thanks mi amigo....I will get it soon......
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Awesome movie...I love it! :2vrolijk_21:
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"YEP US KIWIS CAN FLY" We have a week rally in his home town every year with beach racing, partying and just plain old kiwi fun time get together. :orange:
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Sounds like fun, kinda like Daytona! :2vrolijk_21:
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I guess but a hell of a lot smaller, we only have a pop of 6 mill in the whole country. We do have more Harley's on the road per head than any where in the world I've been told.
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Loved the movie, watched it in New Zealand last year while travelling there.
Got these pics of one of the cars used in the movie while there at a museum not far from where I stayed.
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The hood was autographed by Anthony Hopkins and Roger Donaldson from the movie.
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great movie, great story. It's people like Burt that make the world go round!