Burt's Bikes...

Finally finished the two reports I'd contracted for one of the "alphabet agencies" (Odd Jobs 6/14/18), so am back to wasting time on the internet. One article I ran across is about Burt Munro. For those who don't know, he was a New Zealand motorcycle builder and racer who set land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats when he was close to 70, using a much modified 1920 Indian Sport Scout.

 Burt Munro at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

There was a movie made of his life, "The World's Fastest Indian". While the bike scenes were great, the rest of the movie was well, not so much. One interesting thing, for me at least, was that they made two replicas of his streamliner for the movie. One, for close ups of the bike,  had a replica of the 1920 Indian motor in it; the other, for the speed runs at the salt flats, used a modified Ducati motor.

One of the replica streamliners used for the movie "The World's Fastest Indian."

But the most interesting part of the article is that Polaris Industries, who builds the latest version of the Indian motorcycle, are now sponsoring a Bonneville speed record bike using their current engine. Read about here: http://www.thedrive.com/motorcycles/22592/lee-munro-will-attempt-200-mph-on-the-spirit-of-munro-indian-scout-at-bonneville-speed-week

The bike that is being run for the Speed Week trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats .