Talk:Burt Munro

Land Speed record?
Burt's name does not appear in the article about land speed records, why? It seems that if he holds any broken/unbroken record, it should be there. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.135.33.182 (talk) 17:16, 31 December 2006 (UTC).
 * That's actually pretty obvious: this is about the absolute LSR, which (except for SoA, IIRC) has only been held by 1 moto, & doesn't deal with class records at all. We'd need a Land speed racing page to cover them all, & maybe that'd end up just a "mother". Or look at this.  TREKphiler   hit me ♠  07:42, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Also wouldn't the New Zealand abbreviation of Albert be Bert rather than Burt, which latter is a very North American spelling?
 * See below about the naming issue... Jo7hs2 (talk) 02:22, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Atheism?
Just curious here. During the course of The World's Fastest Indian, Munro discusses life and makes the comparison of a man's to a blade of grass. He closes by essentially saying that this life is all we've got. I would consider including Munro under the "atheists" category with other notable figures, but for the fact that I'm not sure if he ever expressed such views in real life. The film was largely true to his story, but did take some exceptions (twin brother dying in youth as opposed to a sister at birth, etc). Can anyone confirm or deny, one way or another? Thanks. --AWF

I'm not sure, but in the film, he is portrayed as a believer of God. The evidence is in a deleted scene with Tina, the transvestite he meets at the motel, he states that she shouldn't get surgery because she should keep what God gave her. --Majinvegeta 00:20, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * There are many religions that don't believe in life after death, see afterlife. --rogerd (talk) 00:11, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Burt was my grandmother's cousin. She is deceased now, so I can't verify 100% but her family were very strong Christians, as were the extended family from what I've heard. I would be surprised if he wasn't raised a Christian. Can't comment on whether he practiced or not though. Hope that helps. --AS

Crude copy and paste
It seems this should just be reverted to this stub version that existed prior to the rathr crude copy and paste. Limegreen 21:54, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

I agree, is there any reason why we can't do this? Lisiate 23:12, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

I assume it will happen after the week is up. I presume the week of waiting is on the offchance that the person who posted the copyrighted material has permission and proves such.Limegreen 00:04, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Metric conversion
I would suggest a metric conversion alongside the "61 cubic-inches."


 * That's a good call. 61 cubic inches seems a very arbitrary number, until you realise that it is the same as 1000cc! --Limegreen 21:35, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

16.387064 cubic centimeters is approx. 1 cubic inch & 0.0610237 cubic inches is approx. 1 cubic centimeter.

THEREFORE 61.023744 cubic inches is 1000 cubic centimeters. Hope this helps Jim Jacobs 10:01, 17 April 2006 (UTC)~

As an aside, it would be good to have consistency in the decimal convention used. use either a point to represent the decimal, or use the comma, but not both in the same article... the same sentence even.Pstump (talk) 16:58, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

Artistic license
Having watched the film and read the wikipedia article on Munro, I find that the picture is only loosely based on "the true story" and it is rather a highly dramatized version for commercial audiences.

In particular, he did not achieve the 324Km/h in his first visit to the salt plains, but 5 years later. Nor it seems, did he get to this speed the time he slowed the cycle down by sticking his head up, loosing his goggles and crashing down. In the film they have made a collage of these three events: his first visit, beating the speed record, and loosing his goggles.

In fact, most of it is a nice road movie and a drama of an old man facing a severe heart problem. I was very surprised to find out that he lived another 16 years from the point at which the film ends.

In my opinion, it would be more accurate to say "loosely based on a true story" or "a highly dramatized account of his achievements". Cgonzalezdelhoyo 19:12, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

First of all it's the salt flats not the salt plains, second I thought the movie toned the story down a bit, as apposed to it being sensationalized. I think that the problem is that there is little understanding of just how fast 178 mph is on a motorcycle with a flat head engine. I found the film to be much more true to reality than most docudramas, It has to take place in a couple hours you know.

Burty's Indian was an OHV, not a flathead. It was highly modified from the original. Actually, 178 Is pretty fast on Any 'sickle.68.231.184.217 (talk) 23:42, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Improvements to this article
I think it's time to discuss improvements to this article, because this article quite frankly sucks. It's nothing but a brief description of his life. Any suggestions on how to make it better, longer, more detialed? --Majinvegeta 00:20, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

I would like to see some more information about the actual record attempts.

The movie is confusing on this aspect. The movie purports to show a record being set but it also shows him only making a single direction pass that seems like it would not have satisfied the requirements for a record.

As has been noted he does still hold an official land speed record. It is listed as the 1000CC S-F body type record set in 1967 at 183.586 MPH.

Source: http://www.scta-bni.org/SCTA-NewWeb/Bonneville/BNIrecs_bikes.htm

But what is the S-F body type? It is amazing that a record from 1967 still stands. A casual look at the lists suggests that all other records have been set much more recently. Have other people tried to break his record and failed? Why is this record still around?


 * It's also misleading about the nature of the record, as if going 200mph was some kind of barrier, when Wilhelm Herz (in setting the 1951 mark) made a 200mph pass, on a 499cc NSU. (I suppose 201.851 on a 40yr old Indian was something like a miracle...)  TREKphiler   hit me ♠  07:50, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Photo Caption
On the main page it says, "replica," but the data linked to the photograph indicates that it is the real machine.

I would guess it is one of the two replicas built for the film which are very accurate replicas of Burts original bike. I have seen one of the replicas a couple of times and was very impressed both times. Leaderofearth 11:46, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Name
Shouldn't this article be called "Bert Munro"? "Burt" is very much an american shortening of the name "Albert", while "Bert" is more common in the UK and former British Empire countries. Astronaut (talk) 23:25, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Seems he himself used Burt: http://www.indianmotorbikes.com/features/munro/munro.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Legotech (talk • contribs) 23:38, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah I read that, but indian motorcycles are an american company. I did a google search and "Bert Munro" got 2920 hits and "burt munro" got 668,000 hits but I wonder how many of those hits have an american influence and how many have a UK/NZ influence?  Even though Anthony Hopkins did throw a few americanisms into his performance, I just strikes me as a little odd that a kiwi would abbreviate his name to an american spelling. Do we have some guidance from a relative or someone who knew him?  Astronaut (talk) 00:08, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Good point :) I went ahead and made a "Bert Munro" page with a redirect to Burt...we may still be wrong here, but at least people will be able to find it until we figure this out Legotech (talk) 04:17, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * It really does look like he himself used "Burt" rather than "Bert" despite any regional spelling "rules" this might break. The book on the subject by Tim Hanna uses "Burt", and somehow I doubt you'd write book about somebody and spell their name wrong, although I've seen dumber things happen. Further, the Kiwi Biker Forums reference a "Burt Monroe" racing event and use the "Burt" spelling. http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=84679 And for further proof, he was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame under the name "Burt" rather than the alternative spelling, so I really don't think there is any issue here. http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=381 Jo7hs2 (talk) 02:21, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
 * There's an explaination on the first page of Tim Hanna's book (One Good Run): "Readers will notice that Burt begins life as Bert; this is deliberate, as he only adopted the former spelling after his first journey to America." SmokeySteve (talk) 09:11, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

More detail here: http://www.nzedge.com/legends/burt-munro-worlds-fastest/ "In New Zealand the Southlander was known as Bert for his entire life. Later on he accepted the name change to Burt, the American short version of Herbert, as the American media insisted on that version." BushelCandle (talk) 22:44, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

Picture of Burt?
ANYONE GOT A PICTURE OF THE GREAT MAN?

SEEMS A LITTLE SAD TO HAVE ONLY AN IMAGE OF HIS BIKE.

JUST A THOUGHT. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.166.71.47 (talk) 11:41, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

John: son brother adopted??
This article states he had a son called John, linking to an article saying that John was his adopted brother... Whats true??? Joost 99 (talk) 15:35, 16 August 2010 (UTC)


 * He has a son, Herbert John, who uses the name "John". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Robphil (talk • contribs) 06:01, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
 * That means the John link to John Baldwin Munro is inaccurate, so I am removing it (the link).Moriori (talk) 21:55, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Brother or Sister?
In the Early Life description Wiki mentions that he had a twin sister; however the movie and this more on detailed biography Burt Munro,more detailed biography and photos mentions that he had a twin brother who died in a tragic accident at the age of four from where onward Burt was never afraid.

--Nipun Shedhani (talk) 09:26, 9 February 2011 (UTC)
 * The movie takes certain liberties with history to make a more coherent story; this is one of them. Burt Munro's twin was a stillborn girl. His older brother Hugh was killed in an accident when he was 14½ and Burt would have been about 13½. Cf. the family monument at the Invercargill cemetery: . The on-line birth registration records at do not record any other children of Lily Munro in 1899 (stillbirths were not registered until about 1910). Daveosaurus (talk) 11:18, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

The older brother who was killed 10th October 1912 was registered under the name Ernest William MUNRO, at birth 6 April 1898 [NZBDM Birth 1898/6120; Death 1912/8648], making Burt 12½ when his brother died.Robphil (talk) 06:11, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Challenges?
I read somewhere an Indian scout was 45 cubic inch, and would do 100 MPH out-of-the-box. Not due to power, but extreme lightness. Anyone have a reference to this?68.231.184.217 (talk) 23:46, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * According to the Indian Scout article, the 1920-1927 models had a 37cid engine, and didn't get a 45cid engine until 1928. His was a 1920 model. --rogerd (talk) 00:05, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

The Article mentioned he had a 61 CID engine, hence my confusion. Maybe they meant after his modification, it was.68.231.184.217 (talk) 17:06, 9 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Top speed is mainly a function of drag and horsepower, not weight. Weight affects acceleration, but given enough room, a heavy bike and a light bike with the same power will reach about the same top speed. The heavy one will just accelerate slower. And yes, the later versions of his bikes were drastically modified from stock, in displacement and in many other ways. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 18:47, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Burt's bike
Is Burt's bike in New Zealand? According to Tom Hemsley they may have the chassis mock-up that Munro used to test his engines. Pierce Indian, an Indian parts and service center in San Gabriel, California sponsored Munro and he gave the bike to the Pierce family as a thank you when he retired from racing in the US. The Pierce's eventually sold the bike to a collector named Gordy Clark. Dean Hensley, a racing star of the 1980s bought the bike from Clark in 1986 and restored it. It snapped a connecting rod when it was started so was put on display instead of being repaired. Dean Hensley died in 1992 and his brother Tom took control of his collection. In 2011 the bike was repaired so it could run at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it won first place in the racing motorcycle category. The authenticity of the bike is supported by photographs of it's restoration which were accepted by the Concours d'Elegance who required authentication before the entry would be accepted. Wayne (talk) 14:31, 3 January 2014 (UTC)