Burt Munro picture

[AJR192]

With all the hoo-haw about Burt Munro lately, My uncle's neighbor showed me a wonderful picture he took of Burt and the bike from 1971(?). The bike had no body on it, but did have number plates on the sides. Did he run it without the body too?  Burt isn't wearing a shirt, but his helmet is there and he has his bottom leathers on. They were Green pants, his jacket was not in the picture though. Helmet is just like the on in the movie. Sometimes the older pictures are neater to look at then the newer ones, lets us remember where we came from.

[JackD]

The body, principally the tail was changed a number of times during it's life as he experienced
 some handling problems that were less understood then.
You will recall that in the first shots he was said to be shaving the tires for clearance as they grew.
 That was before the producer learned the real reason was to condition them for High Speed.
 Not everyone has learned those lessons yet but
could do well asking.

[}{ead$hot Zod]

It would be great if you scan it in and post it

[HotRodg57]

In 1971 I had just turned 16, and ran my motocross bike, a Husqvarna 360 on the salt (went 105). I remember my dad (Larry Monreal) introducing me to Burt, he was quite a character. Dad had known him for years. I remember the fairing being off the bike, as he had to remove it for inspection. Burt told me he formed the alumn. fairing with a rawhide mallet, in a sandbox  As I recall  his bike would not pass inspection, and they did not allow him to run it that year. Don't think it ever did again
Rodger

[Dean Los Angeles]

In 1971 Bert ran without the body because he couldn't pass the newer streamliner rules. The fire bottle was required, among other things, that he didn't have.

The pistons were sand cast, as in cast in the sand on the beach. He was a real character.

The valves were open and there were cut-outs in the sheet metal on the seat for adjustment. Since he was litteraly laying on the valve train, my comment at the time was, "Wow, he has a shifting system. When the valves float, they thump him in the chest and he shifts!"

[Freud]

I knew that some part of the engine transmitted energy to his body but I did not remember that it was the valve train. Seeing this foto confirms it had to be the valves.
Burt wanted to go fast so we acquired a bogus time slip and met him at the big end after he ran. The slip had a speed over 200 MPH. At the end of the run I asked him how fast he had gone. He told me within one MPH and so I destroyed the slip. He would have known it was a phony.
Bonneville has had some real characters. Pops Yoshimura and Burt were two of them. He was a crusty old Stud.......

FREUD

[HotRodg57]

Dean, thanks right you are, I had forgotten that part of the story
It was a looong time ago  I had to go back and re-read some old mags. Burt was 72 years old that year! Incredible
Rodger

[JackD]

there is anything to learn from such an old guy on such an old bike about frontal area, cheating the wind,and how too much body shape can create problems ?
I kinda think so.
It is also remarkable that he knew about how tires fail and how to prepare them. No I am not talking about the shoe polish.