The world's fastest Indian

[eclark5483]

So, I got a first hand look this week at something not many have ever seen. The bike used by Burt Munro on the Bonneville Salt Flats back in the 60's that became the world's fastest Indian motorcycle at 184+mph.

Some of you may have seen the movie starring Anthony Hopkins (honestly, kind of boring), which told the tale of this New Zealander and his Indian.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/

You really don't appreciate his feat until you get a close look at the bike. It leaves you scratching your head wondering how he did it.

Polaris Industries (my employer), acquired the bike a while back and shipped it off to our plant, I am assuming for display in our visitor's center.

I had seen images of it before, and even replica images, but never anything with a close up look of this amazing bike. Since I am now able to get a good look at it, thought I'd snap a few photos and share some of the key things on it that just blow your mind.

The first thing that caught my attention, is the rockers. They were fashioned so that they protruded where the person riding would actually come in contact with them unless properly padded.



And try riding with your rear propped up against the tank!! Ouch!!



And you thought breaking on a Spree at 35-40mph is tough, wow, just check this out, remember, the bike went 184!!



The carb on it, reminds me of a Tillotson... MAYBE IT IS?? I'm not familiar with all the components.



You truly have to see this bike in person. IT'S CRAZY!! It comes up to about my knees, the brakes, shifter, etc are just aligned so strange. Here are some more images (excuse or appreciate the very large size):

[milly]

Nice one, I saw the film many moons ago. How's your daughter doing with the scooter you done for her. I am at my daughters at the moment and my granddaughter was disappointed that I didn't ride up on the new scooter so we could go round the city on it. 😊

[acvw74]

That is absolutely amazing! I always watch that movie when it's on. If I remember correctly...its not that large of a displacement engine...all about staying low and reducing drag.

Thanks for sharing!

[aeroxbud]

Great pictures. That must of been truely hair raising to ride that.

[lordhater]

What a pile of caca,,,goes to show what a good set of bodywork can do,,,most bikes are too "dirty" aerodynamically speaking to get that fast

[humanshield]

I always wondered how fast my 46mph scooter would go if I wrapped an aerodynamic bubble around it...
Probably 60ish given enough flat ground.

When I go from sitting upright to tucking, it's the equivalent to hitting the Nitrous button in a car.
(But, you know..on a MUCH MUCH smaller scale)

[humanshield]

Nov 10, 2017 6:21:23 GMT -5 aeroxbud said:

Great pictures. That must of been truely hair raising to ride that.

184mph is 270 feet PER SECOND

So if you came off that thing at that speed, your behind would slide an tumble for probably 8 or 9 seconds before coming to a stop.

While the distance covered would decrease rapidly as you slowed down, that's a LONG slide/tumble.

Probably over 500 feet before you stopped, maybe more.   Can you imagine sliding and tumbling violently for 500 feet?

[jackrides]

On my 10" wheel TaoTao, tucking seems to introduce front instability. So here's a couple thoughts on raising top speed. At the cost of losing underseat storage, seriously reduce driver seat height. (May not work for aged joints like mine.)
To reduce drag, construct a cape to wrap around the body, not the arms, and then wrap around the lowest part of the trunk, or rack, or tailsection. Safety note: to stay alive, this Must easily detach from the scoot, and cannot tangle in the rear wheel. Velcro tabs perhaps? Should be airtight in front so not to balloon. Including the helmet in this might qualify for a Darwin award.
Now to the subject. The photos are the bomb! Polaris management really has their heads together to preserve and display such a effort of total dedication. I'll give the movie a 10 and note that the depiction of Rollie Free, accurate or not, was exactly as I would have imagined him to be.

[eclark5483]

Here's the one we did a few years back to pay homage to the “Munro Special,”.





It sport's the very bad ass Thunder Stroke 111 V-Twin engine that we put into all the heavyweight bikes, but... a little modified .

More info here: www.cycleworld.com/2013/07/30/indian-motorcycle-spirit-of-munro-land-speed-bike

P.S. I stand corrected.. Burt's top speed was over 200mph!!!

[ThaiGyro]

I have had the pleasure of meeting some top riders in my life. World champions. Never had the opportunity to meet Burt Munro. He would easily top my hero list. Consider the fact that he had no support team...engineers or other. He had no money either. He taught himself to weld, (sort of) and built everything to fit his body. Then he tested, made new parts and tested more.

Someone said it above, aerodynamics. Most people ignore the effects of air. It is a performance killer. The worst area on most vehicles is underneath. Especially pickup or big rig trucks. We studied this quite a bit when my brother owned a trucking company. The drag numbers are mind blowers.

[jbjhillbilly]

That thing is crazy. As for the alignment of the controls, it's just where they could fit, in a lot of circumstamces. And comfort doesn't matter too much considering the ride would only last a couple of minutes. Haptic feedback from the bike was probably worth more to him.