Motorcycle legend's 'Fastest Indian' bike fetches $71,000

'The Burt Munro, Duncan Meikle Special' bike up for auction - and Munro (inset). Photos / Herald on Sunday, supplied

A motorbike once owned by Invercargill motorcycling legend Burt Munro is to go on display in Auckland after being bought by a businessman last night for $71,000.

The 1936 Duncan Meikle Velocette, marketed by Webb's auctioneers as a piece of history, went for more than twice the $35,000 it was expected to fetch.

Auckland businessman Kevin Harvey said he was not sure how much higher he would have been prepared to go in his quest to ensure the bike stayed in New Zealand.

The life of Munro was "just such a fantastic story" and "it's a beautiful bike", he said.

He intended to put the motorcycle somewhere on permanent display in Auckland's Parnell Village.

Tim Hanna, author of One Good Run - The Legend of Burt Munro, told Radio New Zealand he was taken aback by the amount the motorcycle fetched

"It just goes to show that Burt has made iconagraphic status in this country, he's right up there," he said.

"There's quite a bit of Burt memorabilia around the countryside, it'll be interesting to see if it comes out of the woodwork now."

Munro's story was told in the movie, The World's Fastest Indian, in 2005.

Munro was famous for setting an under-1000cc world record of 183.586mph (295.453km/h), at Bonneville salt flats, Utah, in August 1967.

The record still stands.

Munro was 68 and was riding a 47-year-old machine when he set his last record.

He died in 1978 at the age of 79.

- NZPA