John Britten documentary

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wavey · #1 Post by **wavey** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:33 am

I'm sure you all remember the late great bike designer John Britten, well I've just come across this fantastic New Zealand documentary about him designing THAT BIKE.
It was made in 1993, just 2 years before his tragic death from skin cancer in '95.
He was certainly a 'special one'.
Enjoy

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/britten ... onary-1993

Dave

Aladinsaneuk · #2 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:29 am

awesome find - was just reading about him the other day - thanks

FlyingKiwi · #3 Post by **FlyingKiwi** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:23 am

I have had the pleasure of seeing 3 Brittens racing together at their (and my) home circuit in Christchurch, NZ.
Also got the tee shirt

joecrx · #4 Post by **joecrx** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:18 am

exalent ,

now how can i burn that on to cd ?

Shebee · #5 Post by **Shebee** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:19 pm

Good find...

I have a copy of the video

http://www.britten.co.nz/shop/video.html

and it is amazing !

Falcomille · #6 Post by **Falcomille** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:20 pm

Nice article in this months Bike about John Britten.

wavey · #7 Post by **wavey** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:18 pm

I only found out about the Bike article this morning so I've not read it yet, the link I found was from a thread on advrider.com, I thought it might inspire some of the modders on here.
One of the amazing things about him is that he built the bike from the ground up without the help of ebay. I mean, how can you do anything to a bike without ebay? I don't get it.

Dave

Aladinsaneuk · #8 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:27 pm

i also read the bike mag :)

and when you think about the world's fastest indian then it must be a kiwi thing

Renevator · #9 Post by **Renevator** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:58 pm

Dave - you're a star, thanks reminding us about him & for posting that.

In a world currently dominated by greedy, cheating, self serving, bankers, it's an absolute JOY to see a different kind of greedy, cheating (in his own words), self serving absolute genius ! I'm soooo in awe of all his talent, and what a wonderfully understanding wife. The man had it all, but what a tragedy that cancer got him so young.
Brilliant.................absolutely brilliant..........thanks again Dave.

Rene

Falco9 · #10 Post by **Falco9** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:12 pm

The guy was a 100% superstar.....such vision and engineering prowess. His bikes were (and are) a revelation. One of his bikes was on display at the TT centenary celebrations at Ramsey in 2007.

The level of detail and finish was superb, I'd have love to have heard it running

F9

Samray · #11 Post by **Samray** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:12 pm

Inspirational stuff.

#12 Post by **mangocrazy** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:19 pm

I was at the TT in 93 or 94 when the Britten raced there (can't remember which year it was) and it was absolutely mental. Sounded completely different to anything else and was the undoubted star of the show. Terrible shame that John was taken so young, but my God didn't he pack a lot into his short life.

Falcomille · #13 Post by **Falcomille** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:58 pm

He apparently turned his own limestone columns on a home-made stone lathe. And made his own autoclave for baking carbon composites. Quite a boy eh!

Shebee · #14 Post by **Shebee** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:23 pm

The video shows him casting the crank cases in his wife's pottery kiln and quenching it with water from the pool also the turning of those colums.

It also has footage of the Britten at it's first Daytona outing - pulling a huge wheelie along side the leading Duc

Amazing guy and a great loss to bike engineering.

Pierre · #15 Post by **Pierre** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:48 pm

I have the original documentry converted onto dvd but I couldnt copy it legaly i think? PM me if you think its ok to give away unavailable stuff for the price of postage