Cool! I know people who have seen the original bike ... it's surprisingly small, they say. Burt Munro was such a nonconformist, an original thinker, a loving spirit (so astute of you to point that out), independent and self-reliant, very smart in a mechanical kind of way, and good with his hands. I loved that he engineered and made so many of the parts himself.
I can understand now why the movie makes you get choked up. You sound like a pretty special guy yourself!
I cried when I saw "In the Shadow of the Moon" because on seeing all the wonderful interviews of the men who went there, hearing their experiences through their own eyes, and knowing what they went through, I wept for my country, because we don't have the balls to do it again. These guys were the heroes of my youth, and there are no replacements for the young today. We won't go to the moon again. Mars is a pipe dream. We don't have the drive anymore because it's all been PC'd and dumbed down out of us.
I also cried during UP, TITANIC, BRAVEHEART, and the PASSION. Oh yeah, and years ago when I saw all those ba$tard Democrats stand up and leave Congress, instead of voting for impeachment for the Bent One, even though the evidence was as plain as a scotch in Ted Kennedy's hand.