England's National Motorcycle Museum

[lionserpent]

Coddswaddle and I were in England a couple of weeks ago. While we were there, we made it a point to stop by the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. They have a collection of some of the finest motorcycles ever produced in England. I won't clutter this post with too much commentary. There are simply too many pictures. I'd rather let the bikes speak for themselves.

Attn Moike: I have pictures of historical sidecar race rigs in here too!

 

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The museum has everything from ultra modern sportbikes to some of the earliest bikes ever produced.

 

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The bikes were packed in so close that it was hard to get clean shots.

 

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Of course, there were a ton of Triumphs, but there were also some real curiosities. There was also some lovely detailing on some of the bikes.

 

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You'll see some burnt bikes in this series of photos. Three of the five buildings of the museum burnt down which resulted in the loss of many priceless bikes. They rebuilt the museum and restored the bikes that they could. It hurt to see those burnt bikes!

One bike that I wish that I had was this military rig with the machine gun. The guy who rides this would be through rush hour traffic in a snap!

 

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This series includes a bike made completely out of wood called "The Plank." It fires up and runs. They claim that it's the only British bike that never leaks oil!

 

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The museum is sprawling, and they have so many bikes packed into the buildings that it is difficult at times to make your way through the visual clutter.

Interestingly, most of these bikes did have puddles of oil underneath them. I guess the old joke about British bikes is true after all!

 

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Here are some old oddities including one of the world's first scooters.

 

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The museum's walls were covered in beautiful old racing photos!

 

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The bikes ranged from the primitive to the elegant.

 

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The golden bike here is the 1939 1000cc Brough Superior "Golden Dream." It's truly a work of art!

 

[OldMadBrit]

Yes its pretty amazing.

I was back in the UK on business last year and made a point of visiting it. I brought back tons of pictures including one of a Panther just like the one my Dad had when I was a kid and the James that nearly killed his brother.

 

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There were several bikes from the war. Notice the picture of the bikes charging out of the transport during WWII!

 

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The Vincent Black Shadow. Must. Have!

 

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The scooter is a Triumph Tigress. It was Triumph's abortive attempt to enter the scooter market.

 

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This series contains pictures of the Hogslayer, the Norton drag bike that broke Harley Davidson's hold on drag racing.

 

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Yes, that's a jet engine!

 

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The bikes of Paul Smart and John McGuinness!

 

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And the final set of pictures. I hope that you've all enjoyed this post. Be sure to check out the museum if you're ever in England. It's well worth the trip!