UK's National Motorcycle Museum Biggest in World

English Museum Traces History, Heritage of British Motorcycles

Jun 11, 2009

With 850 motorcycles and growing, the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham is England's largest motorcycle museum. The museum also claims to be the world's largest.

The National Motorcycle Museum houses only British-made motorcycles, beginning with the early days when motorcycles were just bicycles with gasoline-engines attached to the frames.

As visitors walk through the museum, they’ll see how motorcycle technology has changed the motorbiking industry over the decades. The early motorcycles didn’t go that fast and often involved pedaling to get off to a start or get up hills. But then, tucked away in a corner, is a motorcycle, the Boost Palouste, Britain’s first thrust-powered motorcycle, which zoomed to more than 183 mph in 1996.

And there’s everything between the decades, from a 1903 Norton Energette, believed to be one of the oldest surviving Nortons in the world, to 21st century racers. There’s one of the first Speedways as dirt bikes were then known in England.

There’s also a 1936 Brough Superior Model SS 100. T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, owned six of this model, and was riding one when he had his fatal accident. There’s also a World War I military motorcycle which carried a machine gun like a sidecar. The machine gun was removed before firing, and placed on a tripod carried by another motorcycle.

Banners Proclaim “Where Legends Live On”

British motorcycles once ruled the world, and are the stuff legends are made of. Banners at the National Motorcycle Museum proclaim it as the site “where legends live on.” However, by the 1960s, British manufacturers were losing their touch, and the Japanese overtook them to become the world’s most popular motorcycles.

The National Motorcycle Museum has seven rooms crammed with motorcycles. In some cases, the bikes are so close together it is difficult to fully appreciate them. Each room specializes in a specific manufacturer, such as Norton or Triumph, with other brands, such as Ariel, Brough or Francis Barnett mixed in.

The National Motorcycle Museum suffered a devastating fire in September 2003, when several hundred motorcycles were destroyed. But the museum was up and running again in December 2004. A corner display in the opening room tells of the devastation.

This first room, which also contains a gift shop, is free. To see the rest of the museum, visitors will need to pay admission of £6.95 (US$10.75) for adults in 2009. Admission for senior citizens and children is £4.95 (US$7.70). There is a licensed restaurant serving snacks and moderately-priced meals on the first floor.

National Motorcycle Museum Is Located in Solihull

The National Motorcycle Museum is located in Solihull, a few miles from Birmingham, UK. To get there from central Birmingham, catch the number 900 bus on Queensway across from the Moor Street train station. The museum is a flag stop, so visitors should ask the bus driver to let them off at this stop. The museum is less than 10 minutes’ walk from the bus stop.

Other motorcycle museums of note in England are the Sammy Miller Museum near Southampton and the London Motorcycle Museum.

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