I’ve been thinking lately about motorcycle museums, ever since it was brought back to my attention that there is one such place in downtown Denver that I have never been to. So I thought it might be interesting to put together a list of all the motorcycle museums around the country.

A quick Google search showed me that there are one heck of a lot of these museums. Not all of these are specifically motorcycle museums; some are transportation museums that naturally include motorcycles. After pooling lists from various websites, removing duplicates, and visiting numerous sites to see if some questionable ones should be included, I came up with 78 of them. I’m sure if I did a more thorough search I could uncover a few more.

Concluding that I didn’t want to just post a huge list here, I whittled it down to only those in Colorado and the adjoining states. That’s essentially those you can get to in a day’s ride. I also included South Dakota in the list because the Rapid City/Sturgis area is also within a day’s ride and they have several. Then it turned out that while some of these states are close, the museums themselves are at the far end. Oh well.

So here’s what I came up with, and the way I figure it, you may not want to make the trip just to see these places but if you’re on the road anyway, and going near any of these, you might plan to make a stop. Rather than add a world of details on admission fees and hours of operation, I’ll just provide the links and if you’re interested I’d suggest you go to their sites for that info.

Colorado - 4

The Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame is in Colorado Springs, sitting right in front of Pikes Peak Harley-Davidson, at 5865 N. Nevada Ave. I’ve been to this one a couple times and it’s a very interesting stop. Jerry Manka is the curator and he’s a character. You definitely want to talk with Jerry while you’re there. Indians and Harleys dominate but there are a variety of other bikes as well.

Vintage Motos, at 2762 Walnut in Denver, is the one I haven’t been to yet. Their site says they have more than “190 Two Wheeled Wonders for Your Viewing Enjoyment!” They ask that you call ahead just to make sure someone is there when you arrive. The phone is 303-547-7389.

The Forney Transportation Museum at 4303 Brighton Blvd. is one of those I mentioned. The last time I visited the Forney Museum was at least 25 years ago, and they have moved since then, so I don’t know what they have but their site does say motorcycles.

Then there’s the Mathews Collection, which is the iffiest of them all. Located at 5889 Lamar Street in Arvada, their website shows a lot of really hot, fast cars, but just two motorcycles. If you like hot cars you may want to go to this place for the cars, with any bikes being icing on the cake.

Arizona - 1

The Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson Museum, in Phoenix, is just what the name implies. It’s located in the Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson dealership, at 13850 North Cave Creek Road.

Nebraska - 1

There’s no website for Chevyland U.S.A. - Auto and Cycle Museum, but it’s located in the town of Elm Creek. Elm Creek is just north of I-80, a little west of Kearney. With no website it’s hard to find out much about it.

Kansas - 3

Yesterdays Museum is located in the lower level of the Topeka Harley-Davidson dealership. Like the Buddy Stubbs museum, it showcases Harleys. It’s located at 2047 SW Topeka Blvd.

The Kansas Motorcycle Museum is home to more than 100 vintage and rare motorcycles of all various makes and models. It is also one of two motorcycle museums in the small town of Marquette, in south-central Kansas. Go figure. This museum was originally built as a tribute to local racing great Stan Engdahl and has a lot of posters, photos, and memorabilia related to him. It’s located at 120 North Washington in Marquette.

Just one block south of there is Steve’s British Motorcycle Museum. This museum exhibits more than 40 British, BSA, and Triumph motorcycles and other memorabilia.

South Dakota - 4

The Freeman Heritage Hall Museum is located in Freeman, which is a little west of Sioux Falls. This is another that does not specialize in motorcycles but the website says they do have some. They’re located at 748 S. Main Street in Freeman.

Motion Unlimited Museum is in Rapid City, at 6180 S. Hwy 79. They feature 100 motorcycles on display along with memorabilia, wall murals, gas pumps, and gas station memorabilia. Their special claim to fame is a Webley Vickers, which is said to be the only one in existence.

Pioneer Auto Show is a giant tourist attraction just off of I-90 featuring cars, motorcycles, tractors, “prairie town”, and rocks. They have Elvis’s old Harley. Murdo, SD, is the locale. That’s right on I-90 in about the middle of the state.

Not surprisingly, Sturgis is home to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. Their website lists more than 100 bikes on display, plus a lot of memorabilia related to the Sturgis rally. You’ll find the museum at 999 Main Street in Sturgis.

Oklahoma - 1

The Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum is in the town of Miami, in the far northeastern corner of the state. This place features more than 40 vintage bikes, including “The World Famous Steve McQueen Collection, Evel Knievel Memorabilia, 1950’s style gas station, replica board track, one of the largest vintage motorcycle photo collections in the world, a huge one of a kind vintage helmet wall, and much more……” The museum is at 128 S. Main in Miami.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Basket-case motorcycle restoration: Tear-down and parts replacement

Biker Quote for Today

From the artistic viewpoint, it (the motorcycle) is three-dimensional: a composition of many elements of form, design, and aesthetics, always reflecting the time in which it is conceived and produced. — Richard Gaul

The coolest thing about building a career as a motorcycle journalist is getting to go to a lot of terrific events. I’ll be heading out on Thursday to cover the 4th annual Bonneville Vintage GP and Concours, in Tooele, UT, Sept. 4-6. Of course I’ll be telling you all about it.

So what exactly is this event? I’m still learning about it myself but I’ll tell you what I think I’ve figured out so far. It seems to be in essentially three parts, vintage motorcycle racing, sidecar racing, and a vintage motorcycle show.

The American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) is sponsoring the race events. Motorcycle Classics magazine is sponsoring the show.

There will be a two-stage “Battle of the CB-160s,” featuring two-time World Superbike Champion Doug Polen. Polen also offers a racing school on Friday. Saturday and Sunday, the two main days, will both feature a “Vintage and Legend Bikes Parade Laps” event, after which the day’s racing begins. The vintage bike show is on Saturday.

The location for all this will be Miller Motorsports Park, just outside of Tooele. That means it’s about 30 miles from downtown Salt Lake City. The venue is billed as “the newest world class racetrack - the largest in North America - that will very soon . . . also be legendary.”

Beyond that, I can’t tell you much - yet. Stay tuned.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Demo riding the Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Ultra Classic

Biker Quote for Today

My theory, you only get one chance, go full fucking throttle, all the way, all the time.

I picked up a flyer yesterday as I was dropping my Kawi Concours off at Mountain Thunder Motorsports for new tires. It tells me there will be a vintage motorcycle swap meet on Sunday, July 26, 2009.

Vintage Indian motorcycles

That’s cool. It’s free to buyers (or lookers) and I’m guessing there will be some interesting bikes to check out. Who knows, someone may even be selling that elusive left side panel I lost from my 1980 CB750 Custom all those years ago.

The thing starts at 8 a.m. and the flyer doesn’t give an actual address, just directions on how to get there: Take I-70 to the Ward Road exit, go north to 48th Ave. (the north service road), and go east on that to Van Gordon. Presumably you’ll recognize it when you get there.

The event is being put on by Legends Motorcycles, which is a bit of a story in itself. I used to live just off Federal Boulevard, up north, and Legends was a couple blocks south of me. It was a convenient place for me to take my CB in for work, and they were very accommodating. I haven’t lived up that way for 13 years now, however.

Recently I was collecting information for an article I was writing and figured I’d call them with some questions. Turns out, they don’t work on bikes at all anymore, they are strictly an online parts company for older models. And apparently they’ve moved now. I guess you have to adapt or die. Glad they were able to adapt.

So, sounds like fun, but it just occurred to me I won’t be able to go. The OFMC is leaving two days before that on our summer week on the road. Dang. Bad timing. Oh well, that shouldn’t stop you.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
Motorcycle noise testing simplified, but will governments hear?

Biker Quote for Today

This one’s interesting because the crankshaft is the front axle, and the motor rotates around it. It’s interesting because if you stop, it stalls. So it says in the manual, when you come to a red light, you should “orbit,” and it shows someone riding around in circles.–Jay Leno on his 1920s Mergola

Have you ever seen a 1957 Aermacchi Chimera? How about a 1953 Moto Guzzi Galleto? Or a 1956 Moto Rumi Formichino Little Ant? Have you ever heard of those bikes?

If you want to see some cool motorcycles and get out of the heat of summer, I strongly recommend hitting the Arvada Center for their Summer of Cycles exhibit.

Rather than talk about them I’ll just show you some pictures. The exhibit runs through September 7, it’s free, and the Arvada Center is open 9-6 M-F, 9-5 Saturday, and 1-5 Sunday.

This next one is the 1956 Moto Rumi I mentioned above.

Here’s the 1957 Aermacchi Chimera (Dream)

This one is a 1958 Cushman Eagle.

There are a lot of others, too, including a 1998 Boss Hoss with a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet engine, 1999 Harley-Davidson MT500 built for the British military, and a 2006 Harley-Davidson VRXSE Screamin’ Eagel Destroyer, which is set up for drag-racing.

All in all, a pretty good show. Definitely worth more than the admission!

Biker Quote for Today

Park the latest Ducati, Harley, Honda, or BMW on a street corner in any city or town in the world and a crowd will gather. — Thomas Krens

I haven’t been over to see this yet, and won’t have a chance for a few more weeks, so rather than waiting I’m going to tell you about it now. That way you’ll probably get there before me and you can tell me about it.

The Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, at 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, is hosting a free exhibit entitled Summer of Cycles: Motorcycles from the Harry Mathews and Jim Dillard Collections. The exhibit runs through Sept. 7.

Here’s the blurb from the Center’s website:

As an unknown author philosophically remarked, “Four wheels move the body; two wheels move the soul.” Most motorcycle enthusiasts would say amen to that. Perhaps no other single object of industrial design better epitomizes 20th and now 21st century fascination with speed and power as well as more abstract notions of freedom (sometimes even rebellion), progress and danger. And as the exhibition further contends, motorcycles are art objects too, the aesthetic sum of technology and innovation, yet typically styled and adorned to communicate individual personality. Arvadan Harry Mathews and Jim Dillard have lent classic cycles from their considerable personal collections for this exhibition.

I’ll go when I get the chance, and then post some pictures and comments. But now you won’t miss it and complain that no one told you it was going on.

Biker Quote for Today

I like the mechanicalness of motorcycles. I have a ZX-14, and it’s a fantastic bike. But the thing is, it doesn’t need me. It’s the vintage stuff I like.–Jay Leno