National Motorcycle Museum

The National Motorcycle Museum stands on an eight-acre site near Bickenhill in Solihull. It holds the world’s largest collection of British motorcycles, with over a thousand machines spanning a century of manufacture. The museum also includes award-winning conference facilities developed in 1985. It lies close to the A45 and M42 motorways, near Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. More than 250,000 visitors come each year to see the displays. The museum began with the collecting efforts of Roy Richards, a construction entrepreneur who started in the 1970s. It opened in October 1984 with 350 motorcycles and is now run by his family under Christine Richards and their sons. Museum Director James Hewing oversees the collection’s curation. A serious fire in 2003 destroyed three exhibition halls and many rare machines. After a £20 million rebuild with a new sprinkler system, the museum reopened in December 2004 with restored exhibits. Visitors find motorcycles from famous makers such as BSA, Triumph and Norton alongside lesser-known brands like Coventry-Eagle and Montgomery. The Brough Superior Golden Dream, a unique 1938 show model, features two pairs of horizontally opposed cylinders. The Wilkinson Luxury Tourer from 1912 represents early luxury touring design with water-cooled engines. The museum’s halls display these machines alongside other historic models and competition trophies. The surroundings include landscaped grounds near major transport links.