American Motorcycle Heritage Trail
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Description
This trail is a work in progress... more entries will be added soon
1. Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum
Home to the world’s best motorcycle collection, the museum now has over 1200 vintage and modern motorcycles and racecars and the largest collection of Lotus cars as well as other significant makes. The collection is the largest of its kind in the world. There are approximately 600 of the 1200 motorcycles on display at any given time. These bikes range from 1902 to current-year production. The museum displays common street bikes as well as rare one-off Gran Prix race machinery.
2. Evel Knievel Museum
Located next to a historic building on the former Kansas State Fair complex, this museum is home to the world's largest collection of historic memorabilia, jump bikes, and performance leathers of daredevil Evel Knievel. The museum offers interactive exhibits where one can feel what it was like to fly through the air on his motorcycle, jumping over Greyhound buses, sharks, or seemingly whatever else he could dream up. The museum was built in 2016 by the adjacent motorcycle dealership's owner, Mike Patterson.
3. Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame
The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the culture and history of motorcycling. To this end, the museum collects motorcycles and memorabilia, and honors the individuals in the hall of fame who have made an a positive impact in the motorcycling community. Visitors to the museum will see 85 vintage motorcycles on display, some of which are very rare, as well as art, photographs, patches, and a variety of other motorcycle-related items. Notable motorcycles include the 1982 Harley Davidson FXR Super Glide 2, the 1912 "Flying Merkel", a 1922 ACE Inline 4, and Cabana Dan's Triple Lindy. The museum also the story of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which occurs every year in August.
4. National Motorcyle Museum
Established in 1898, the National Motorcyle Museum celebrates the history of motorcycling. It is located next to Highway 151 and features an impressive array of over 500 motorcycles on display from the United States, Japan, England and Europe. The museum also includes numerous photographs, memorabilia, apparel, movie posters, advertising art, period accessories and parts, and motorcycle toys. There is also a collection of vintage bicycles and a seven-cylinder 1914 Gnome-Omega Rotary engined airplane, which is believed to be the oldest airplane in United States in its original condition.
5. Harley-Davidson Museum
This museum offers exhibits that share the history of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company and the growth and evolution of motorcycle culture in America and around the world. While the museum opened in 2008, the company dates back to 1903 when William Harley and Arthur Davidson began building and selling motorcycles out of a shed and small machine shop in Milwaukee. One of only two American motorcycle companies to survive the Great Depression, the company grew in the second half of the 20th century and became one of the most iconic American businesses by popularizing motorcycles and motorcycle culture around the globe. The museum includes hundreds of historic motorcycles and thousands of artifacts related to the history of the company and the culture of motorcycle life that is deeply connected to Harley-Davidson. The museum is divided into several thematic exhibits that include engines, gas tanks, and items related to motorcycles and popular culture.
6. America on Wheels Museum
America has catered a love affair with automobiles since the turn of the 20th century, and the American on Wheels Museum captures this vibrant enthusiasm for cars, trucks, and motorcycles. In essence, America on Wheels celebrates the rich history of transportation in the United States, and it stands as a community treasure that collects and preserves over 75 cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bikes. Including a Mack Truck collection, unique 1920s pickup trucks, and several biannual rotating exhibits that focus on different facets of automobile history, the 43,000-square-foot museum tells the story of automobiles from the carriage days to the future of transportation. Furthermore, each exhibit in this museum seeks to bring the displayed vehicles to life through time-period mannequins and scenes, all of which transport visitors in a variety of different locales and decades in Americana history.
7. Motorcyclepedia Museum
Founded in 2011, the Motorcyclepedia Museum, located in Newburgh, New York, contains 500 motorcycles with the earliest dating to 1897. Brands include Harley Davidson and Indian Time Line, and the museum also features choppers (custom motorcycles) built in the 1960s-70s as well as police and military motorcycles. The museum also features three motordromes, which are large round wooden structures in which a performer rides a motorcycle. The Indian Time Line collection is the largest of its kind in the world, featuring bikes from 1901-1953. One of the police motorcycles was in President John F. Kennedy's motorcade in Dallas when he was assassinated.
8. Indian Motorcycle Factory and Winchester Square Historic District
For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Springfield was known as "the city of firsts." Industry was an important part of the city's economy, and Springfield produced numerous "firsts"--the first gasoline-powered automobile and the first motorized fire engine, to name just two. It was also in Springfield that the Indian Motorcycle was created, its developers becoming the first successful motorcycle manufacturers in the United States. The massive Indian Motorcycle was located in what is now the Winchester Square Historic District, home to much of Springfield's industry. The district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
