About 80 miles from my house in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio you will find the American Motorcyclist Association. The "AMA" is the dominant motorcycle organization in the U.S. They work for motorcyclist's rights, monitor legislation and are the primary motorycle racing governing body.
Back in the early 90's the AMA and some its members began working to establish a motorcycle museum. There was not a significant museum at that time. Since then, the Barber family has opened a very large privately owned muesum in Birmingham, Alabama.
The focus of the AMA museum is very much about the history of motorcycles and motorcycling in the U.S. However, this does not mean it only has displays of American Made motorcycles. The museum is not near as big as the British Motorcycle Muesum, but the quality is very nice. Additionally, the displays change and address different eras, manufacturers, events and motorcycle activities from days gone by. The oldest machine there is the Daimler wooden motorcycle built in 1885.
I had the good fortune several years ago to visit with, then AMA president, Ed Youngblood. He gave me a tour of their facility and explained the plans for the museum. They were very restricted on space at that time. It was more of a large "lobby" than it was a museum. Since then the AMA has moved to a very nice facility. It was formally the corporate offices of an Insurance company. It is more of a campus or park setting with a building set aside just for the museum. Just like so many trips, I have put off a visit to their new location as it is so close.
This summer my brother-in-law said he and some other motorcyclists were going to ride up to Columbus to the museum. So at the last minute, I jumped in.
The museum is not a static collection of displays. They change from time to time to follow different themes. One that I missed was "Your First Motorcycle." I think that would have been a great display. During this visit there were a couple of featured displays. One was covering the products and designs of Craig Vetter who designed fairings and tourng accessories for motorcycles in the 70's and 80's. Many a motorcyclist and I have logged miles behind a Vetter fairing. In their day, I think they were the standard.
Also there was a display featuring ""Board Track" racing motorcycles. I always thought Board track racers were a little whacked. After seeing the bikes in person, I know this to be fact!
There is always a display of historic motorcycles and racing motorcycles there also. These also change from time to time. On this trip they had one the motorcycles that made dirt track history.
For years, American dirt track racing had been dominated by Harley-Davidson and British 750c twins. Yamaha had tried to mount an attack using their work horse XS650 as a foundation. It was a logical choice, but never seemed to make the impact they wanted. Yamaha decided to pull out all of the stops. As the rules then only dictated a 750cc limit Yamaha thought they might find the cure in their TZ750 2-stroke road racing engine. They put together a dirt track frame, wedged the 4 cylinder,liquid cooled engine into the frame and handed it over the "King" Kenny Roberts. The rest is legend. The TZ based racer was a rocket down the straights and a wiggling, snarling beast in the corners. Roberts would blast into the lead on the straights and then pitch the 4 cylinder sideways into the soft powder to slow it down. In the end Roberts said, "They don't pay me enough to ride that $#@%^&$ motorcycle." I don't remember if "King" Kenny won that event, but a friend of mine that was there said it was worth seeing in any case.
If you find your BikeShare will bring you to Ohio, make the effort to stop by the Motorcycle Heritage Museum. It can be covered in an hour or so and it will give you a nice glimpse of American motorcycling.
Motorcycle Heritage Museum
13515 Yarmouth Drive
Pickerinton, Ohio 43147-8273
614.856.2222
www.motorcyclemuseum.org
