Donating to the cause

While the majority of the bikes held in the collection at the National Motorcycle Museum (NMM) have been bought and are owned by the museum, some are loaned, and others have been donated. It’s the latter we’ll look at here, in a feature first seen in our sister title The Classic MotorCycle... and one we thought OBM readers would enjoy, too.

Of those motorcycles that are donated, some take pride of place within the halls, occasionally replacing identical models which are then moved on, while others are restored to sell or use as raffle prizes to raise funds for the museum.

While the museum’s entry fee does contribute to the restoration, storage and maintenance of machines, it doesn’t cover the entire cost, and thus the museum has to use other resources to raise funds and keep it all going. Aside from the raffle prizes, the donation of bikes allows the museum to have a steady supply of machines that can be restored and sold to raise those muchneeded funds.

The decision of whether a donated bike goes on display or is moved on is not taken lightly – if it happens to be a bike that is not yet covered in the comprehensive collection, it is usual it will be fettled to prime condition and then go on display.

If there is already an example of the model within the halls, then it and the donated bike will be compared, and one chosen for sale.

The two bikes could even be identical in each and every way, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the most recent addition will be sold, as while some bikes are guaranteed to remain a museum mainstay, there is a requirement for the display to change and bikes will have their time in the limelight before being sold and replaced with another (sometimes identical) machine.

And then there are machines that, while they could be classics in their own right, may not be appropriate for the NMM as they may not be British, but are still useful to the museum, especially post-pandemic when finances are at their most strained. But the make and model, and state of repair of the donated bikes in question, are as rich and varied as the content of the museum and, on one day in February, the following made up a selection of donated machines that currently appear on display within the five halls, are awaiting sale, or are in line for restoration prior to the ‘keep or sell’ decision being made.