Back from the dead after the fire in 2003, this is one of the biggest M/C museums in the UK. Only containing british motorcycles, apparently there are still hundreds of exhibits undergoing repair and restoration since the fire - and it was a big one, there's a mini exhibit of three charred ruins in the front display (see pic below), including a Vincent...

Lots of well known names, lots as well we'd never heard of, plus some prototypes that were new to us (Trident engine in a Bonneville oil in frame? Triumph 1000cc Quadrant 4 cylinder - basically a Trident with an extra pot). But, despite four galleries, a very crowded space, and I don't mean the people - we were there mid-week and apart from an influx of maybe a couple of dozen delegates from a corporate function in the attached conference centre there were no more then half a dozen punters in any gallery at a time. It's the way the bikes are laid out - cheek by jowl sums it up, and it's impossible to walk around most of them. And some are ten feet away, cordoned off and half hidden by the bikes in front of them, making it impossible to appreciate much of the detailing - shame. And a bugger to take decent pictures. Sammy Miller's museum doesn't have the same volume of machinery, but is better laid out. Still a good day out though