Bill Crosby, the museum’s founder, started collecting good examples of British motorcycles in 1960. The bikes were displayed at Syon Park until 1979 and then at a number of temporary locations until the site in Greenford was found. Former Coston's Farm, it had been used as an Ealing Council depot (Ravenor Depot) since the 1930s. Now run by volunteers as a charitable trust, the museum actively promotes educational visits and is affiliated to the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust. In the 1860s Pierre Michaux, a blacksmith in Paris, founded 'Michaux et Cie' ("Michaux and company"), the first company to construct bicycles with pedals called a velocipede at the time, or "Michauline". The first steam powered motorcycle, the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede, can be traced to 1867, when Pierre's son Ernest Michaux fitted a small steam engine to one of the 'velocipedes'.The design went to America when Pierre Lallement, a Michaux employee who also claimed to have developed the prototype in 1863, filed for the first bicycle patent with the US patent office in 1866. In 1868 an American, Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts developed a twin-cylinder steam velocipede, with a coal-fired boiler between the wheels. Roper's contribution to motorcycle development ended suddenly when he died demonstrating one of his machines in Cambridge, Massachusetts on June 1, 1896. The first commercial design for a self-propelled bicycle was a three-wheel design called the Butler Petrol Cycle, conceived of and built by Edward Butler in England in 1884.[5] He exhibited his plans for the vehicle at the Stanley Cycle Show in London in 1884, two years earlier than Karl Benz who is generally recognized as the inventor of the modern automobile. Butler's vehicle was also the first design to be shown at the 1885 International Inventions Exhibition in London.
All the motorcycles on display are in excellent condition and represent the best examples of all the well-known makes, such as BSA, Triumph and Norton as well as less well known makers including Coventry-Eagle and Rudge. A full inventory of exhibits is listed on the museum’s official web site and includes a number of unique prototypes, such as the development Triumph Trident and motorcycles that have been featured in the media. Exhibits range from one of the earliest motorcycles, a 1902 0rmonde 21⁄4 h.p. to a 1993 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 cc and include: 1907 298 cc Brown Precision, 1921 Rudge TT 3 hp, 1925 596 cc Scott Flying Squirrel, 1925 980 cc Coventry Eagle Flying 8, 1937 499 cc Rudge Special, 1949 998 cc Vincent Rapide Series 'C', 1959 Norton Dominator, 1966 BSA Lightning works production racer. The staff are very friendly and accomodating, tailoring tours to the visitors needs.
Location : 29 Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, UB6 9LB
Transport: Greenford (Central Line). London Buses routes E1, E2, E6, E7, E10,105 and 92 stop nearby.
Opening Times: Saturday, Sunday, Monday 10:00 to 16:30.
Other times can be arranged.
Tickets : Adults £12.00 Seniors £8.00
Children - 15 £5.00 Under 5 Free
Tel: 020 85756644
