Gilmore Car Museum: Motorcycle Collection

Posted by Phil Hammar May 27, 2017

Gilmore Car Museum: Motorcycle Collection

This weekend, I headed out to Hickory Corners to the Gilmore Car Museum. When I went back in January, only the main building was open. In April, everything opens up for the summer. So I met up with a friend of mine and drove out to the museum. One of the buildings on the grounds was the Motorcycle Collection. I'm not really a motorcycle guy, but I was still fascinated by what I saw.

As we approached the building, I notice this old motorcycle sitting out front. As I got closer, I saw it's rough, unrestored condition. All indications show that this is a late 1930's to early 1940's Whizzer motorbike.

This 1910 FN Four (Yes, the same FN that manufactures firearms), with it's 498cc Inline-4 engine, was one of the earlier examples in the collection. Note the pedals, used for starting the bike.

With it's 2-speed transmission and 165lb total weight, this was considered a fast motorbike for its time.

This unrestored 1914 Harley Davidson V-Twin, with it's 989cc, 8hp v-twin engine, originally sold for $128, or nearly $3,200 in todays money. Famously, a woman named Della Crewe, and her Dog,"Trouble", left Waco, TX in June of 1915, and rode 5,378 miles in 6 months.

This 1920 Cleveland Model 20, known for its sound design, had a 270cc single cylinder two-stroke engine delivering all 2.5 horsepower to the rear wheel vi a clutchless transmission and worm drive. Sadly, the manufacturer was one of many casualties of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

This motorized Bicycle, made by Johnson Motor Wheel, turned a standard Yale (made by Yale Sewing Machine Company) Mens Bicycle into a motorbike by replacing the rear wheel with one fitted with the drive sprocket, and mounting the engine on a rack.

This 1967 BSA 441 Victor, had a 30hp 441cc single-cylinder 4-stroke engine, and a top speed of 95mph. These are still popular with performance motorcycle enthusiasts.

This 1973 Triumph Tiger 750, also known as the TR7 (not related to the car from the same company with the same name), has a 724cc Twin-cylinder engine. It was a common British performance motorcycle.

Fans of BBC's "Top Gear" should recognize this as a 1941 Vincent Black Shadow. Richard Hammond rode one in the "Race to the North" episode (Season 13, episode 1).

The bike was built by Vincent HRD, in England.

The engine in this motorcycle is, as Hammond mentioned, a stressed member of the chassis.

This 1956 NSU Spexial Max, was made by manufacturer "NSU", which later on, became one of the 4 manufacturers that formed Auto Union, which later became Audi.

This Ariel Square Four Mk.2 had a unique engine...

A Square-Four. Essentially, a pair of inline t-cylinder engines joined and synchronized by a geared flywheel setup.

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This 1971 Honda SuperSports CBX superbike was my favorite bike in this building. It's powered by a rather unusual 1,047cc DOHC Air-cooled, 6-carb inline 6. Notice that the output is in the center between cylinder 3 and 4.