Barber Museum

[Dustybin]

John nice slide show, thanks for sharing

[SCJJR65]

Seeing this spectacle only once simply isn't enough!  If I can ever get my bike fixed and running again, I'm going back for another look!

[wilcom]

This was my second trip and I went away thinking , " where was that bike?"  The next time I'm at the Museum I will have a list  of favorites prepped the night before and will check them off as I go.

No one can possibly imagine the amount of bikes on display and the memories they will bring to the surface. Looking at a pristine Kawasaki Mach 1 I was thinking, " my cousin toured on one of those" , "that 305 Super Hawk was my first bike".

If you're a motorcycle guy, this place is the Disney World of your universe.

[montmil]

Be advised, the motorcycles in the Barber display collection are occasionally rotated. Not all of them but many are moved to storage so that others can be placed in the museum for viewing. During the Barber Vintage Days extravaganza, folks can take a look inside the vast, multi-level storage area within the museum's dark recesses. Placed on storage shelves stacked four+ high, there are over 1000 bikes awaiting resto and/or display. Keeps me coming back each October for what will be my fifth visit to the Barber Museum, Vintage Days, Swap meet and the AHRMA events. Oh... and that cool Wall Of Death show.

[SCJJR65]

I'm trying to remember now if I saw an R65 or an R65LS at Barber when Steve and I were there.  It seems like I did finally spot the LS somewhere in that mammoth place.  The only criticism I have of the place is those "trees" that have bunches of bikes on them.  It can be very difficult to really get to see some of these bikes clearly that are on the top couple of levels of these displays!  It's hard to get close to them!

[montmil]

John makes a good point about the "trees".

Using a telephoto lens, I noticed some of the higher up bikes were relatively untouched. A few still had dirt and grime on them from the day they were purchased by George Barber. There did seem to be a semi-subtle rhyme n' reason to the tree displays.

If the trees get to you, try the building blocks full of bikes. So just how do they get these bikes, as seen on the left, up there? As they are all stacked four stories tall and abut the main elevator tower, the Museum's elevator design has doors that open on all four sides. Curators simply put a bike in the elevator that has been secured to a rolling base. They then manually stop the lift and 'bump' it a bit to where they want to switch out machines. The entire place is mind boggling.



And as I mentioned earlier, here's a peek into the storage facility down in the basement area. The roll-up doors are usually closed except for special motorcycle events. All these machines await their turn in the resto shop or another opportunity to be shown "upstairs".

[Tony Smith]

There were twin sisters from Tulia within my orbit during college. Sweet gals, we always called 'em The Tulia Twirls. They were much like the Tilt'aWhirl at the Texas State Fair. Whata ride!

The Fair, or the girls?

[montmil]

Both, Tony. Both.  [smiley=beer.gif]