Motorcycle Museum Tour – Lakeland Motor Museum
Another in John Newman's motorcycle museum series
John Newman
Tourism is the rigid backbone of the economy in the Lake District, and the Lakeland Motor Museum is fully integrated into the visitor structure with a large souvenir and gift shop, and an attractive riverside cafe. Around Lake Windermere advertisements entice tourists to purchase combined discount tickets for a lake cruise and museum visit.
Powered scooters
As the name implies it is not just a motorcycle museum, it is much more. Cars are prominent in the museum, as is an exhibit charting the achievements of Donald Campbell and the various Bluebird craft in which he captured water and land speed records.
No worries about helmet hair here - no hair
Something for all the family
The website extols the attractions of the motorcycle exhibits, highlighting the museum's Isle of Man tribute to the TT Races and to John McGuinness from nearby Morecambe. A special collection of Vincents is also on display.
The museum was first set up in 1978 in the grounds of Holker Hall, a stately home open to visitors. It moved to the current premises in 2009 and opened for visitors in Easter of 2010. It was the site of an old industrial premises, a dye works operated by Reckitt and Coleman, just one example of how the Lakeland economy has changed irrevocably.
How come they've replicated my brother's workshop?
Follow the red arrows - or not...
Once your ticket has been purchased (£7.90 for adults) you are instructed, in the nicest possible way, to follow the red arrows. A bit too much like IKEA for my liking, but it is possible for those with anarchist tendencies to transgress this rule...I did.
Very tidy 1938 Manx Norton
Magnificent machines
For a newish museum I found the main exhibit area rather cramped, with a good few of the motorcycles parked between cars, making it difficult to see the whole machine. Having said that there's enough to absorb the two wheel enthusiast and make the admission price worthwhile, and there are some gorgeous auto mobiles on display. Auto mobiles because the word car just doesn't convey the grandeur and great design of some of these old vehicles.
They've been thoughtful about the background against which some of the exhibits are displayed, capturing the atmosphere of the period with carefully placed ad signs and manufacturer's display logos.
1909 Phelan and Moore sloping cylinder 250cc
As you begin the tour there's a phalanx of restored bikes from the 1900's to greet your eye. I was taken by a 1909 P&M 495cc two speed sloping cylinder model. The P&M's were manufactured by Phelan and Moore at Cleckheaton in Yorkshire, and their bike models became badged as Panther. Also part of this group was a Douglas 600cc E28 with opposed twin cylinders in an interesting configuration, and leg shields (although in this era it was more likely to be a rain and muck shield rather than a safety measure!)
Triumph T70 Tiger 250. One owner until 1980
A Triumph nestling between the cars
A 1937 250cc Triumph nestled between the car displays on the ground floor. I didn't know they made a model with this engine size, and this one had one owner between its year of manufacture and 1980. There was also a pretty little 175cc Ducati between a couple of vans.
Pretty 175cc Ducati
A shelf of shiny Vincents
The bulk of the two wheel interest is on the mezzanine floor where the TT display resides. They have also put together a shelf of shiny Vincents, a gaggle of British off road bikes, and some very funky scooters that look like enlarged versions, with engines, of what the kids are punting up and down the streets on nowadays.
TT Corner
A shelf of shiny Vincents
The TT corner runs a video of McGuinness and a tribute display to this great rider's achievements, highlighting his 130mph lap in 2007. There's also a Crooks Suzuki, one of the bikes that engine tuner Eddie Crooks had developed at their dealership down the road apiece at Barrow in Furness. Eddie himself has an enviable record of competing in the Manx Grand Prix and TT races, and of sponsoring other riders down the years.
I was surprised to see the number of engine assisted pedal cycles they have collected: the forerunners to mopeds. There's even a 1905, 250cc model which is pedal assisted; called a Kerry .
1905 248cc Pedal Assisted Kerry
Final priority? Tea and cake...
I spent a good chunk of time on the two wheel mezzanine and didn't have time before closing to visit the Campbell exhibits in a separate building; as I'd prioritised tea and cake on the riverside. If you're running around the lovely Lake District roads and mountain passes on your bike, make some time to stretch your legs around this museum.
Spark plugs
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