National Motorcycle Museum Closing Its Doors
nationalmcmuseum.org
nationalmcmuseum.org
There is a National Aquarium in Baltimore. Confusingly there was a now-defunct National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. According to Wikipedia, the two had no common origin. I say the one in D.C. had a more legitimate claim to “National” as it had some federal government roots.
Then there’s the Washington Nationals baseball team. And the Virginia neighborhood bogusly renamed “National Landing”.
So pretty much anything can call itself “national” if it wants to.
It's called crystal city. Amazon renamed it when they announced HQ2 there. Nobody from here calls it national landing
If not, no, it’s nothing similar.
I get the feeling bikes in the last 5 years have turned into investment vehicles (pun intended) like rare bottles of wine and art. Often by people who have no personal interest in the chosen market, just a place to park money (again with the puns)
Its almost like we are in a 2-5 year window where you can still buy these museum pieces new from the dealership.
I'll take one old, one new please!
Side note- Surron really needs to work on differentiating themselves away from the EBike scene, if I'm to take them seriously. I pretty much only see kids of affluent families destroying mixed use trails on Surrons or people forgoing any sort of judgement hoping between sidewalk, pavement, drainage ditches. "Mid-Drive Electric Bike you can ride anywhere" is an irresponsible sales pitch. I've not ridden one personally, but they seem roughly equivalent to a 125CC two stroke dirt bike. No Pedals? not a bike.
1968 Porsche, low-end model? 300k. Dakar winning motorcycle? 15k.
Steel Rolex with scratches? 30k. Early digital quartz watches? 300.
Personally I am waiting for a few things to blow up. Palm Treo and Blackberry phones, Nokia fashion phones (think 7260), and weird Sony cameras (dsc-f828). Immensely hard to predict, but fun nonetheless.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/09/15/vhs-tapes-cl...
Apparently old video game things are going nuts, too. My brother says our family's beat-up copy of Earthbound is worth $300. The old Virtual Boy my other brother picked up for $30 could probably be sold for more than $500 (because it's still in it's original beat-up box). Apparently an old tube TV we have in such demand by video game collectors that the model is hard to find now.
The moral of the story: check eBay when you're getting rid of your old junk.
https://www.ebay.com/str/wunderbid lists many VHS tapes for $1000s. But when I look into the past sales I see any price over $1000 is crossed through (best price accepted, not the asking price). Still some VHS went for $300-$600.
The redesigned J-series engines on their new motorcycles are smoother and I've heard some people wax nostalgic about the old thumpers and say that the new ones "lack character". I've even heard people speak fondly of the the UCE engines (introduced in the early 2000s) which were hated for a similar "lack of character" when they replaced the older engines (which were originally designed back in the 50s I think).
They also are accustomed to the effects of sub-optimal or economical designs, the main example being vibrations, and learnt to like them. "If it doesn't vibrate hard, stinks, pours oil, yells... it is cannot be a true bike!"
Modern bikes (especially electric) are way less quirks-plagued, more 'linear', easy to exploit and their performances (at equivalent 'cost', inflation-adjusted) are way better on all accounts (grip, brakes, flexibility/driveability, acceleration, max speed, reliability...).
The museum presentation, architecture, and surrounding landscaping -- it's world class.
On the other hand, they're in a small Iowa town that isn't near an interstate. Who thought that was a good location? If they were closer to/in Cedar Rapids, they'd probably have a much better time.
I guess it's near a regional airport. Still a pretty random spot though.
It seems random now, but it was not when originally constructed.
Oh well. :-(
Perfect spot imho would be near the "Tail of the Dragon," or in the general vicinity of the Cherohala Skyway.
https://roadtrippers.com/tail-of-the-dragon/
(have ridden there, highly recommend if that's your thing)
If you've watched American Pickers (which started in LeClaire, Iowa, just upriver from Davenport), they worked with the National Motorcycle Museum on a number of finds.
Of course, the practical realities of most museums are a rather different matter; rent and employees have to be paid, and land in tourist-friendly areas is seldom cheap.
I agree it's a shame for the community and the staff.
It's no different than if an individual sold a house or a baseball card. They can spend the cash however they like.
Not an expert here, but from what I’ve read it seems anything left over must go towards charitable purposes.
I’m confused at the auction, unless no other museums of motorcycles wanted part of the collection.
Maybe the non-profit is the museum without the collection, and the museum just shows non-museum owned stuff?
Seems like the owners realized they are sitting on a gold mine and will cash in with the auction.
N.b. Does anyone else feel like their seeing more of this type of comment…?