Motorbikes are something that are very popular nowadays, there are many motorcycle manufacturers and companies about which you might have heard of, but one company that is loved and liked by all bikers is Harley-Davidson. It is essentially an American motorcycle manufacturer which was founded in Milwaukee in 1903. Harley-Davidson is one of those motorcycle companies that managed to survive the great depression, and that is one of the reason why it is so popular. The motorcycles that they manufacture are of very high quality and tend to look really well built and beautiful, avid bikers love the manufacturer and their products and admire them to the fullest.
The birth of Harley-Davidson bean in the year 1901, when one of the co-founders William S. Harley who was the just 20 years old. He drew plans for a small engine of 116 cc. their first motorcycle was finished in the year 1903 but was rendered as a testing project and was not made available to the general public as it had many flaws. Later in the same year Harley-Davidson successfully manufactured another bike and that is the point from where the company grew from a small startup business to one of the greatest companies of all time.
Since the company was established in 1903 which means that it has been nearly 103 since the company has been manufacturing high quality and beautiful motorcycles. Since it has been such a long time since the beginning of the company, it has gathered quite a bit of history. That is the reason why, the company owners were compelled to establish a Harley-Davidson Museum, where all the companies’ achievements and products will be displayed. The Harley-Davidson Museum is one of the best place to be especially if you love the company, the company has been manufacturing some very high quality bikes for the last 100 years and it is here at the museum that you can find history related to all the different bikes and models that were every manufactured by the company.
Harley-Davidson Museum
The Harley-Davidson Museum is a museum that is located in North America, near the downtown of the city of Milwaukee Wisconsin. The Museum recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the company and the 100 year history of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles. The museum covers a total area of 130,000 square feet and has 3 buildings which are spread on 20 acres, it is located on the Menomonee river bank and is known to contain more than 450 historic Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It also houses many old artifacts from the Harley-Davidson company, the museum is known to host almost 300,000 visitors annually. If you like Harley-Davidson bikes then you will simply love the museum, you can find samples and exhibits of every single bike that was created by the company. Some bikes are also available for the visitors to sit on, that gives the visitors a really great experience.
History Of The Harley-Davidson Museum
The museum covers a lot of history related to Harley-Davidson, which is the prime reason to why people are attracted to it, but here it is time to discuss the history of the actual museum. The Harley-Davidson museum was made open to the public in the June of 2008, the property is built on an historically industrial area of Milwaukee and that is the reason why 4 feet of sand and soil had to imported in order to fight the contaminated soil and successfully plant trees and other plants.
The design of the Harley-Davidson museum took eight years to complete, and was done by well-known designers such as James Biber, Michael Zweck-Bonner and Abbot Miller. The construction of the museum began in June 1, 2006 and cost an amount of $75 million. The opening ceremony of the museum was also not done in a traditional style, one of the main reason that this has to be said is that the company broke the ground with a burnout from the Harley-Davidson XL883R instead of shovel. It is now 2016 and that means that many new features are added to the museum.
Galleries and Exhibits
People come to see the various exhibits that are present in the Harley-Davidson museum, and it would not be wrong to say that the exhibits are some of the best in the world and are the ones which the people and visitors truly enjoy. The museum shows two kinds of exhibits, one is temporary and the others are permanent. The permanent exhibits are spread throughout two floors, along with the museum archives and temporary exhibits. The museum also has a restaurant, retail shop, special event spaces and a café.
There museum also exhibits many items that belong from Harley-Davidson’s history, these include photographs, posters, advertisements, trophies, videos, interactive exhibits and clothes. There are also 10 motorcycles on display on which the visitors can sit. All the exhibits that you will see here in the museum are nothing like what you have seen in a normal museum, these exhibits are only for those people who truly love bikes and Harley-Davidson as a whole. Motorcycle Gallery and Harley.
Davidson History
If you want to see all the motorcycles that are offered by the museum, then it is best that you go to the upper levels of the museum. It is here where you can find a procession of motorcycles running the length of the building. All of these motorcycles showcase some part of the history that is related to Harley-Davidson.
When you visit the east side of the upstairs galleries, then, you will find a series of galleries, these galleries are fully loaded with all kinds of amazing exhibits. One thing to notice in these exhibits is that all them show the chronological history of Harley-Davidson. It shows the history of the company from the beginning to present, it begins from the 10X15 foot wooden shack to the top motorcycle manufacture that it has grown to be and has been manufacture a number of 330,000 bikes annually.
There are many things to see in the museum, and that is what makes the Harley-Davidson museum one of the best in the world. If you are a person who is interested in the history of Harley-Davidson and the manufacturing of some high quality motorcycles, then the Harley-Davidson museum is just the perfect place for you. The museum covers many exhibits from the history of the company, this allows the visitor to feel as if he is walking through the history of the company.
The exhibits are spread throughout the property and it is a difficult task to see each and every exhibit in a single day. The oldest exhibit that can be found in the museum is the Serial Number one which is the first recorded Harley-Davidson motorcycle to exist and it sits in a glass enclosure. There are many places and exhibits to see in the museum, there are many kinds of rooms that you must enter in order to fully enjoy the museum. There are many rooms that can be found in the Harley-Davidson Museum, and if the visitor wants to learn every bit of history related to Harley-Davidson then he will probably have to visit each and every room.
The Engine Room
If you are a person who is very much interested in Engines and the way the Harley-Davidson motorbikes work, then the engine room is the perfect place for you. It is here that the visitors can find many kinds of Harley-Davidson engines belonging to many different bikes. The engine room is perhaps one of the most exciting rooms in the who museum, it shows how the Harley-Davidson engines work and how they allow the motorcycle to move freely.
The second floor of the museum begins with the engine room, the first engine that you will see in the room is the knucklehead engine, this particular engine has been disassembled into several pieces, this shows every single detail of the engine which should be visible to the visitors. The visitors can also find several interactive touch screens all around the room, these screens will give every bit of information to the visitor and show them how Shovelhead, Harley and Panhead motors work.
The Tank Gallery
The tanks are also considered as one of the parts of a motorbike which make it look unique and more beautiful, this is the reason why you can find a tank gallery on the upper floor of the museum. The gas tank gallery was formerly a part of the Harley-Davidson 100th anniversary open road tour. Here in the Gas Tank Gallery, visitors can find nearly a 100 exhibit or displays belonging from Harley-Davidson’s most memorable tank graphics which span from 70 years’ history.
The Clubs and Competition Gallery
The Harley-Davidson museum also show cases the history of clubs and competition that were held in the previous years. These competitions are normally those which are related to the Harley-Davidson racing history, therefore it can prove to be really exciting for most people. This particular gallery mainly holds information display about the Harley-Davidson racing history. In this gallery visitors can find a replica wooden board track that is suspended in the air at a 45-degree angle.
This track also features and shows several video footages of actual track races that were held there, these videos are mostly from the 1920s. The bikes that raced on these tracks ran at a speed of 100 miles per hour, this meant that fatalities and accidents were common which led to the banning of the wooden board track racing.
Custom Culture
The Harley-Davidson museum provides a lot of things to its visitors, it allows them to learn more and new things about their company. That is something that can easily find in the Custom Culture gallery of Harley-Davidson. This gallery tells the visitors about the impact that Harley-Davidson has had on the Global and American culture. There are many exhibits that are displayed in this gallery, but none of them are as famous and renowned as the “King Kong”, it is the main attraction of the gallery. The King Kong is essentially a 13-foot-long two engine Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Corporate Archives Gallery
All the Harley-Davidson archives can be found in the Harley-Davidson Museum; all the visitors can enjoy everything that the company has to offer. According to facts and figures the museum houses at least 85% of their total archives. Since the year 1915, the company has been persevering one bike from a production line, so that it can be added to the archive, this allows the company to widen their archive and add something new to it when the time comes.
The Harley-Davidson museum is the perfect place to be especially if you are a motorcycle lover, it tells you everything that you need to know about the company. All the exhibits, displays and galleries that you find there are preserved with perfection and still look really stunning and beautiful. If you want to see the company’s personal archives, then the corporate archives gallery is the place where you can find all of these things.
Conclusion
Harley-Davidson Museum is one of the best museum in the world, especially if you are a motorcycle lover. The museum covers nearly a 100 years of Harley-Davidson history and makes it really exciting, history never got more entertaining. All the exhibits that you see here at the Harley-Davidson Museum represents the rich history of the company, and when you visit the museum then it feels like that you are actually walking through history.
The museum is spread across an area of 130,000 square feet, this allows it to house a lot of exhibits which the people can enjoy. The Museum has been entertaining visitors since 2008 and it seems as if it is doing a really good job. The amount of history and education that they provide is something that cannot be seen in every museum, the Harley-Davidson Museum is truly one of kind and if you like bikes then you will surely love this museum.