Destination: UK National Motorcycle Museum

While there's no denying that Australia is home to some wonderful and varied historic motorcycle collections, for a comprehensive array of British machinery you have to go straight to the source – and that means a globetrotting effort to visit the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham, in the British Midlands.

Bikesales recently visited the museum during a recent tour of Royal Enfield's new Technology Centre at nearby Bruntingthorpe, ahead of the world premiere of the brand's new Continental GT 650 Twin and Interceptor 650 Twin at the EICMA show in Italy.

We spent an enthralled couple of hours at the museum, which took us on a time-travel extravaganza from the late 1800s to the modern age, but if you're ever in Blighty try and set aside the best part of a day to get the most from your visit – there's so much fantastic hardware on display you'll be glad you did.

Royal Enfield: a rich history
As we were there as guests of Royal Enfield we were also fortunate to have Royal Enfield's official historian on hand to take us through the firm's rich history, and what a history it is. As Gordon May explained, Royal Enfield is in fact the oldest motorcycle marque that's remained in continuous production, with its first motorcycle produced in 1901.

Produced in the British Midlands, the brand's products were also sold in India from 1949, and the Indian government's call for a new and rugged police bike model led to the birth of Enfield India in 1955 and the Enfield Bullet – and the start of what is now the longest-lived production model in motorcycle history.

The Indian connection has been producing motorcycles ever since, even outliving its progenitor – Royal Enfield in the UK succumbed to the same financial pressures as the rest of the British motorcycle industry, eventually closing its doors in 1970.

Bicycle origins
Our tour through the marque's heritage began with the Royal Enfield quadricycle, a fusion of the firm's bicycle-building prowess with a 2.25hp engine, and continued through WWI-era V-twins, the 1924 Model 201A (known as the 'Ladies Model' due to its step-through frame, thus maintaining the modesty of female riders in skirts and dresses), and the WWII Flying Flea – a lightweight war-time single designed to be parachuted into battle.

There's even a late-'50s New York City Police Department Indian that was actually a rebadged Royal Enfield Constellation, an example of badge engineering produced years after Indian closed the doors at its Springfield plant in America.

Then there were superb examples of a 1937 500cc Bullet and a 1955 350cc Bullet, a 1966 250cc Continental GT – a model that seized on the café-racer culture of the time – and a pre-production version of the 1968 Interceptor Series II, an improvement on the original Interceptor twin produced to appeal to the massive US market.

Other standouts include a 1903 Royal Enfield 277cc model, the second-oldest Royal Enfield in existence and the oldest one in running order, a 675cc triple dating back to 1915, a 1957 700cc Super Meteor twin, and the fully faired 1959 700cc Constellation.

Dotted among the production examples is a number of exotic high-spec models, like a 1970 750cc Rickman Metisse framed Interceptor, the 1965 250cc GP5, and even a twin-engined speed machine built in 1970. That bike propelled Don Sliger to a class speed record of 194.7mph (311.5km/h) on the salt flats at Bonneville, Utah, also hitting 203.2mph (325.1km/h) before a chain broke, the feat marking the first time a non-streamlined motorcycle had broken 200mph.

Lost in time
Gordon May is a veritable walking encyclopaedia of Royal Enfield knowledge and we could have spent all afternoon just on this one brand, but the fact is that sentiment can be applied to so many other British marques whose machines live on at the National Motorcycle Museum.

In fact, the collection numbers over 850 gleaming machines from over 170 different brands. If any criticism whatsoever can be levelled at the stunning array it's that the bikes are jammed in so close to one other, it's a little tricky to examine each one in all its glory.

It's not just home to vintage and veteran affairs, either – there are many examples of modern machinery on show too, including Norton's V8-engined Nemesis (unveiled in 2000), Triumph's 2003 Isle of Man TT-winning ValMoto Supersport bike, and a host of other celebrated race machinery.

The museum is all the more impressive when you consider a fire devastated a large portion of the complex in 2003, destroying 380 exhibits. With damage estimated to be in the vicinity of £14 million, many bikes were eventually painfully reconstructed from the ashes. And part of the museum's refurbishment included a new state-of-the-art sprinkler system…

When it comes to tourism hotspots, the British Midlands might not hold quite the same appeal as the thriving metropolis of London or the rural splendour of the Lakes District, the Cotswolds or the West Country, but if your travels do ever take you within striking distance, a visit to this collection will be time well spent. The halcyon days of the British motorcycle industry may be long gone, but they live on at Birmingham's National Motorcycle Museum.

For more information visit www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk/.