Norfolk
Motorcycle Museum 2015
On
another visit to the Broads for a little family R&R on the Buell.
This is where I catch up on some reading along with eating and
drinking at one of the local pubs I keep an eye out for interesting
places to visit while I am there and of course a little blast around
some very nice country lanes. Last year it was the Caistor Motor
Museum and this year I found the Norfolk Motorcycle Museum that is at
North Walsham.
There search on my phone said South Walsham but with
the correct post code. After a stop at the post office and a friendly
local we tracked it down. It is next to the North Walsham Railway
station and a breeze for those using public transport. It is in an
old railway workshop and packed with bikes British and European. It
is run by another motorcycle enthusiast who is doing his best to
preserve our biking heritage.The man is George Harmer and with his
son Steven are bent on expanding the collection of bikes repairing if
possible or restoring a precious relic. One of the rebuilds is of a
BSA Sunbeam with fan cooled twin cylinder engine.
He has a 1928
Raliegh that needs a greta deal of work doing to it. We have a 1927
model in the museum and I have sent a number of pictures of that bike
that may be of use during the restoration. There are still barn finds
around and he has kept this 1934 BSA as it is for a cameo set.
We had
some discussions around suspension systems and one different way was
the front set up used on this OEC. It has a type of hub-centre
steering with a spring slider within the front tube and a short swing
arm on the rear. There are many machines that are similar to the ones
at the LMM but they do have a good selection of foreign machines with
Gilera, Motobecane, Suzuki and Yamaha. I was particularly interested
in the NSU Max being offered one in the 70's. I declined as I had no
idea of how and where to get spares. The case with almost everything
then.
There is even a Puch split single two stroke. A number of
British and foreign scooters. There is even a motorised skateboard
that was featured in one of the Bond Movies.
There are more
interesting bikes in this museum with a Rudge Racer that was ridden
by Sam Allerdice. Other riders at the time was Murray Walkers' dad
Graham.
Walking around the museum there are some more novel bikes
like the diesel Enfield, the Triumph powered Dot and even a dual
control scooter. There was a good selection of small Velocettes with
all of the LE variants lined up as well as the British Scooter
Brigade.
In the adjacent building is another store of bikes and
filled with bits to rebuild almost anything. This building is not
able to be used as a museum as it has a problem with the gas
processing plan just across the road. Apparently it is in the line of
blast should the gas plant explode, however the museum and railway
station behind it are safe and so is the housing estate along side
it!!!!!!! There are enough bikes there to fill every inch of space
they have. It is a most interesting place to visit and the next time
I am in that area I'll have to pay them another visit.
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