solvang vintage motorcycle museum

If you love motorcycle this museum is for you!! There's a $10 entrance fee to see vintage motorcycles as well as some recent ones. Make sure to call and make an appt. for they have to open it for you!

Ha, read the reviews and had to visit and guess what. My family stayed in the car while I popped in. Not a huge collection, maybe 100-150 bikes but a great quality and variety from Speedway, dirt trackers through classic, 70's Japanese and last of the great British to the best, very proud to see the New Zealand "Britten" on display.The lady on the desk was ever so helpful, as I left she yelled from the back "Why you leaving so soon" I had been there at least 20 minutes. I mentioned I had to go, family not bikers and all waiting for me in the car, funniest thing was the total look of understanding and sympathy from the half dozen other visitors they all gave me. I will be back….

I am a big motorcycle buff, rider and enthusiast. I thought $10 for a room full of motorcycles is a little overpriced.

Went to California with my son on a bird watching trip. Before leaving, a friend who is a fellow motorcycle rider, told me if I am anywhere near solvang, CA that I have to stop at the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum. We were staying in Morro Bay, about 80 miles North of Solvang. But when you are almost 3K from home, 80 miles is not too far to travel. The $10 admission gets you in to see a beautiful collection. The collection includes a Vincent Black Shadow, an original Gold Wing, A Suzuki Rotary engined bike to name a few. The collection included bikes back into the 1890's. Each bike contains information giving the visitor the particulars for that model of that particular bike. There is also a collection of at work and models on display. It appears that the bikes displayed change as they were removing a bike when we were there (for a photo shoot for a magazine) and I heard them say that they would replace it with a different bike later that day. If you are traveling with someone who does not care for motorcycles, there are numerous shops in Solvang to keep them busy while you salivate over the bikes. I thanked my friend for the great advice. It was definitely worth the 80 mile detour.

they don't allow dogs to tag along inside (totally understandable) so husband went in on his own and I sat outside with the pup. Husband loved it! He probably spent 45 minutes in there and took lots of pictures. He loved all the old vintage and rare motorcycles and talked about it the rest of the day. Bonus points for having some tranquil seating outside in a little park where I relaxed with our dog.

There are hundreds of unique motorcycles in that place. It is just one big room, with lots of amazing motorcycles. Some very different vintage ones too. It's so worthy. $10 per person, by appointment only, but we passed by when it was opened for somebody else and got in. My husband took over 90 pictures and he is not even a motorcycle enthusiast. Yes, it's that good.

For any true motorcycle history enthusiast, this was a real treat. Some of the bikes in this collection are just unimaginable and ones that you would never think you would see in person. Great that it is by appointment only, because it deserves small, controlled groups. It allows you to really appreciate and take your time to absorb what is in this collection.

My wife had no interest in visiting here, so I went by myself. What an incredible collection with a good cross selection of models and era. The bikes were in excellent condition. It was exciting to see a lot of the early bikes, i.e., 1910,1020' and '30's.Amazing how fast some of these bikes went. Also surprising that many of these bikes had big engines for their day, e.g., 500cc, etc.I wa excited to see an early 1974 Ducati 750. It was the same bright yellow one that i rode back then!

Husband tells me a great collection of vintage bikes....he enjoyed it. I probably would not pay to get in but on the other hand he would.

This museum is not very big but you can spend the better part of a day looking at the old bikes. March 2011

A VERY good selection of motorcycles. And the printed information about each one is well worded and very interesting. Hard to imagine that a collection of these rare bikes even exists. I've attended several other ones around the country and liked them all, but this is really special. I would HIGHLY recommend it for any motorcycle enthusiast. Even the general public would enjoy this one.

Superb collection of vintage motorcycles. Went on a weekend and there were only three of us in the whole place. Great stories behind the bikes. Some very rare and very interesting motorcycles. Admission was $10 and was well worth it. Recommend highly.

It took us a while to find the Vintage Motorcycle Museum in Solvang and we accidentally drove about 20 miles around in circles until we did find it. It's right in Solvang off the main street. This is one of the finest group of rare and ancient motorcycles I've seen to date in such a small collection. Mike Hailwoods famous Honda 500, Phil Reads Matchless and Gilera rides, MV Augusta 500 triple that duelled with Hailwood, the legendary 59 Triumph Bonnyville Tangerine Dream (first year for the Bonny), an incredible 34 Brough Superior in perfect condition, Ariel Square four, countless Vincents and HRD's, Norton Manx's, rare Norton Rotary, BSA from every era..even my old AJS twin. NSU's including the Dolphin ...the Vincent that broke records at the Salt Flats with the crazy guy in a bathing suit hanging of the back is there. I'm missing tons of incredible and very rare bikes and it's only $10 to get in. If you know anything about motorcycles do not miss this I was shocked and amazed....then head up to Los Olivos if you have a designated driver and experience the virtual shopping mall of wine tasting town. There must be twenty wine tasting stores in this town. Solvang is a bit hard core touristy but the wine tasting in the area is superb.

We had heard about this place before our trip to Solvang. We read some of the trip advisor reviews which is always a wise thing to do. Someone said that if the museum is closed to call their office and they may send someone out to give you a tour.The day we arrived we hoped to see it as the next day we had to get on our way. The museum was closed but we called the office and they said a guide would come by at around 4:30 but if they were late we should wait on the benches alongside the museum.Around 5:00 PM a nice lady came by and gave us a superb tour of the 100 bikes. They are mostly old antique models from around the world. Many if not all are unique.Virgil the owner collector has a very interesting life. He was a University professor and he invented a new microscope that the entire world wants to buy. He was able to retire. He was also a motorcycle racer. He opened up this museum to show off his collection. Another interesting thing is that he keeps everyone of the bikes in running condition.The tour guide knew quite a bit about almost every bike in the place. She didn't hurry either. She obviously loves what she does here.Every single bike is n pristine riding condition.The price is only $10.00 a person so the value is excellent.They have a small selection of souvenirs available for sale,Our compliments to Virgil and his wonderful staff for making this fantastic museum a reality.

We showed up in the afternoon about 3pm, the museum was closed BUT if you read the signs, they are willing to send someone and open the museum for you. It was fabulous we had the place to ourselves. Mike, the person who came to open the museum was welcoming, friendly, knowledge and helpful. Did not rush us out and knew a lot about how the bikes were acquired. This place is a must see, if you have time while in Solvang. They have a Crocker.