I thought some of you motorheads here might enjoy this.

On Sunday I visited an excellent motorcycle museum in Solvang, California. All of the bikes are owned by Virgil Elings and he has more than he can display in the museum, so the bikes on display are rotated regularly. He has some exceedingly rare pieces. Admission is ten bucks...best ten bucks I've spent in a long while.

Included were quite a few motorcycles I'd never heard of, and most of the collection on display I've never seen in person. Though all had some degree of uniqueness, one was really unusual, a Megola Touring motorcycle (front wheel direct drive with a five-cylinder RADIAL engine!--all in 1922!!). The youtube links below are of the Megola at the Pebble Beach show with him starting it, one with Jay Leno talking with Virgil about the bike.

And of course, the website for the museum itself: Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum, Solvang, CA


Pebble Beach 2012: 1922 Megola Touring Motorcycle - Jay Leno's Garage - YouTube

FWD 1922 Megola Touring Motorcycle - YouTube



If you guys are interested I'll post some of the pics after I have a chance to go through them.

I've been there too and concur, it is a very nice display. It's not overwhelmingly large, which I find attractive. Lots of interesting iron on display when I visited several years ago, including a Suzuki rotary, Honda oval piston NSR, and my favorite - the Britten v1000.