clay
Member
well as promised I'm gonna try to put into words the greatness of the H-D museum. well at first when you first drive up to it the building certainly stands out. its a VERY industrial. and most the buildings that surround it are old factory type building's there is only one thing that stand out to me there are 2 old gain bins that were left on the site from whatever was there before that i can not really explain there purpose but they are there. one of the coolest things about the parking lot is that there is an area that is only for bikes in fact i don't think you could get your truck or car back there and its the closest to the man entrance doors. the next coolest thing about the parking lot is that the 3 buildings are attached by skyway's that are all glass and you can look out at the entire parking area. and this must be a site to see in the summer if there are ALOT of bikes parked outside.
but enough with the outside you can see pictures of that and get a good idea of what that looks like with out being there. so moving to the inside of the museum the industrial feel is continued inside with all sorts of exposed beams and bear concrete floors. but the tour starts with all the of older or classic Harley's starting with the serial number one bike on up to the 50s and the knuckle head bike. then there is a side room which has an old wood floor that i gather is probably an old wood track for racing bikes. or some boards for the original factory but is a very cool. in the side room it tells you much about the early years of Harley and the founders. on up to Harley and its contribution to the war effort in WW2. then there is a room dedicated for all the early years of racing Harley's and let me tell you those guys had balls back in those days. and there is a motor room where they have all the motors Harley ever made and there is a computer that will pull of that engine on the screen and for some of them you can press a button and hear what the engine sounded like. and on the wall there is all the motors to look. there are a couple of displays that show all the inter workings of the motors very wheel and there is a unit there that helps one better understand the gyroscope which keeps the bike upright. then you can walk into a hall way with every stock Harley paint job ever made. then there is a skyway that takes you to the storage and restoration building there isn't much to see here unless you buy the 40 dollar tour that takes you behind the scenes I'm temped to go back for this when i have more money to burn. but what i seen of the restoration room there have ALOT of bikes and just seeing that many bikes in one place is impressive even if it is thru a cage.
going back to the main museum building in the downstairs they cover more of the contemporary museum and the "dark years" when AMF owned Harley. and they showed some of Harley's attempts at making boats,snowmobiles,golf carts,mini bikes, and scooters, and there is a room with all the contemporary bikes all lined up. is pretty cool to walk thru and see all of them there and talk about them with the museum staff. they have a bike that was owned by the king himself as well as some other wild rides. and as you leave the museum part and cross over another skyway to the gift store which is just like any other Harley store minus the bikes and leather so basically shirts posters and such. they also have the Café Racer cafe which seems odd to me seeing as how a Café racer BIKE IS MORE OF A METRIC THING(sorry about the caps) the food price is really expensive as one would expect at a museum. they also have more of a bar/grill type restaurant i did not go in there but from the outside it looks nice and looks like the prices would be outrageous.
all in all the staff at the H-D museum is very nice helpful and will talk to you about the bikes and inform you of all things Harley. the building is great looking very industrial inside and out. and there is plenty to see i spent 4 hours there and I'm sure i missed some stuff and i will be going back. all in all I'm say that this is defiantly worth the 16 dollar general admission price and if you are ever near Milwaukee its worth the drive to stop in and see it all. but make sure you have time because you will be there for hours.
but enough with the outside you can see pictures of that and get a good idea of what that looks like with out being there. so moving to the inside of the museum the industrial feel is continued inside with all sorts of exposed beams and bear concrete floors. but the tour starts with all the of older or classic Harley's starting with the serial number one bike on up to the 50s and the knuckle head bike. then there is a side room which has an old wood floor that i gather is probably an old wood track for racing bikes. or some boards for the original factory but is a very cool. in the side room it tells you much about the early years of Harley and the founders. on up to Harley and its contribution to the war effort in WW2. then there is a room dedicated for all the early years of racing Harley's and let me tell you those guys had balls back in those days. and there is a motor room where they have all the motors Harley ever made and there is a computer that will pull of that engine on the screen and for some of them you can press a button and hear what the engine sounded like. and on the wall there is all the motors to look. there are a couple of displays that show all the inter workings of the motors very wheel and there is a unit there that helps one better understand the gyroscope which keeps the bike upright. then you can walk into a hall way with every stock Harley paint job ever made. then there is a skyway that takes you to the storage and restoration building there isn't much to see here unless you buy the 40 dollar tour that takes you behind the scenes I'm temped to go back for this when i have more money to burn. but what i seen of the restoration room there have ALOT of bikes and just seeing that many bikes in one place is impressive even if it is thru a cage.
going back to the main museum building in the downstairs they cover more of the contemporary museum and the "dark years" when AMF owned Harley. and they showed some of Harley's attempts at making boats,snowmobiles,golf carts,mini bikes, and scooters, and there is a room with all the contemporary bikes all lined up. is pretty cool to walk thru and see all of them there and talk about them with the museum staff. they have a bike that was owned by the king himself as well as some other wild rides. and as you leave the museum part and cross over another skyway to the gift store which is just like any other Harley store minus the bikes and leather so basically shirts posters and such. they also have the Café Racer cafe which seems odd to me seeing as how a Café racer BIKE IS MORE OF A METRIC THING(sorry about the caps) the food price is really expensive as one would expect at a museum. they also have more of a bar/grill type restaurant i did not go in there but from the outside it looks nice and looks like the prices would be outrageous.
all in all the staff at the H-D museum is very nice helpful and will talk to you about the bikes and inform you of all things Harley. the building is great looking very industrial inside and out. and there is plenty to see i spent 4 hours there and I'm sure i missed some stuff and i will be going back. all in all I'm say that this is defiantly worth the 16 dollar general admission price and if you are ever near Milwaukee its worth the drive to stop in and see it all. but make sure you have time because you will be there for hours.
