iPetersen Automotive MuseumMiracle Mile
The American Motorcycle: Pioneering Machines from the Bunch Family Collection
Nearly 200 rare early American motorcycles from Professor Richard Bunch's collection, spanning the pioneer era through the Great Depression.
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The oldest machine here is an 1898 Cleveland Tricycle, one of America's first motorized cycles, and it already has a spring fork at the front. Then there's a 1905 Nelk from Palo Alto, running a water-cooled engine on rubber mounts with an overhead camshaft.
More than 25 motorcycles from Professor Richard Bunch's collection fill the Richard Varner Family Gallery on the 2nd floor, from the turn of the century to the 1930s. The museum's point is that more than 300 American companies built motorcycles in this period, not only Harley-Davidson and Indian. You walk past makers that mostly vanished: a Thomas Auto-Bi, a Flying Merkel, a Glenn Curtiss Marvel and a V-twin sold by Sears.
This is a room for engineering firsts, not chrome cruisers: nothing here is newer than 1936. It's included with museum admission, $52 for adults and $25 for ages 4 to 11, both with the Vault. It closes on 7 March 2027.
Look for
The 1898 Cleveland Tricycle
Three wheels and an engine on one of America's oldest motorized cycles, with one of the first spring-fork front suspensions.
The 1905 Nelk
Look behind the steering head for the heat exchangers that cooled its water-cooled cylinder head; few of these Palo Alto machines survive.
CeDora's 1908 Indian Single
A compact single-cylinder Indian ridden by stuntwoman CeDora in the Globe of Death, where riders circle inside a sphere held up by centripetal force.
The 1911 Marvel
Designed by Glenn Curtiss, the self-taught engineer who also built engines for dirigibles and airplanes.
The 1936 Crocker Speedway Racer
A single-cylinder racer from a Los Angeles maker whose bikes often outran Harley-Davidsons and Indians and are now among the rarest motorcycles anywhere.
Good for
- Nerding Out
- Rainy Days
Skip if
You want modern bikes: nothing in the room is newer than the 1936 Crocker.
With kids
Tickets for ages 4 to 11 are $25 and include the Vault.
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Image credits
8
- The American Motorcycle: Pioneering Machines from the Bunch Family CollectionCourtesy of Petersen Automotive Museum
- Screenwriting: Takes on LA NoirCourtesy of Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
- Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood IconCourtesy of Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
- Studio Ghiblis PONYOCourtesy of Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
- Petersen Automotive MuseumDavid Zaitz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Academy Museum of Motion PicturesDowntowngal / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)ArchEyes Magazine / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Craft ContemporaryPaul Esposito / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain