From choppers to street bikes, crotch rockets to cruisers, motorcycles come in all shapes and sizes and appeal to all types of people—from full-time bad boys to Wall Street brokers blowing off steam.
The Motorcyclepedia Museum is an 85,000-square-foot space in Newburgh displaying the collection father-son duo Gerald and Ted Doering has amassed over a combined 80 years. The volunteer-run museum is a love letter to the American motorcycle, with the most complete timeline of Indian motorcycles anywhere in the world, plus a handful of historically significant European and Asian models. "Headlights, horns, handlebars, gas tanks—it's very obvious to see how these parts evolved when you have a timeline as complete as our Indian timeline," says Dale Prusinowski, a Motorcyclepedia trustee.
In addition to the display of over 600 bikes, the museum also has more than 3,000 articles of memorabilia, such as posters and ads, and special interest exhibits that include historical context for different bikes. They have one bike from JFK's motorcade the day was he assassinated, as well as the police motorcycle that was the first vehicle to arrive in Roswell, New Mexico, when aliens had supposedly landed in 1948. Through this thoughtful curation, motorcycles become a lens through which to view the history and evolution of America.
