John Keeble/Getty Images In 2023, America lost the National Motorcycle Museum — a national icon and main attraction in Anamosa, Iowa — to financial issues. It was founded by John Parham in 1989 and contained a collection of over 500 bikes, many of which were sold via Mecum Auctions just days after the museum closed. That's no isolated case, as there have been many heartbreaking automobile museum closures from across the country. While any good auction house can find new homes for rare and collectible bikes, it can't tie together an exhibit that documents motorcycle history in a meaningful or relatable way. Luckily, the seven museums in this article are still around to do exactly that. These are the top-rated motorcycle museums in the country, including well-known venues like the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and lesser-known ones like the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum. Each one is open to visitors and got picked for the strength of its collection, as well as an excellent TripAdvisor rating (none ranked below 4.4 out of 5 stars at the time of writing). Plus, just for good measure, the list also contains two runners up: a temporary exhibit at The Peterson and a small museum hidden inside a Mississippi Honda/Yamaha dealer. For a true motorcycle enthusiast, every museum in the list is worth the visit. Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame (4.4 out of 5) Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame/Facebook Founded in 2001, the Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame in Sturgis, South Dakota, exists to honor and preserve motorcycle history — as well as the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Held for the first time In 1938 from August 12 to 14, the then-called Black Hills Classic featured just nine racers and attracted 175 people. Today, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally regularly draws crowds of over 500,000 visitors and is recognized as the largest motorcycle rally in the world. (It's also pretty stunning to see the Sturgis Bike Rally from above.) Naturally, the rally takes center stage at this museum with the "Spirit of the Rally" exhibit, featuring images from Michael Lichter that date back to 1979. The museum also has an Antiques Room with vintage bikes and a customs room with motorcycles featuring one-off builds/paint jobs. Meanwhile, McGraw's Cycle Shop recreates a 1920s workshop, complete with period-specific tools and a 1913 Harley Davidson. Finally, the Hall of Fame pays tribute to the people who define motorcycle culture. Recent inductees include the three founders of Easyriders magazine and Mary McGee — the first U.S. woman to earn a road racing license from the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme. The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame (rated 4.4/5 on TripAdvisor)is located at 999 Main Street, Sturgis, South Dakota. It opens daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting on Memorial Day, then 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Labor Day. After October 18, the museum opens only Tuesday thru Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $16 for adults, $15 for seniors, $14 for military, $5 for kids 9 to 15, and free for kids 8 and under. AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame (4.5 out of 5) Jason Pier in DC/Flickr The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame is built around people, featuring nearly 500 inductees including racers, engineers, and industry pioneers. Its history dates back to 1982, when the American Motorcyclist Association created its Heritage Foundation non-profit charity. Eight years later, in August 1990, the museum got its start in Westerville, Ohio, before moving to its current location at Pickerington in 1999. Occupying a 26,000 square-foot facility, the museum currently houses its Hall of Fame Class of 2025 exhibit, which honors its six latest inductees. They are featured alongside a bronze Glory Days sculpture and a new exhibit on Jerry Young, who became the AMA's First National Tracks Champion in 1972 using his heavily modified 1967 Triumph Mountain Cub. Of course, new names are added to the Hall of Fame every year, and the 2026 Class will likely eventually gain exhibits of their own. The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame (rated 4.5/5) is at 13515 Yarmouth Drive, Pickerington, Ohio. It's open year-round from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but closes on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $3 for students 12 to 17, while kids 11 and under and active AMA members get in free. Groups of 10 or more should call ahead, as should any visitors with special needs. Harley-Davidson Museum (4.6 out of 5) Theasis/Getty Images Prior to the Chicago Motorcycle Show of 1919, Harley-Davidson began setting aside one motorcycle from its production line every year. Since 2008 (89 years later), that historic collection received a public home in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley at The Harley-Davidson Museum. Known as "The Archives," the entire collection features more than 450 motorcycles, but the museum doesn't end there. It features a vivid collection of permanent displays, including the Tank Wall — an entire wall decked out with Harley-Davidson tanks from as far back as 1903 — and a Harley-Davidson that managed to stay mostly intact after being subject to a tsunami. Of course, board track racers and hill climbers (iconic machines representative of turn-of the-century American motorbike racing) also get their share of the spotlight via the museum's Clubs & Competition exhibit. And for anyone wanting more, there's always The Vault; a collection of bikes only accessible via the Beyond The Gate or VIP Tour packages. There are also special limited-time exhibits like Survivors: A Rare WWII-Era Collection; Ezy Ryders, a five-year exploration of Black motorcycle culture in New York City; and Creating A Legend, which features engine sketches, clay models, and rare prototypes. The Harley-Davidson Museum (rated 4.6/5) is at 400 W. Canal St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — though hours may vary during holidays. Adult tickets cost $24 online; seniors, students, and U.S. military with ID pay $20, while kids 5 to 17 pay $8. Children under 5 get in free. Groups of 10 or more should reserve in advance. Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum (4.7 out of 5) Rachel.dicerbo/Wikimedia Commons If you're in Los Angeles and a lover of vintage bikes, the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum is definitely worth the 2.5-hour drive. Located in what used to be the Solvang Designer Outlet Center, the bikes displayed here are owned by Virgil Elings, a physics graduate from MIT and a former faculty member from the University of California at Santa Barbara. The models he collected show his appreciation for road racing and motocross, with a few hallmarks that even die-hard enthusiasts would kill to see. The 100+ bike collection features a 1963 Honda CR 93 (one of Honda's rarest motorcycles), a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (created in response to complaints from the British), and various European and British machines from makers like Ducati, Moto Guzzi, BMW, and more. Plus, the museum consistently rotates its display bikes, meaning that any list of its highlights serves as an overview — but not a guarantee of what you'll find on display when you actually visit. The Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum (rated 4.7/5) is at 320 Alisal Road, Solvang, California. It's open on only Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 per person, cash only, and kids 10 and under get in free as long as they're accompanied by a guardian. Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum (4.8 out of 5) Ritu Manoj Jethani/Shutterstock George Barber won 63 races driving Porsches in the 1960s before he began collecting classic cars and motorbikes in 1988. His museum opened in Birmingham's Southside in 1995, and in 1998, the museum lent 21 motorcycles to the Guggenheim's "The Art of the Motorcycle" exhibition. Finally, in 2003, the museum relocated to its current home: the purpose-built Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, complete with a 2.38-mile racetrack. In March 2014, it was crowned the world's largest motorcycle museum by Guinness World Records Today, more than 1,000 bikes are on display at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum at any one time; the full collection includes over 1,800 motorcycles representing more than a century of production. Among them are three rare Indians: the 1905 Camelback, 1941 841, and 1914 Hendee Special — all of which constitute some of the rarest Indian motorcycles in the world. Other highlights include one of four 1954 AJS E95 "Porcupine" Grand Prix racers. Car fans have plenty to see, too, including the winning Ferrari F-158 from the 1964 Formula 1 world championship. The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum (rated 4.8/5) is at 6030 Barber Motorsports Parkway in Birmingham, Alabama. It opens Monday through Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday at noon, closing at 6 p.m. from April through September and 5 p.m. from October through March. Admission costs $25 for adults, $20 for military visitors, and $10 for children aged 4 to 12. Major event weekends require an additional ticket to enter the park. Wheels Through Time (4.8 out of 5) HDstormriders/Facebook Dale Walksler, born 1952, found himself invested in motorcycles at an early age — even making his own at the age of 15. During the first half of the 1970s, he opened his two first motorcycle shops. And by the time he was 22, Dale purchased his own Harley-Davidson dealership in Mt Vernon. His dealership housed the earliest iteration of his museum which, in 2002, moved to its current location: a 38,000-square-foot shed in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. While Dale passed away to cancer in 2021 at 68 years old, his work lives on through his now-iconic museum, Wheels Through Time, which is run by his son, Matt. Wheels Through Time might be best defined by its slogan "the museum that runs," which refers to how the museum apparently keeps most of its displayed motorcycles operational. The museum also boasts multiple exhibits — including Board Track America, which documents American board track racing and features bikes like a 1916 Big Valve Excelsior, a 1912 Model SR Thor, and a 1914 Harley-Davidson Model A. Its strangest exhibit, however, is a 1916 Traub that found behind a bricked-up wall in Chicago circa 1970. Wheels Through Time (rated 4.8/5) is at 62 Vintage Lane, Maggie Valley, North Carolina and opens 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Thursday to Monday "for the 2026 season" as it describes on its website. Admission costs are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $7 for kids. Considering its seasonal openings, it might be best to call the museum ahead of time to confirm its opening dates. Motorcyclepedia Museum (4.9 out of 5) Motorcyclepedia Museum/Facebook No list of motorcycle museums could be complete without mentioning Jerry Doering's Motorcyclepedia Museum in Newburgh, New York. Founded in 2011, it's one of the newer museums on this list, but don't let that fool you — its founder had a serious collection on his hands. The late Jerry Doering bought his first Indian Scout in 1944 with the help of his father, and that enthusiasm was eventually shared with his own son, Ted. And after years of collective collecting, the two founded the Motorcyclepedia Museum in 2011. The collection they built over nearly a century is now on display in the 85,000-square-foot museum. One of the standout exhibitions there is the Indian Timeline, which displays 52 years of Indian motorcycles starting from the turn of the 20th century. Other highlights include live performances in a Wall of Death, a 1964 Harley-Davidson ridden by a police officer in JFK's motorcade, and the Triumph ridden by Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape." The Motorcyclepedia Museum (rated 4.9/5) is at 250 Lake St., Newburgh, New York. It's open Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults 17 and up, or $8 on Thursdays; kids 16 and under get in free. Honorable Mentions Msphotographic/Getty Images Two more museums deserve your attention that don't strictly meet the ranking criteria, including one that made our list of the 10 top-rated car museums to visit in the US. The first is "The American Motorcycle" exhibit currently on at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Though it's not a permanent museum, this collection is sure to delight with its gaze beyond Harley-Davidson and Indian to some of the other 300-odd companies building motorcycles in the U.S. between 1900 and the 1930s. The exhibition apparently features over 25 rare bikes from the period, including an 1898 Cleveland Tricycle, a 1904 Thomas Auto-Bi, and a 1905 Nelk built in Palo Alto. The exhibition runs until March 7, 2027 on the second floor of the Petersen, and access is included with regular museum tickets. Second comes Lake Hill Motors. Search for it online and you'll find nothing more than a simple roadside Honda and Yamaha dealer in. However, tucked away inside the shop is what some enthusiasts consider one of America's best hidden motorcycle exhibits. Its collection includes roughly 150 rare motorcycles belonging to store owner Duane McLemore. On display are, according to visitors, a 1901 Steffey, a 1996 Ducati 955 SP, and two Sandcast 1969 Honda CB750s. The museum is usually open during shop hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and until 3 p.m. on Saturdays), but consider calling the store prior to visiting just to make sure.