Motorcycle museum is a ride through history

The Wheels Through Time museum in western North Carolina holds what's generally considered one of the top collections of motorbikes in North America.

William Davidson of Harley-Davidson toured this spring, and though the executive budgeted a 45-minute visit, he spent four hours viewing what his family and others had built.

In August, two of the museum's restored machines won top honors in California at the invitation-only Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Among those buttonholing museum founder Dale Walksler was "Tonight Show" star Jay Leno, a longtime motorcycle buff.

Two years ago, Walksler also rode his 1918 World War I motorcycle up Pennsylvania Avenue in the Obama inauguration parade.

The museum, which holds roughly 300 antique motorcycles, is well known among riders but has been less known to the public until recently. This year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation installed 20 brown information signs touting the place on highways near the museum's Maggie Valley home.

The area's allure for cyclists appealed to Walksler, a former Harley-Davidson national dealer of the year who moved his museum from the Midwest to the 38,000-square-foot building he put up at his own expense in 1999.

The museum specializes in 27 American makes, notably Harleys - the American-built highway-cruising "hogs" that have a strong brand loyalty.

Every day, a few motorcycles are wheeled outside the museum doors. The carpeted lobby holds eight bikes, including a pair of 1935 Harleys - one fully restored and shiny, the other retaining its as-acquired wear.

There are two new-looking composite Harleys that Walksler built with parts from the '30s and '40s. Right inside the door is a 1909 Pierce that belonged to actor Steve McQueen. It looks like an elongated bicycle: The rider stretched far forward over a frame outfitted with a long, narrow four-piston engine.

The 1912 Excelsior looks like a modified pedal-bike. All it took to get into the motorcycle business then, museum volunteer Bob White says, was a bike frame, a four-stroke Thor engine, a headlight and wheels.

The first motorized vehicle to cross America was a motorcycle driven by George Wyman in 1905. He rode a 1905 Yale. Only a handful were built.

One is here.

No problem if you can't tell a knucklehead from a panhead or a flathead (they're types of engines). A volunteer can show you around. Ask for details about a particular bike, and he might wheel it out a bit before recapping its heritage.

Visitors are allowed to sit on many of the motorcycles. Wheels Through Time bills itself as "a museum that runs," so the quiet is frequently interrupted by the ka-RANG-ANG-ANG-ANG of a two-cylinder startup. There will be a small waft of spent fuel, but not much: The engines are finely tuned.

Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is $12; seniors $10, children $6. The museum is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.