Wonders Of The Two-Wheeled World

“No photos!” came a heavily accented voice, ‘Forbidden!’ Shocked, I spun around. Surely this weathered, elderly man wasn’t planning to stop me from photographing the mechanical beauty surrounding us - even if it did belong to him.
Seeing the shocked expression on my face he softened, smiled and carried on in his native French. “No photos, unless you plan on coming for a drink with me later.” His equally elderly companions rumbled with laughter, assuming that the young, naive tourist stood in front of them could neither understand, nor care.
“I’ll come for a drink,” I replied, emulating his mother tongue, “If I can take one of these home with me,” I gestured towards the dozens of classic motorcycles surrounding us.
The aged congregation spluttered and laughed, this time at the expense of their crony. I was relieved - I had been accepted, even welcomed into their exquisite museum, hidden in the heart of the fortified medieval village of Entrevaux, Southern France.
The village made a beautifully odd backdrop for a motorcycle museum, but the true ‘piece de resistance’ was the museum itself. A two-story cottage bearing little exterior signage to its historical contents, it was only upon stepping inside that I realised the true grandeur of the collection.
Motorcycles of all manufacturers lined the walls. From the earliest motorised Peugeot bicycle, to the British Royal Enfields that served their country in WWII, many of these motorcycles preceded even their guardian, a certain Monsieur Michel Lucani.
Michel and his son Franck have displayed their personal collection of motorcycles at La Musee de la Moto for the past 35 years. Describing themselves as ‘simple workers’, their passion for the classics is obvious in the beautifully restored, dust-free machines.
Perched aloft on shelves, many of these 75 motorcycles hold extraordinary provenance. The oldest dates from 1901, and whilst others have no written history, Monsieur Lucani is proud to recount tales from memory of their previous lives.
An ancient stone spiral staircase links the two levels of the museum - the lower level grotto-like, and the upstairs cavernous. It beggars belief how the Frenchmen had manoeuvred the revered machines upstairs.
Badges, posters, photos and other memorabilia fill the gaps between the motorbikes, contributing to their authenticity. It is a shrine to motorcycle heritage - a perfectly preserved time capsule that catapults one back to the pioneering age of engineering exploration.