Bikes Are Centerpiece of Berkshire Museum Exhibit

Pittsfield, MA – It seemed like the day would never come. However, a little warmth and a little sunshine provided the opportunity yesterday to back a bike out of the garage, check the tires and head north to the Berkshire Museum to check out the motorcycles on display as part of the “Berkshire Collects” exhibit.

A friend had tipped me earlier that the exhibit included a rare Britten race bike, so I contacted the museum’s director of communications, Lesley Ann Beck, who hooked me up with owner Jim Hunter for an interview. All I needed were some photos to accompany an upcoming RIDE-CT column for “The Republican-American.” That’s the reason friend Neil Tolhurst and I rode the 60 miles north up Route 8 and Route 7/20 to Pittsfield.

It was well worth the ride – not only to get to see the Britten but also two other of Hunter’s vintage loaners – a Ducati and a Kreidler – as well as the overall exhibit itself, a first-time effort running through May 11.

“”We reached out with a community committee that suggested individuals who had varied collections,” said Beck in explaining how the exhibit came to be. “We also used social media.”

Besides motorcycles, there are the metal cars and airplane pictured above, examples of old telephones, campaign button and posters, bicycles, guitars, hand-operated meat grinders, PEZ dispensers, telephone pole insulators, Santa Clauses and much more.

“The variety of the collections is wide. It’s a very eclectic show. It really does have something for everybody,” Beck said. Everything is displayed in a wide-open fashion, making it easy to study the collectibles from close proximity and from various angles.

Of course, the bikes provides the focal point with the Britten (shown below) getting the top spot on the podium – as it should. Only 10 were ever made, and the one the Berkshire Museum has on display was once part of the Guggenheim Museum’s “Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit in 1998.

The Ducati Meccanica (shown below), with its single cylinder and exposed bevel gears, was just as attractive in its own way. It had an appropriate spot of oil beneath it.

Also eye-catching was the Kreidler, a brand founded in Germany in 1903 that began building bikes in 1951. By 1959, one-third of all the bikes made in Germany were Kreidlers.

I didn’t notice it at the time, but in looking at the picture, the Kreidler exhibited some oil drops as well; one of the pleasures of owning vintage machines.

The Berkshire Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $13 for adults and $6 for children. If you’re into old, rare and unusual motorcycles, the Berkshire Collects exhibit is truly required viewing.

– Bud Wilkinson