The Magic Of The Motorbike

By Harry Hamson, Photography © Harry Shutler, Berthon, sammymiller.co.uk

Not far from Berthon’s HQ down a pretty country lane, lies an intriguing building that you are beckoned to investigate by its scale, and an aeroplane parked just outside. Drive in, park, and you have entered Sammy Miller’s Museum and its treasure trove of around 500 motorbikes. Aged 90, Sammy Miller twinkles with fun, of course he’s still riding motorbikes – almost daily. In 1983, he opened his museum. In those days it had 50 motorbikes, but as the collection expanded, the Museum moved to today’s site.

SAMMY’S TROPHIES – OVER FOURTEEN HUNDRED

Sammy started riding push bikes on the rugged Irish hills at around 15. Given a Villiers engine at 17 by his father, he built a motorbike around it called SHS, which he entered in a local trials competition and left the rest for dust. Next were the Scottish Six Days trials which Sammy won 5 times, and then a long line of successes in trials riding and road racing.

His competitive career is catalogued by the vast display of trophies that can be seen at the Museum on the upper level above the main entrance, which chart his history in competition. Sammy won the British Trials Championships eleven times, as well as winning over 1,400 competition events across various disciplines. Amongst the many trophies you will also find a 1929 Francis Barnett 200cc (VC 961) together with a photo of a youthful Sammy on the first motorbike that he ever bought in Comber Northern Isles – a Francis Barnett of course! With this bike is the receipt dated 26th February 1949 for £10!

1929 FRANCIS BARNETT 200CC (VC 961)

PORTRAIT OF SAMMY WITH A 1929 AKD ABINGDON KING DICK MODEL 78

SAMMY IN THE SCOTTISH SIX DAYS TRIALS RACING 1954

1929 AKD ABINGDON KING DICK MODEL ALSO WITH KING DICK SPANNER

Building motorbikes was also an important part of his career, working at Ariel to develop the 500cc Ariel HT5. Then to Spain to build the Sherpa T for Bultaco and then to Honda in Japan. However, the New Forest was home and opening the Museum was his next move, initially to show his private collection of favourite bikes. Of course, today the Museum has one of the finest collections of motorbikes on the planet. As Sammy admits – it’s a passion that just got out of control!

1942 WD TRIUMPH – 500CC

Awarded an MBE in 2009 by Prince, now King Charles for his services to Motorcycle heritage, the work of restoring and showing motorbikes has continued ever since.

OUR INCREDIBLY FRIENDLY GOAT

A PROUD TURKEY

Aware that not all members of the families visiting the Museum are motorbike mad, there are also animals in abundance, including several very friendly donkeys, goats and alpacas, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea fowl. They are all free ranging. At the entrance to the museum courtyard there are two aviaries and a centre fountain that is home to some koi carp. All love the visitors to the place and there is a great tearoom and some craft shops too. It is a lovely place to spend time in.

Sammy loves all his bikes and has no favourite. However, he does have a soft spot for Nortons and a room on the ground floor of the museum is home to a huge variety of Nortons of varying year and model. The Museum holds the first Norton that Sammy ever bought and competed on.

LOWER HALL – 500CC SEELEY AT THE FOREFRONT

1914 WORLD WAR ARMY TRIUMPH

Practically every motorbike at the Museum is operational and very many of them have been worked on and restored by Sammy himself. This is an ongoing task as the bikes do not get traded or sold or altered. Once in the Museum they are cherished, rebuilt as needed and ridden. For Sammy and his team, restoring an old bike that hasn’t run for 80 years, and then taking it out into the courtyard to fire it up and take it for a ride, is just as magical today as it ever was. Sammy never wanted the Museum to be like so many others, full of static displays to be dusted and polished. Today all but five of the bikes in the Museum run perfectly – including one that is made of wood! If you look at our imagery carefully, you will see that most of the bikes have oil drip trays beneath them – so not static but merely waiting for the next motorbike ride.

1905 NORTON – 500CC PEUGEOT ENGINE – THE OLDEST NORTON IN THE WORLD

The bikes provide a fascinating snapshot, not only of the evolution of the motorbike but also how engineering, design and build materials have changed since that day aged 17 when that Villiers engine was handed to Sammy and he decided to make it part of the SHS. You will find hundred year-old bikes at the Museum, right up to relatively modern bikes and all the classic racers.

1898 QUADRANT – THE OLDEST MOTORCYCLE IN THE MUSEUM WITH A NUMBER PLATE AF69

1956 NORTON – MODEL F – 350CC – GRAND PRIX BIKE

1978 MILLER 350CC

RACING HALL

1924 225CC ROYAL ENFIELD

1969 MOTO VILLA – 250CC FOUR CYLINDER

Sammy reckons that probably the best bike in the Museum is a V4 supercharged liquid-cooled AJS, that Walter Rusk set the first hundred mile a lap record on at the 1939 Ulster Grand Prix. It’s an achievement for the Museum to own the bike, the first bike to win a world championship – its full name is the AJS Porcupine.

FRONT ENTRANCE TO SAMMY MILLER’S MUSEUM

The Sammy Miller Museum is a dynamic place full of machinery, restoration, animals, families and fun. Sammy has now cut down to a six-day working week, and both he and his motor bike mad staff are working and playing with motorbikes as hard as ever. The Museum is a heritage trust so it will be around buying, restoring, and accumulating motorbikes far into the future.

2003 HARLEY DAVIDSON V ROD – 1131CC

We couldn’t finish this article without introducing you to just a couple of the real stars of the Museum –

Miller 350 1978 Trials Bike Few know that Sammy designed and built a bike intended for mass production for the global trials market. Called the Miller, he collaborated with Andrew Mosconi at Hiro in 1978 who provided the engine. Very successful with both Sammy and John Metcalfe in the saddle, it remained a prototype. The Miller languished in storage for many years before Sammy restored it to its original condition.

S.H.S (SAMUEL HAMILTON SPECIAL)

SHS (Samuel Hamilton Special) Sammy’s first bike – with that Villiers engine on a Matchless frame. SHS stood for Samuel Hamilton Special.

Every so often you come across a magical place, full of magical objects and that is certainly the case with the Sammy Miller Museum. It is also alive with enthusiasm and passion for the history and development of the motorbike. It is in its way iconic, made possible by the enthusiasm and determination of one man. You will see his name on the door as you enter… Sammy Miller.

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