Legends Motorcycle Museum

The Compound

I realized that the Legends Motorcycle Museum would be more than just a museum when we arrived late in the afternoon after a 600-mile ride north from southern California. We arrived too late to visit the museum, but not too late to have dinner at Salisbury’s Strap Tank Restaurant and Brewery. The Strap Tank is one of three structures in the Legends compound, which includes the Legends Museum and Sidecar Cafe, the Strap Tank restaurant, and a third large structure built entirely of different-colored 40-foot shipping containers. The shipping container building contains a vintage motorcycle repair shop, a tattoo studio, a drive-through coffee shop, a theater, a bar, an art gallery, a barbershop, a pizza parlor, and two more planned restaurants.

We enjoyed our dinner that first evening at the Strap Tank, a restaurant that Salisbury named for the 1907 strap tank Harley-Davidson displayed in its unrestored glory as we entered the restaurant, a rare preserved motorcycle with original paint, engine, and tires. As we enjoyed our dinner, we also enjoyed the two vintage Harley-Davidsons in the dining room, the cuisine, the friendly service, and what we at first thought was an old industrial building that had been converted into a fine dining establishment. The joke was on us; the restaurant is new construction, built to look old with architectural salvage components and materials. In addition to the Strap Tank Restaurant and Brewery, Salisbury has opened two similar restaurants in St. George and Lehi, both in Utah. The Strap Tank brewery features custom-crafted beers with names like Sportster IPA, Flathead Lager, Ape Hanger, and more.

The Legends Museum

We had previously arranged to visit the Legends Museum before its normal opening hour so that I could photograph the motorcycles without guests obstructing my photographs. Kyle, one of Legends’ restoration techs, let us in through the museum’s shop area, which contains work bays and advanced CNC equipment where they can make any parts needed for the museum’s vintage motorcycles. In addition to being a motorcycle enthusiast, Rick Salisbury is also a car guy; we saw a stunning restomod ’57 Caddy convertible, with a crate Chevy LS2 engine, in one of the bays. A huge and initially terrifying black pit bull noted our arrival with a deep, room-filling growl. When I froze, my new friend Winston (the pit bull) approached cautiously and, standing taller than me, put his big paws on my shoulders. He gave me a friendly lick. Still frozen, I realized that the coffee served in the museum’s adjacent Sidecar Café would no longer be necessary. Thanks to Winston, I was fully adrenalized and wide awake.

Once inside the 20,000-square-foot museum, I froze again when I saw the first of the collection’s more than 200 motorcycles. The scene was visually arresting. The famous Von Dutch VW-powered motorcycle, which has been seen in print publications of the era and in an episode of the “American Pickers” TV show, stood proudly on a weathered steel pedestal. There were numerous unrestored Panheads, Knuckleheads, Indians, and other machines built when Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy were in the White House. We had entered barn-find heaven. Off to one side, there was a room filled with 1960s/1970s-ish choppers. Legends has an almost dreamlike feel — one that is hard to put into words, but easy to enjoy, and it was working its magic on me. I stood there, basking in the Legends’ aura, letting the experience wash over me. There’s something about dusty and rusty Knuckleheads and Panheads and Indians leaning on each other that just… well, if you know, you know. I’ve been in many museums with motorcycles in better condition than the day they rolled off their assembly lines. This was different, and it was better. It felt more authentic, augmented by the retro-industrial architecture we had experienced in the Strap Tank restaurant and were experiencing again in the museum.

The museum’s second story consists entirely of pre-1920 motorcycles. A bright yellow 1,000cc Joerns Cyclone V-twin, one of only 12 known to exist, dominates the second floor. Salisbury paid a record $1.3 million for the Cyclone at a Mecum motorcycle auction last year; you can view the auction on YouTube. We spotted a beautiful Thor, and I mentioned to Kyle that I had written a Motorcycle Classics story on the Franklin Auto Museum’s Thor in Tucson, Arizona, two years ago. We had been quite excited about that, as Motorcycle Classics’ former editor mentioned, “It’s the first Thor we’ve ever featured.” Kyle nodded and casually mentioned that Legends has three or four Thors. There’s a 1907 Harley-Davidson Strap Tank model (number 2037), reputedly one of the best unrestored examples in existence. The oldest motorcycle in the Legends collection is a 1903 Indian Camelback. In addition to these pre-1920 motorcycles, there are Henderson fours, the aforementioned Thors and Cyclone, a faded orange Flying Merkel (the first I had ever seen), and many others. Our Legends visit was an almost spiritual experience. We were in the First Church of Pre-1920 Patina, and we had become pious acolytes.

Throughout the museum, there are original motorcycle paintings by David Uhl, Scott Jacobs, and others, all well-known motorcycle artists, and cast bronze masterpieces by sculptor Jeff Decker. One of Decker’s life-size motorcycle sculptures is prominently displayed in front of the Legends Museum. Another of Decker’s motorcycle-themed castings, The Horns, adorns the entrance to the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

Utah’s utopian riding

The three rules of real estate (location, location, and location) are equally applicable to motorcycle riding, and one of the best things about the Legends Motorcycle Museum compound is its north-central Utah location. Utah is one of America’s most beautiful states, and it figures prominently in our collection of previous Motorcycle Classics Destinations pieces: Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Park, Utah Highways 12 and 24, Arches Canyon National Park, Golden Spike National Historic Park, and Flaming Gorge National Park. Utah has many, many more beautiful rides and great places to visit. The Legends Motorcycle Museum, the Sidecar Café, the Strap Tank Restaurant and Brewery, and the other businesses in the Legends compound make this place a worthy addition to any Utah visit.