Nat'l Motorcycle Museum

[Grumpy Goat]

From their website

“We have struggled for several years to cover wages and utilities partly due to low visitation.”

The fact that low visitation was the only "part" mentioned as a cause, suggests it is the most significant. One can speculate about the reason for the low visitation.

I wonder what would be the result of a 5 Why's (or similar) root cause analysis of low visitation to motorcycle museums. Maybe it would suggest that of the people who are presently interested in motorcycling in the US, that demographic interested in the history and development of the sport to where we are today, is fading away. Also, in this country motorcycles are not, in general, used for transportation but rather a weekend leisure activity. Costs tend to discourage less economically advantaged people from getting into the sport, and increasing complexity of the machinery discourages DIYers, not to mention the interest and patience of the current younger generation in learning to do even simple maintenance themselves.

Then there are the displays in these museums themselves - unless they are kept fresh with newer historical pieces, and professionally done displays, the visitors will more and more tend to see the collections as "old junk" ... and in some cases maybe they are - who has the time to go there and sift the wheat from the chaff in a museum. People want eye-catching displays professionally laid out in such a way that the story is effectively told.

Many other factors that could be considered as causative, but the bottom line is that these establishments will all sadly fade away unless kept fresh, and where they are being run by enthusiasts as non-profits that will always be a challenge. A case in point would be something like the Barber Museum which from what I understand is on a stronger existential footing.

Maybe this is just my view of these museums ... just my 2 cents.