Motorrad-Museum Ibbenbüren

The Motorrad-Museum Ibbenbüren is one man's life on two wheels. Robert Stockmann began collecting in 1978 and still runs the museum he built in a former village school, now home to more than 170 motorised two-wheelers, and here is the part that separates it from bigger museums: every machine is kept in operational condition.

The range is remarkable for a private collection: an 1882 high-wheeler at one end, and at the other the Münch Mammut 1200 TTS, the heaviest motorcycle Germany ever built. Between them run pre-war rarities from Mars, Diehl, Stock and Wanderer, and the full parade of 1950s German motorcycling: BMW, Adler, DKW, NSU, Zündapp and Hercules, mopeds and NSU Quicklys included. Engine cutaways, emblems, period gear and careful plaques round out a collection curated with a mechanic's eye.

Every Pentecost the museum hosts the International Motorcycle Veterans Meeting, billed as continental Europe's largest gathering of its kind, which tells you everything about its standing among riders.

A compact, dense, personally curated collection walked in 60 to 90 minutes, with the kind of mechanical detail big museums gloss over.

Look out for:

• The Münch Mammut 1200 TTS, Germany's heaviest motorcycle and the collection's crown.

• The 1882 high-wheeler, where the whole story starts.

• The pre-war rarities: Mars, Diehl (including a 1927 water-cooled machine), Stock and Wanderer, names most riders have never seen in the metal.

• The 1950s German wall: BMW, Adler, DKW, NSU, Zündapp and Hercules, the golden age of the German motorcycle industry in one room.

• The cutaway engines, led by a sectioned Yamaha 1000, showing what the plaques describe.

• The operational promise: these machines run, and the owner can tell you how each one sounds.

Photography is welcome, dogs are allowed, and if you catch Herr Stockmann in a talkative mood, the visit doubles in value.

• Weekends only, April to October: Saturdays 2pm to 6pm, Sundays and public holidays 10am to 6pm. Closed weekdays and through winter.

• Tickets: €4 adult, €2 child (6 to 14), under 5 free. Group visits and guided tours outside regular hours by arrangement: +49 170 3563391.

• Pentecost weekend brings the International Motorcycle Veterans Meeting; a spectacle, but expect crowds and plan parking.

• Getting there: just off the A30 at Ibbenbüren with free parking, and the bus stop "Motorradmuseum" on line R45 at the door; a natural stop on any Münsterland or Teutoburg Forest ride.

• Wheelchair accessible entrance, parking and restroom.

Last updated: 2 September 2026