Bruce Main-Smith technical literature goes digital

Published: 18/05/2023

As well as boasting the largest collection of British motorcycles in the world, The National Motorcycle Museum also has an incredible archive of technical literature for motorcycles. The museum has recently completed a project to digitize this incredible resource of over 5000 items.    

Bruce Main-Smith Technical Literature

For over 50 years “BMS” specialized in producing high quality black and white photocopy sets of manufacturer’s original literature that had gone out of print. These are now available to purchase exclusively as digital copies which are delivered directly to customers’ e-mail addresses as a PDF file.

Our web shop contains an alphabetical listing of the over 5000 items which include motorcycle workshop manuals, illustrated parts books, annual sales catalogues, and instruction books from the late 1800s to the 1980s.

The types of digitized PDF files of manufacturer’s original literature, and their uses, can be found below. This literature is invaluable to both restorers and riders of vintage and classic motorcycles.

Workshop Manuals
Only generally published after 1940 when they were introduced for use by army workshops. Following the war all the major manufactures began publishing them for use by dealerships etc.

Illustrated Parts Books
Very useful when searching for missing or replacement parts, often well illustrated using “exploded” drawings, these can be of great help by showing the correct order of assembly.

Annual Sales Catalogues
Almost every manufacturer issued an annual sales catalogue or brochure of some type. These publications usually illustrate every model in the range for the coming year and provide useful specifications of the major components.

Instruction Books
Varying greatly in content, some are basic, whilst others are extremely comprehensive.

Our new digitized service has already proved very popular as buyers can receive their order straight to their computer the same day, no matter where they live in the world.

Available now from www.thenmm.co.uk