Oamaru motorcycle dealer Rick Selfe this week brought in seven motorcycles he is loaning for the exhibition, the oldest being a 1965 Czechoslovakian-made CZ 250.
Mr Selfe (66), a former motocross rider, was looking forward to a ''brilliant'' show, which will boast more than 100 motorcycles when it opens on November 16.
Among the stars of the developing collection is a 998cc Brough Superior SS80 Deluxe Special, a high-quality and expensive motorcycle made in England in 1936.
Museum content services officer Rebecca Keenan said she had been a ''confirmed pedestrian'', but now planned to learn to ride a motorcycle after being impressed by the ''astonishing'' quality of the nearly 50 machines already at the museum.
The show's oldest machine was made in 1902 and the newest was manufactured this year.
The show, ''REVolution: 100 years of motorcycles'', will run until February 16.
