The Grom Motorcycle Museum is a private collection housed in an old industrial building in the centre of the town of Vransko in central Slovenia. It claims to be the largest motorcycle museum in Slovenia, a claim undoubtedly well founded as it is a large collection by any standards.

The Grom collection has a strong emphasis on unrestored machinery and the unusual. The geographic location meant that back in the day the motorcycles of Slovenia were truly international. Italian brands are strongly represented but there is a decent spread of French, German, American and British machinery too along with a patriotic smattering of Tomos products. 

Many of the exhibits are working and used on the road and a good number are held in a preserved state. There is a wonderful 1906 Puch in a glass case that is completely unmolested and original down to period tyres which have worn down to the string casing. The collection is expanding and projects are trundling out of the workshop on a regular basis. On the go whilst I visited was a French Majestic hub centre steered machine from the late twenties.

Though Vransko is a sleepy town it's got a lot of charm, is set in stunning countryside and  definitely warrants a night or two stay. The Museum itself has a bed and breakfast attached, no-one was in when we arrived so we ended up next door in a friendly small pizzeria restaurant and bar which had comfortable and reasonably priced rooms.  

The Museum is well worth going out of your way to visit, Ljubljana airport isn't far away and a long weekend in Slovenia isn't out of the question for Europeans. Below a selection of the Museum's exhibits, more to come over the next few days...

Just outside the sleepy village of Saku�ak near the medieval city of Ptuj in the heart of the Slovenske Gorice wine growing region of northeastern Slovenia can be found a shrine to the area's most famous son, Johann Puch, or Janez Puh to give him the name he was born with..

A short blip back in time and Slovenia was part of the Austro Hungarian Empire, the Austrian city of Graz where the Puch factory lies is just a short drive across the border. Then, as now, it was not unnatural that a young man would take his talent north to earn a living. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia a sense of national pride has flourished in Slovenia and though Puh may have found success in Austria the people of Slovenske Gorice are keen to remember that he was one of their own.

The Puch Museum is run by the Janez Puh Jur�inci Society ('Dru�tvo rojaka Janeza Puha'), is situated in beautiful countryside and housed in a traditional thatched local building. A nice touch is that there is a wine cellar beneath that serves as a club house par excellence. The Museum is open at weekends or in the week by prior arrangement. I was lucky enough that the tourist office in nearby Ptuj called up for me (English not spoken at the museum whilst I was there, though German is) and arranged a mid-week visit. Very generous of the Museum to have opened up for just the one soul coming along to have a look, it highlights that it is very much the enterprise of a bunch of enthusiasts.

On arrival you are invited to watch a short film about the life of Janez Puh. It's a well made and entertaining short film and thankfully available in several languages. After that a browse around the exhibits. There's a modest collection of motorcycles and bicycles, a room of memorabilia and a room with an ethnological display of local life a couple of hundred years back. A really enjoyable museum to visit, full of charm and enthusiasm and well worth a look if you are in the area.

Check the website of the Puhov Musej (Johann Puch / Janez Puh Museum).

This summer's family holiday was a road trip to Slovenia. Surprisingly close to the UK and plenty of good things to see on the way. We made a slight detour to take in the Stelvio Pass. I've wanted to drive / ride the pass for a good while, I guess my dream was rather to take a classic sports bike up and over but you take what you are given and in the end it was summitted with the wife and kids in a Volkswagen family van.

We went up from the Swiss side which was surprisingly quiet (at least in comparison to the Italian). The Swiss side is a narrow road with poor visibility for most of it so not great for getting up speed. The summit at 2760m is spectacular, slightly blighted with some pretty tawdry souvenir shops but you can forgive that for the views.

High season the majority of the traffic is cyclists, some ascenting with ease and some looking like their chances of reaching the top are slim. Hats off to all of them for having a go though. It's a tough climb. The sheer number of cyclists combined with family vehicles and the odd coach would make a sporting climb on a bike or driving a performance car slightly difficult and frustrating so my judgement would be best leave that for the other passes, cruise a bit and enjoy the views.

There is a campsite near the bottom on the Italian side, Camping Trafoi, which enjoys some of the best views from a campsite that I've seen this side of the Pamirs. Strongly recommended.

If like me you are a bike nerd and you take enjoyment in identifying obscure old motorcycles from faded photographs then here is a challenge.

One of the best things about writing a blog like this is the folks who every so often get in touch about a post. Just over a year ago I posted up a copy of  the Globe of Death postcard below and then about a week back Robin in Sweden got in touch to say that he is the new owner of the Globe.

I'm kind of jealous of Robin as it happens that he is already the proprietor of a Wall of Death (that he actually built himself) and it's long been a fantasy of mine to run and ride a Wall. Check out the Sixten Jansson's Motorcirkus site.

The story of the Swedish Globe is that it came to the country in the fifties and was used through to sometime in the sixties. The Globe was put in to storage up until the eighties when it was passed on to a guy who owned a company whose logo was a globe. The Globe of Death was then used as a billboard and was a local landmark in the town of H�ssleholm. Then, about ten years ago, the company moved a couple of blocks and the Globe ended up sitting in the company's yard gathering weeds. Despite interest over the years the Globe's owners always refused to sell until just now when Robin's persistence paid off and he became the new owner.

The Globe looks to be in a fairly decent state of repair all things considered. Robin is going to do some restoration work on it and hopes to have it in service next season. The Globe is just a great piece of folk history and it's cool to know that it is going to come back to life and still has the power to thrill and excite crowds after all these years. Resurrecting the sidecar act as in the postcard would be genuinely awesome! Good work Robin, ride safe.

Strange how there seem to be so many studio posed photos featuring Coventry Eagles.  Maybe it was some kind of sponsorship deal. This particular bike bears the reg number CE 1927, from the same studio a photo has featured on the blog before with the reg CE 1930.