Highest Motorcycle Museum in the world

TOP MOUNTAIN CROSSPOINT MUSEUM

EDIT 19/01/20121
The museum sadly is no more. Yesterday it burned to the ground, along with all the amazing cars and bikes that were exhibited there. This is a very sad day for all motorcycle enthusiasts.

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This was a special day for several reasons. For once, the weather was great and I (Guzzi G5) was riding with my brother (LeMans 1) and our friend Paolo (Honda CX) from Bozen up to the Timmelsjoch (2.509meters), which is a great experience in itself.

The reason we rode there though, was because we wanted to visit the newly built Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum, the highest motorcycle museum in the world (2.175meters).

The museum, owned by 2 (wealthy) brothers houses a collection of truly remarkable bikes and a few cars. It's located just 8 km after the Timmelsjoch, on the Austrian side of the mountain.

Another reason for being a special day was the fact that just when we arrived at the car park, my G5 started to play up and run on only one cylinder. We tried to change the spark plug but nothing changed. In the end we decided to go to the museum and hope it would run better when it cooled down again.
By the way, if you come from the Italian side (South Tyrol), leave your bike at the car park BEFORE the toll boot, otherwise you'll have to pay for the privilege for parking right in front of the museum, which is 5 meters AFTER the toll boot.

Anyways, after we spent a few hours admiring the splendors of the museum, we went back to the bikes, ready to head back home. But lo and behold, my trusty G5 didn't want to start at all. There was nothing left to do than going back to Bolzano, taking Paolo's van and driving back up to rescue the G5 and me.
By this time it was about 4.30pm, it was cold and there was a fierce (cold) breeze blowing. No worries I thought, I can wait inside the restaurant and keep warm while I wait for the guys to come back. Not so!
The museum and the restaurant shut their doors at 5pm.

I asked one of the waiters if it would have been possible to wait for my rescue somewhere inside, but he just looked at me with a smirk and said: Do you expect us to keep the place open just for you?
Well, thanks for the help, ASSHOLE.

So, there was nothing left for me to do than waiting outside. The first hour I spent admiring the beautiful views. Then, I'm not sure if it was the altitude, the cold, the wind or the hangover from the day before, I started to get a bad headache. The second hour I spent walking up and down to keep warm, and throwing up in the bushes. The third hour was all about keeping my fingers from freezing and a lot more walking.
When my brother and Paolo finally arrived, I was in a pretty bad shape. We loaded the unfortunate G5 onto the "shame-van" and drove down to more pleasant temperatures.

Down the mountain in the shame-van :-(

That was a day I will remember for a long time, and if I ever forget, I'll just look on my front fender, where I stuck a sticker of the Timmelsjoch.

There's a big and nicely decorated restaurant that will come in handy after a spirited ride up the mountain and the fresh, high altitude air. I recommend the Gulasch soup: affordable and good.

These bikes are still part of the free area. For the actual museum, the entry fee is 10Euros.

This is were the actual museum starts. First, there was a temporary exhibition with some bikes, but mainly focused on off road cars and trucks.

funny face

And now to the main section. Lots and lots of beautiful and rare bikes (and a few cars, if you're into that sort of vehicles).

A reproduction of the very first production motorcycle: Hildebrand & Wolfmueller

All these awesome bikes needed a worthy display, and I think they nailed it in this museum.

My brother and I