In the shuttle through the serpentines

SKS Bikeshuttle brought unique vintage cars to the snow-covered Timmelsjoch just in time for the reopening

Mogendorf, November 16, 2021

While 15 of their colleagues transported the motorcycles of 500 bikers to the still sunny Balearic island for the Mallorca Bike Week, five drivers from SKS Spedition from the Westerwald had to solve a task that was no less exciting. On November 3rd and 10th, they brought a total of around 200 unique motorcycles to the rebuilt vintage car museum on Timmelsjoch in Austria in the well-known black trucks with red and white lettering.

You will remember that the museum with its unique exhibits almost completely burned down at the beginning of the year. The images have also caused physical pain among die-hard motorcycle enthusiasts. Wonderful history has literally gone up in flames here: from the first production motorcycle, the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller from 1889, to the MV Agusta that Giacomo Agostini once drove.

However, one success story is the rapid reconstruction of the Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum in Tyrol, for which the brothers Alban and Attila Scheiber are responsible. They also operate the neighboring 5-star superior TOP Hotel Hochgurgl – 2,150 meters above sea level. And this was also the challenge for Marcus Bellinger, Paco Liquete, Dietmar Jahn, Roger Rau and Daniel Schnitzler, who drove the valuable cargo over the serpentines in their black semi-trailers. The valuable bikes are securely lashed in the motorcycle frames developed by SKS and two frames stand on top of each other.

“We are all motorcyclists too,” says Marcus Bellinger, “driving the pass road on two wheels is fantastic. However, steering 34 motorcycles in a trailer through the hairpin bends is something different and not an everyday occurrence for us - especially when additional snow has fallen. But my colleagues are all very experienced, many have over a million kilometers on the clock, so even the most valuable bike is absolutely safe.”

All exhibits were delivered on time and in perfect condition. These are loans from the Hockenheimring and Neckarsulm museums. The Hochgurgl Motorcycle Museum can reopen on time on November 18th - exactly 10 months after the devastating fire. For the men from SKS, who transport around 85,000 motorcycles over the course of a year, it was still two special days of work that will remain in their memory.

Text and image credit: SKS BIKESHUTTLE