Folks in Texas know the Hill Country has the best riding roads in the state. And in the western reaches nestled in the rolling hills near Lost Maples State Park — the “Swiss Alps of Texas” — is a gem of a motorcycle collection. Housed at the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum in Vanderpool, a town so small it isn't on many maps, the museum is a pearl of Texas.

Operated by expat Aussie Alan Johncock, the museum contains all manner of delectable vintage motos. Of the 50-some bikes on hand, most are of English origin, with a smattering of other Euro and Japanese machines and some early American iron.

The museum basically started by accident, the result of 20 years of collecting classic bikes. Before moving to Vanderpool Johncock lived in Houston, where he started his collection.

But once he moved to the Hill Country, the museum seemed like a natural direction to run. “We started building in 1999 and finished in 2003,” Johncock says. “We didn’t have a master plan, we just opened it.”
Johncock didn’t have any idea whether his museum would attract anyone, but even though the museum’s basically in the middle of nowhere it’s become a destination for thousands of classic bike fans, with upwards of 400 walking through on a busy weekend.

“It’s become a bit of a monster, actually,” Johncock says.

Also housed in the Museum and opened in 2005 is the Ace Café, serving up Aussie meat pies (the national fast food of Australia), burgers and extras. “Bikers get mean if they’re hungry,” Johncock notes. We’d suggest coming hungry to dine in the showroom among the vintage bikes.

Johncock restores the machines on site and shares his back workshop space with his wife, Debbie, who runs the café. We should all be so lucky. Besides doing his own restoration work, Johncock campaigns a pair of G50 Matchless — one in a Seeley chassis — in American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association road race events.