Rog is undoubtedly the most famous brand of bike in Slovenia. From to it was the only brand of bike in Slovenia. Attempts to move the factory to a cheaper industrial zone on the outskirts of town only delayed the inevitable and soon after bike production stopped.
During the nineties and naughties, international brands flooded the market and naturally being seen pottering around town on a Socialist relic was the contrary of cool, as this freshly-formed country looked firmly to the future.
What goes around comes around, quite literally in the case of the wheels of the Rog brand bikes, which are proving popular again, after a period of being distinctly unfashionable. The reason for this resurgence? The economic crisis.
I like to think of them as the bicycling equivalent of a crotchety grandparent who, after years of being ignored, is brought back into the household, bad manners and all, so that they can be put to work in the garden, or left in charge of feeding the cat. Once in a while someone even finds one in perfect condition in an attic somewhere. The Holland model which we are riding was not the most famous frame to make it out of the Rog factory though. You could fold it around itself and store it, or put it in a car.
Update you can read it here. Now every second window pane is broken and crude graffiti tags run riot along the lower part. We circle around the back and into an untidy courtyard. The main building is sealed shut, whilst some broken bikes sit outside an out house where it appears some counter-culture kids are squatting.
