Jawa,

[crack]

A chappie just came into my office, and mentioned he saw a JAWA, 350 or 500cc, twin cylinder, overhead cam, motorcycle back in 1956??
Anyone on here that could elaborate, I have been on the web and Googled it but havn't had any luck.

[eliot-ness]

This will be the one. 1955 500cc

[pritch]

A chappie just came into my office, and mentioned he saw a JAWA, 350 or 500cc, twin cylinder, overhead cam, motorcycle back in 1956??

Nearest thing that I can recall to this would be the factory GP bikes that were campaigned with some effect by Franta Stastny back in the early/mid sixties.
A 'Net search should show some details.

[Bonez]

This will be the one. 1955 500cc

It's good to see that one is out and about. Now doesn't the Kwaka W650 donk have a similar cam shaft bevel drive tunnel? Just tossed that in for those that think the W650s donk is a clone of a Meridian Triumph power plant . The made me do it...........................

[crack]

Thanks Chaps,
There are indeed similarities between the K 650, and the triumph, the side cover on the R/H side reminds me of the BSA Bantom for some reason.

Grahame (The Chappie) is tickled pink to actually see a photo of the machine, so well done Bonez, and thanks.

I wonder if there where any bought into NZ?

Was it a 4 speed, or 3 speed, anyone know, what HP, was it ever raced?
In the meantime I will try to gather what info I can, and will post it, if you guys could continue to assist, it would be appreciated.

[Bonez]

Thanks Chaps,
There are indeed similarities between the K 650, and the triumph, the side cover on the R/H side reminds me of the BSA Bantom for some reason.

Grahame (The Chappie) is tickled pink to actually see a photo of the machine, so well done Bonez, and thanks.

eliot-ness provided the pic.

[eliot-ness]

Was it a 4 speed, or 3 speed, anyone know, what HP, was it ever raced?
In the meantime I will try to gather what info I can, and will post it, if you guys could continue to assist, it would be appreciated.

That particular model seems to be a one off. Post war production was mainly 250cc single and 350cc twin two strokes. Jawa did produce twin overhead camshaft race bikes in the fifties but that wasn't one of them. I can't find any other info on them but if you google the Jawa owners club UK you may find out more.

[Paul in NZ]

There were a few road tests / features in the Classic Bike magazines a while back - pretty sure I have copies. They thought highly of it I seem to remember.

It was a very advanced design but being produced in a Communist Bloc Country? Sigh! Unlikely to ever find one here... Now if it was a CZ - different story, they were assembled in Wellington for a while. Regardless - it would have been a very expensive bike to make in the 50's when people needed cheap transport so I doubt it was ever a high volume machine.

Most striking feature to me was the nacelle which was very triumph like..

[Ixion]

Some more pictures.They were produced through the 50s based on racing engines., There were also quite competative DOHC racing versions.

Jawa were a very capable compnay, we only ever saw their "cooking" two strokes.

And a couple of piccies of an even rarer Jawa. Betcha didn't know about that one.

[Bonez]

That particular model seems to be a one off.

The 500 twins where produced for a few years I think.

[Motu]

That's just gorgeous.That narcelle is sure very much like a Triumph,but there are bits of styling influence over the whole bike - who stole from who? If it wasn't for the brilliance of East European motorcycle engineers we would all be riding the lastest F head Harleys.

[Paul in NZ]

That particular model seems to be a one off. Post war production was mainly 250cc single and 350cc twin two strokes. Jawa did produce twin overhead camshaft race bikes in the fifties but that wasn't one of them. I can't find any other info on them but if you google the Jawa owners club UK you may find out more.

Nope it was a production model and SOHC but yes, the racers were DOHC and completely different.

[Ixion]

Do you notice that it has upside down forks, too? so the Japs stole that from Jawa. Except I guess Jawa stole them first from the BSA Bantam.

EDIT: Found some specs for the OHC 500

65 x73.6 mm
488 cc
26 Hp
4 speeds
Framework simple cradle
Brakes AV/AR Drums
168 kg
135 km/h

[Bonez]

Nope it was a production model and SOHC but yes, the racers were DOHC and completely different.

This page looks interesting

http://www.autosoviet.altervista.org...e9-P(Jawa).htm

Honda actually licenced ideas of Jawa that are still in production scooters to this very day.

[eliot-ness]

Nope it was a production model and SOHC but yes, the racers were DOHC and completely different.

Yep, what I meant was as a production model it was a one off, nothing even remotely similar to that engine before or after. It was produced for a few years but no more development was done.