Jawa At Home

JAWA AT HOME

SLONIGER

MOTORCYCLES REACT like the people who build them, to coin a cliche. Czechoslovakia today is a country of open roads — there are such lands left — with some good surface and a lot of graveled potholes mixed with slippery, decreasing radius, blind cobbled bends. Which brings us to the Jawa. Not a perfect bike, perhaps, but one hell of a logical way to rush about the Krkonose mountains.

In short I was more than happy to accept Jawa hospitality and use a 250 Supersport while chasing the recent ISDT in north-eastern Bohemia for CYCLE WORLD. “Chasing” is the operative word there, incidentally, not catching, but that was no fault of the bike.

The Supersport was a particularly happy choice for me, based in Germany, because we can’t try one here. The decibels are simply too many for this model to be licensed. Actually it didn't seem all that noisy but then we were surrounded by open mufflers most of the week. For the record this Jawa puts out 17 of the husky type horses at 5250 rpm from 248.5cc (65 x 75 mm), three more than the normal 250 single and only one less than their 350 twin. Since it weighs 2 pounds less than the 250 normal and a full 24 under the 350 it is naturally quicker off the mark and faster overall.

As a matter of fact I neglected to tell my wife about the acceleration on dry pavement and almost lost her rearwards. Jawa rates the 250 SS at 78 mph top. Without a full test I would judge our test bike, with 3500 miles on the clock, was topping out at 75 or so, quick stop-watch checked. The needle quit at that point and would just bounce off its peg, uncalibrated.

More to the point, for following a cross-country trial, the Jawa is exceptionally stable on the ruts, and has the fork travel to handle the blue stone which dominated the Krkonose area around Spindleruv Mlyn where they ran the ISDT this time. With 16-inch wheels it could be a handful in deep mud but we tried to avoid that and stayed upright most of the time. It gets twitchy when pushed into downhill corners too fast (don’t they all) but part of this was the extra boost which comes in deceptively.

The SS porting means that you have to wind third gear out pretty well to keep your action into fourth. The clutch on our particular machine, which looked well used, was heavy, the handbrake was easy. The rear brake was about 7/8 shot, another reason for backing off early for the bends.

The Jawa is obviously meant to be left out more often than not. After the most ferocious thunderstorm I’ve ever seen one night the only service necessary was drying off the seat. It started second kick, as always on cold mornings. Warm starts were only slightly trickier. Bumbling around the crowded resort town didn't suit the 250 SS any more than its rider but it would clear its throat in a couple hundred yards of open road and we never had to pull a plug for cleaning, though on the brink once or twice.

It’s significant in this sense that the factory Six-Days bikes are all singles, whether 250, 350 or overbored for the 500 class. Even the road 350 Supersport is a single, unlike the standard 350 twin. They like the tracking better in thick going and I would be inclined to agree.

The current Jawas were quite a sensation when first seen right after the war, and still able to hold their own for durability and steady performance, though gradually falling behind on sheer power by now. Rumors have an equally sensational line ready — depending on internal decisions and CZ counterparts. While we’re waiting, the current Jawa 250 is more than sufficient for dual-purpose riding, pavement or back country •