Jawa Speedway
For my video; youtu.be/dEL2DoCm1wg
Southward Car Museum, Paraparaumu, New Zealand
The Jawa 500 DOHC is one of the most successful speedway motorcycles of its time, largely thanks to its incredibly solid and simple construction. Jawa was founded in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1929 by industrialist František Janeček who had bought the remnants of motorcycle manufacturer Wanderer. The name “Jawa” was created by combining the first two letters of his surname and the first two letters of Wanderer “Ja + Wa”.
In the 1970s, the speedway racing Jawa 500/894 made an appearance alongside the Jawa 500/895 – which was its long track racing sibling. Jawa designed these motorcycles with a strong focus on building a bullet-proof engine and gearbox, with the lightest possible frame and ancillaries.
The Jawa DOHC 500 used a four-stroke, 494cc, DOHC, single-cylinder, air-cooled alloy engine with a single carburetor, and a header pipe that exits out the front and down the right side of the bike. The engine has a 13.5:1 compression ratio, an 85mm bore with an 87mm stroke, a single overhead spark, 4 valves, a 34mm carburetor, and 60-65 hp at 7500 rpm.
The dry weight of the Jawa 500 DOHC is just 85.5 kilograms (188.5 lbs), making it a supremely flickable motorcycle – ideal for the fast paced, millimeter perfect riding style needed for speedway, but also well-suited to dirt track and ice racing.
Jawa Speedway
For my video; youtu.be/dEL2DoCm1wg
Southward Car Museum, Paraparaumu, New Zealand
The Jawa 500 DOHC is one of the most successful speedway motorcycles of its time, largely thanks to its incredibly solid and simple construction. Jawa was founded in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1929 by industrialist František Janeček who had bought the remnants of motorcycle manufacturer Wanderer. The name “Jawa” was created by combining the first two letters of his surname and the first two letters of Wanderer “Ja + Wa”.
In the 1970s, the speedway racing Jawa 500/894 made an appearance alongside the Jawa 500/895 – which was its long track racing sibling. Jawa designed these motorcycles with a strong focus on building a bullet-proof engine and gearbox, with the lightest possible frame and ancillaries.
The Jawa DOHC 500 used a four-stroke, 494cc, DOHC, single-cylinder, air-cooled alloy engine with a single carburetor, and a header pipe that exits out the front and down the right side of the bike. The engine has a 13.5:1 compression ratio, an 85mm bore with an 87mm stroke, a single overhead spark, 4 valves, a 34mm carburetor, and 60-65 hp at 7500 rpm.
The dry weight of the Jawa 500 DOHC is just 85.5 kilograms (188.5 lbs), making it a supremely flickable motorcycle – ideal for the fast paced, millimeter perfect riding style needed for speedway, but also well-suited to dirt track and ice racing.