Motorcycle Java-250 is a Czech miracle

Czechoslovakia already in the twenties and thirties was an industrialized country, its factories produced a large number of vehicles and other equipment for both peaceful and military purposes. However, earlier, in the era of the existence of Austria-Hungary, this country was the forge of the empire.

The availability of qualified personnel and experience in the production of complex mechanical devices have become the driving forces for the development of machine building. One of the firms created in the late twenties, was called "Java". To the exotic island it had nothing to do, just its owner decided to perpetuate his own name Janechek in combination with the model of the prototype of the manufactured motorcycle "Wanderer", so it turned out "Jawa". Own development in the first decade, the company did not lead, releasing tales, developed by George Patchett, an engineer from England.

During the German occupation, the employees of the "Java" plant worked for the Wehrmacht, sabotaging the fulfillment of orders as much as possible, and at the same time continued to design samples of equipment intended for post-war life.

And then, in 1946, the Paris exhibition, and on it a triumph. The Jawa-250 motorbike, equipped with hydraulic shock absorbers, automatic clutch release when changing gears, a new frame, a tool storage box and other innovations, is of great interest to visitors. This model became the basis for the model series of this company with an engine capacity of 250 "cubes".

Java-250 in huge quantities was supplied to the USSR. This powerful motorcycle had an engine of 17 "horses" and was very reliable. It was produced before 1974, then it was replaced by the following - 350th model with two cylinders, more adapted to our roads and climatic conditions.

The Yava-250 motorcycle significantly exceeded in its performance characteristics Soviet analogues - the Urals, Kovrovtsi, Izhi, but like any other transport equipment, it required maintenance. After the acquisition of the new device it was necessary to run it in a sparing mode on the first couple of thousand kilometers diluted with special oil to ensure that the pistons are well adhered to the cylinders.

A pleasant circumstance in the country of general shortage was the availability of spare parts and additional components for what is now called "tuning." In the same "Sports goods", where motorcycles of Java-250 were sold, lay on the shelves and "bells and whistles" to them - fog-lights, transparent glasses mounted on the steering wheel, and steel arcs. For those who wanted to get acquainted with the novelties of the manufacturer, as well as with the intricacies of maintenance of these motorcycles, magazines "Moto-revue" published in Czechoslovakia were sold in Soyuzpechat booths. This literature cost a lot - 2 rubles, but it flew instantly, a joke whether on the roads of our country as of 1976, traveled a million copies of bikes of this brand.

By the way, about the prices. After the monetary reform of 1961, Java-250 cost 520 full-weight Soviet rubles, and before it, respectively, 5,200. The amount is solid, for comparison: Kovrovets "pulled" for two hundred and fifty, and the average salary was less than a hundred. If you estimate the cost in comparable prices, then you could buy such a motorcycle, of course, but you had to save money for it for a long time.

And yet, Java-250 is very beautiful. Smooth contours, chrome surfaces of exhaust pipes and sidewalls of a gas tank elegantly combined with a black or red color scale did not leave indifferent any, whose eyes fell on this fast moving car.

And today this motorcycle has its fans-fans who spend time and money to end up proudly racing along it on the road, surprising and admiring everyone, even the owners of the most expensive and modern bikes.