FS: SO Jawa 350

I really wanted one of these and picked this one up recently.
Spent a load of time and cash on fettling only to find that the
lefthand kickstart aggravates the arthritis in my left hip so
it has to go.

Its a 1991 TS350 onna J plate. These Czeck 2 smokes have a reputation
for reliability so it will make someone a nice commuter ratbike or
winter hack. Spares are not a problem. Rides well, pulled nicely
up to around 75 on the M5 today so plenty enough for a commuter.
Legal for 33bhp restricted licences.

Offering it here before putting it on fleabay, UKP350 sounds about
right, located near Weston Super Mare.

The good bits :-
Only 17100 recorded miles, and the engine wear etc is consistant with
this. I opened it up to fix a noise and found that one cylinder was
short of a roller in the little end so I fitted nice new caged rollers
both sides.
New battery, new cables for clutch, throttle and front brake.
Long tax & MOT.
Tidy for the year.

The bad bits :-
Seat tear repaired with duck tape (they all do that)
Dent in the tank and front mudguard, nothing serious.
Some corrosion on the indicator stalks and chrome trims.
Rear tyre will need replacing soon. Number plate chipped.
Nonstandard pipe from airbox to carb.
Slight incontinence from the primary chaincase cover, my fault for
fitting a new gasket without using sealant - easy enough to drain
and fix if a drip per day bothers you.

email crn (at) netunix (dot) com

 

You're having a laugh, they are one of the most unreliable and badly
built bikes ever to see the road.

 

Wot he says. I bet that even TOG baulks at the idea

 

I worked on one for a friend. Piles of shit.

I wouldn't give one house room.

 

That says a huge amount about just how shit they really are.

 

He had one once though.

Unfortunately ukrm.net is still down, but in the reviews section is:

--

Jawa the Shed

Jawa Combo
BY Neil Murray
The Murray Jawa, bought 1996, sold late 96 when Chateau Murray moved
from Morden to Sutton, and re-acquired in 1998 in a swap for an old Suzuki
B120...

It is at one and the same time the most appalling contraption ever to
stagger onto roads, and the most amazingly hilarious fun one can have on
two wheels (well, three, but the sidecar wheel spends a lot of its time
in the air). It is also, and against all the odds, amazingly reliable.

Soon to become the property of Ged Martin, because in another weird deal
it has been swapped for a laptop pooter. ukrm awaits Ged's experiences
with trepidation.

--

accompanied by a photograph of the whole TOG family on board the beast.

There is no follow up review by Ged Martin.

IMHO 350 quid would be about right if there were a sidecar included, most
the the value residing in the sidecar. I can't see any point at all in
these things as solos, a CG125 would be better in every respect.

They do seem to have some appeal when the chair is included. Some mates
and I bought one once, intended as a wedding present for someone who
needed three wheels, but he acquired something better so it became
surplus, so I sold it. A few months later, by pure chance, I encountered
the bloke I'd sold it to at Glastonbury[1]. I tried to hide but he bore
down on me. I awaited his comments in dread but he said "That bike you
sold me - brilliant! I've been all over the country on it".

[1] Some time ago, when Glastonbury was a proper festival not Top of the
Pops.

Regards, Ian

 

And how many have you owned?.
They may not be pretty to the point of almost agricultural but they
take all of the abuse that the eastern bloc users could give and
just keep going.

The design is so simple that there is little to go wrong.

 

Exactly, they just keep going.

 

I've never lowered myself to owning one, when there are far better made
bikes for the same money. In my biking career I've ridden a few and
every single one was absolute rubbish, with zero power, zero handling,
zero brakes and attrocious build quality. I've been asked to work on a
few, but always declined because the kind of people who own them are
usually skint pikeys who want everything for nothing.

They are crap, the world is filled with mediocre bikes that cost the
same or less, I'd rather buy one of those than any 2-stroke CZ or Jawa.

--

 

My experience with these brands was much the same, though I was surprised to
find that MZ wasn't from the same mould.
True they were quite primitive, even at the time, but the build quality was
much higher.

 

Heh, that's the ultimate in negative praise.

 

Lozzo wrote:

Wotcha..

The one I once owned never let me down in all the time [1] I owned it.














[1] I was the proud owner of this machine for twenty minutes. That was the
time it took to ride it from one shitehole in Brum to another shitehole in
Brum. I paid all of fifteen quid for it, not 'cos I wanted one, but a chap
I know had a Wassell framed trial bike with a seized engine, and he wanted a
sidecar outfit in a straight swap. Considering the trials bike also had no
wheels and bent front forks, I still reckon I got the better part of the
deal.

 

Now on EBay item 200240453773

 

????????????????????????????????????
You ****, you've just made me choke on my lunch.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

You're brave posting that up in here... be sure to share some of the
more original comments and questions you're now likely to get, in
here.

 

Be fair, the MZ, though a product of the same system, is a world
removed. I'd quite happily buy another MZ for nipping in and out of the
nearest towns (10 and 24 miles return respectively), but I would baulk
at a CZ even if it was the only thing available.

I distinctly recall getting 80mpg from a TS250/1 on a similar work
commute in the early 80s, and these days economy is a serious
consideration.

--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

Plenty of comments from the JapBike naysayers, but nobody who has owned one
has provided any examples of trouble. OK, so they were never the height of
fashion and are probably best described as "a bit agricultural".

Ask any owner and they will tell you that the damn things just keep going
regardless of neglect. Not the fastest but quick enough for commuting and
agile enough for city traffic. Cheap wheels and cheap to run.

 

[stirs into semi-wakefulness]

As in cowpat?

Just curious...

 

Ah, you actually mean the MZ? The description fits that to a T. The CZs,
otoh, are useless piles of shite. Fwiw, I've owned MZs and been well
acquainted with plenty of CZs, so I DO know what I'm talking about.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

Pass the cloff, IYWBSK.