Just had to add MARKs own comments from his facebook pictures of this bike. "Early 1970s CZ 175 trail bike. A jazzed up road bike to try and compete with the Japanese trail bikes of the time. They failed miserably, but it has a certain horrid charm I think.Check out the weird shape of the headlamp, the bread bin petrol tank and "drainpipe" exhaust. They must have had something good dropped in their tea the day they designed that lot!"
I lost count. I know over a period of 25 years he had had at least 5 350 twins and then others would turn up for a while before he got fed up with them. His silver 350 with a velorex outfit was nice to ride. Best outfit I have ridden. Mark told me off for cruising at 70 on the Motorway, he said it was unkind to the engine. If felt smooth and happy to me, but if that is the case it sums Jawa/CZ's up, potentially good engineering but with some serious defects.
Do you still have this bike? If so, is there any chance you could tell me the model type off the VIN plate? I THINK it's the same as the 482.1 I'm attempting to restore.
I love this bike. My cousin had a 1969 version when we were kids in the neighborhood riding an assortment of late 60s Japanese bikes and Italian motor scooters through the woods. So when Russ showed up with this one day, it was the local "super bike." It was heavy but stolidly reliable, and its ugliness transformed to beauty once astride it and its throaty 16 horse power was pulling you through the dense and rocky New England trails. The one true design flaw was the kick-starter/shift lever (two in one function: push in the large shift lever and it tilted up to become the kick-starter) -- if you fell hard on that side, the internal shaft could break. Ouch!
Just had to add MARKs own comments from his facebook pictures of this bike.
ReplyDelete"Early 1970s CZ 175 trail bike. A jazzed up road bike to try and compete with the Japanese trail bikes of the time. They failed miserably, but it has a certain horrid charm I think.Check out the weird shape of the headlamp, the bread bin petrol tank and "drainpipe" exhaust. They must have had something good dropped in their tea the day they designed that lot!"
How many times did Mark say he had finished with Jawa and CZ machines?
ReplyDeleteI lost count. I know over a period of 25 years he had had at least 5 350 twins and then others would turn up for a while before he got fed up with them. His silver 350 with a velorex outfit was nice to ride. Best outfit I have ridden. Mark told me off for cruising at 70 on the Motorway, he said it was unkind to the engine. If felt smooth and happy to me, but if that is the case it sums Jawa/CZ's up, potentially good engineering but with some serious defects.
ReplyDeleteDo you still have this bike? If so, is there any chance you could tell me the model type off the VIN plate? I THINK it's the same as the 482.1 I'm attempting to restore.
ReplyDeleteHello Truslack. I am afraid all the bikes in this collection have now been sold.
ReplyDeleteI love this bike. My cousin had a 1969 version when we were kids in the neighborhood riding an assortment of late 60s Japanese bikes and Italian motor scooters through the woods. So when Russ showed up with this one day, it was the local "super bike." It was heavy but stolidly reliable, and its ugliness transformed to beauty once astride it and its throaty 16 horse power was pulling you through the dense and rocky New England trails. The one true design flaw was the kick-starter/shift lever (two in one function: push in the large shift lever and it tilted up to become the kick-starter) -- if you fell hard on that side, the internal shaft could break. Ouch!
ReplyDelete