News

Recent news coming from America states that JAWA is in trouble and essentially production has shut down. The Rotax engine is no longer available and 650cc production has ceased. The only motorbikes they were making were a few 350cc 2 strokes for Cuba. The source felt that JAWA was virtually bankrupt. Meanwhile another non-Jawa contact in the Czech Republic also says that things are not that healthy.

The JAWA CZ Owners Club has received this official communication direct from the JAWA factory:

Christmas Greetings (December 2007)

The following Christmas Greetings come to all Jawa Owners from Jawa Moto Spol sr.o

Dear JAWA friends,

We wish you a happy and prosperous year 2008.
Best regards,

Ivana Veverkova - Sales Manager
JAWA Moto spol. s r.o.

[+] Click to enlarge

Scotland Representative (December 2007)

George Beer, a former JAWA CZ Dealer and Co-ordinator of the VJMC Uttoxeter Show is willing to act as the Club Rep for Scotland and would love to start a branch north of the Border. George lives near Stirling and he and his wife ride JAWA's.

Tel: 01324 410519 (this is the VJMC line and has an answer phone) or E-mail coordinator_vjmc@yahoo.co.uk

On 8th December he bought a JAWA 640 from Warwick via eBay. He was told it had a holed piston. He fitted a new battery and new spark plugs (none in it) and it runs a treat. Has to now sort the electrics as the fuse is a copper wire!

We encourage members in Scotland to contact George. He will be at the Scottish Motorcycle Show in February 2008 – meet him on the VJMC stand.

Technical Torque (December 2007)

A new updated version of “Tips from Torque” has now been put together called “Technical Torque”. The technical information it contains relates to many areas to do with Jawa and CZ road motorcycles, and hopefully will prove of interest and worth. The document covers over 128 pages and is available on CD (in PDF format) or as a printed ‘Hard Copy’. An electronic version can also be sent, although the document size is 9,800kb.

Costs are:-

• CD version (including P&P)         £5.00

• Printed version (including P&P)    £6.00

• E Version (sent by E-mail)          £4.00

If interested in either version (CD is preferred option) then send a Cheque made payable to:- Jawa/CZ Owners Club (Swindon Branch) then post it to:- Ian Bridge, 6 Deben Crescent, Haydon Wick, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN25 3QB.

Website Changes (June 2007)

The JAWA CZ Owners Club website has been hosted by Freeserve since 1999. Over the years, this site has grown in popularity and size and has become the cornerstone of the club. With content, photo's and articles being added on a monthly basis by myself, the 15MB of web space Freeserve provided us with was being used up at an alarming rate! So back in December 2006, I took the decision to redesign the site over the Christmas holidays and incorporate the Google ads you see on every page - my intention being that the money raised from the ads should be invested back into this website to secure it's future. We re-launched on 1st January 2007 with a fresh new look. Since then, we have had more than 6000 visitors and I am pleased to announce that as a direct result of the Google ads, we raised enough money to purchase 100MB of web hosting with LCN and the domain name www.jawaczownersclub.co.uk With more web space, an easy to remember domain name, E-mail address and a faster connection, everybody should benefit from this move. I am confident the website will go from strength to strength. Please remember to update your favourites / bookmarks with our new website address and also use our new E-mail address: info@jawaczownersclub.co.uk

Chris Baddiley - Webmaster

Prize winning Cezeta scooter stolen (March 2007)

After many years of painstaking restoration, love and care, Mark Pautz 1961 Cezeta 502-00 scooter won the 'Best European Bike On Show' award at last year's 7th Classic Bike Guide International Classic Motorcycle Show at Knebworth House.

Not only did they steal it, but in the process they scraped the bike on a concrete pillar as they manoeuvred it out of it's parking spot, and also dented his classic car in the process.

The scooter was securely locked and they must have damaged it quite badly when they manhandled it out from the back of his garage as he found the (difficult to remove) side-stand spring lying next to his car. They left the PAV-41 trailer behind. When he put the scooter through it's MOT test last week, it had only 323 km on the clock, so this is a real tragedy. He doesn't know what the thieves are going to do with the motorcycle, as it is one of only about half a dozen in the country, and fairly well known in classic circles.

If anybody has information about this theft, please contact St. Albans Police Station (Central Area), Victoria Street, Hertfordshire, AL1 3JL or contact Mark directly on 020 7303 0492 or E-mail mapautz@deloitte.co.uk

The Off-Road Vehicles Registration Bill = Potentially the end of motorcycle racing in Britain (March 2007)

I apologise for sending this E-mail which, in happier times, you could have enjoyed as an April Fool joke. Unfortunately, the subject is neither a joke - nor is it funny. If you own a racing motorcycle, show or custom bike, which is not capable of being registered for road use, then next year you face the very real prospect of having it confiscated by the Police and destroyed.

The measures which will cause your motorcycle to be confiscated will apply equally to old and modern bikes, to show and custom machines - and even to precious museum exhibits. The proposed new law is extremely clear and without exemptions. If any two wheeled motorised vehicle, of any type or kind, does not carry a valid road registration plate at all times it will be confiscated by the Police and subject to destruction order.

I need to stress that there will be no exemptions to this proposed new law whether the motorcycle concerned is a primitive Edwardian machine from before the First World War, the classic racers used by Thundersprinters or the latest MotoGP machine.

Equally, custom and show bikes, unless they are completely road legal, will fall under the same legislation. The situation really is this grim.

The Thundersprint faces its most severe problem because of a Private Member’s Bill being proposed by Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester, Blackley.

His Bill is entitled: "The Off-Road Vehicles (Motorcycles) Registration Bill". The implications of this Bill, were it to become law, are truly horrendous - for the Thundersprint and every part of the British motorcycle racing, museum and custom bike scene.

The bill is aimed at a legitimate nuisance: the illegal use of "mini-moto" type machines in urban areas. No-one disputes that these are a thorough social irritant and their mis-use needs curbing. Unfortunately, the drafting of the Bill has been done so loosely and carelessly that it will quite literally destroy motorcycle sport both as a spectator industry and a participant activity.

The Bill relates primarily to motorcycles but also includes trikes and quad bikes. All other vehicles are exempt.

The Bill requires every motorised, two-wheeled vehicle to be registered with the DVLA in Swansea. In order to do so, the motorcycle will need either:

1) European type approval

2) An extended "MoT" to ascertain compliance with European type approval

3) Age related registration using, presumably, the same system which is already in place today. i.e. the onus will be upon the owner of the motorcycle to prove that the motorcycle in question is of the age and type claimed and the components currently in use on the bike are of the same age as the claimed age of the motorcycle itself.

Clearly, the implications for race bikes in particular are savage. Depending on how rigid is the interpretation a replacement gearbox or uprated suspension could make a bike non-compliant with its original "date" and it could thus be re-classified as a "modern" motorcycle.

The onus will be 100% on the owner of the vehicle to resolve these issues in order to comply with Road Traffic Act Legislation. A failure to do so, and a subsequent failure to register the motorcycle, will mean that the bike could be confiscated and destroyed.

In all cases, the vehicles will have to be RTA compliant. In simple terms, they have to meet all the requirements of current Road Traffic Act legislation. All motorcycles will also have to be insured and taxed in order to obtain a DVLA registration mark.

Even with a relatively simple race bike, derived from a road bike, there will be a huge task in terms of making it road legal and fully RTA compliant. In the case of a classic thoroughbred, such as GP racer, it might well simply be impossible. Regardless, do you want to be forced to have to go to all this time, effort and expense merely because you legally own a competition machine and use it responsibly?

Museum exhibits will also have to be "modernised" in order to meet MoT requirements. Once more, it would be lovely if this was a joke - but it is not.

Custom and show bikes will fall under the same axe. Even if the bike is a non-running show bike, such as a radical chopper, it will still be illegal and subject to confiscation.

Farmers using off-road bikes, or quads, for commercial use entirely on their own private land will also have to register their machines and make them RTA compliant.

The all encompassing nature of this bill needs stressing.

There are no exemptions for any bike, for any reason.

This one point is critical. THERE ARE NO EXEMPTIONS IN THE BILL FOR ANY REASON.

It is either taxed, insured and fully Road Traffic Act compliant or it can be confiscated and destroyed.

The implications for this ruling are dramatic. First, the vast majority of race bikes are unable to be made RTA compliant – particularly in terms of the stringent demands of current MoT testing.

However, a secondary effect will be that many museum exhibits will also become illegal unless they are re-commissioned and updated.

Clearly, custom and show bikes which are not ridden on the road will cease to exist.

I enclose examples of the sort of bikes which will become illegal - unless they become fully RTA compliant. If you need to illustrate the immense nature of the threat to those who do not have in an depth knowledge of motorycling these images are an easy way to do it.

Mr. Stringer’s bill seeks to give the Police wide-ranging powers of confiscation. In short, any motorcycle which is not RTA compliant, and registered, can be seized by the Police and destroyed. In a very real sense, priceless examples of British, and foreign, motorcycle engineering could be seized from museums because they are incapable of being registered for current road use.

In the case of the damage to British tourism, the effects would be huge. Initially, we thought that we would primarily have problems with non-British entrants simply refusing to comply with British requirements to register a race bike. However, it now seems that the measures will be much more draconian. Any motorcycle which is not registered for road use in its country of origin can be seized at the port of entry because there are no exemptions. Again, I need to stress this point. The Bill allows no discretion or exemption for any motorcycle of any kind or origin.

Would you disembark at Calais knowing that French police will stop your van, take out your race bike and destroy it? The situation really is this basic and straightforward.

The same problem will hit modern racing. A current factory team, arriving with MotoGP bikes, will have them seized at the point of entry. Clearly, this is not going to happen because no team will come near Britain.

The effect on British tourism and engineering will be dramatic. Of the classic events, the Thundersprint, with an attendance of over 125,000 will cease to exist - as will any other event which depends on the participation of non-RTA compliant participants.

In terms of events for current motorcycles, the British MotoGP round will cease to exist, as will the three British based rounds of World Superbike and off-road internationals.

The British Tourism industry, of which motorcycle racing is an important element, will suffer a huge loss since clearly the major motorcycle events attract huge numbers of foreign visitors.

British engineering companies are amongst the foremost in the world in terms of supplying racing components and they will be unable to have a complete racing motorcycle on their premises unless it is RTA compliant.

In terms of modern events motocross, grass track, speedway - and maybe even trials - will simply disappear because the bikes participating in these branches of the sport will become illegal.

The final result of this ill conceived, badly drafted Bill will be mass civil disobedience. Imagine the scenario where the police arrive to confiscate your race bike merely because it is not RTA compliant. Will you help them load up your bike to be taken to a crusher?

Incidentally, Mr. Stringer’s bill makes no mention of compensation for confiscated bikes. Race, show or custom bike - the Police can legally confiscate and destroy all your bikes without paying you a penny in compensation.

I have spoken with Mr. Stringer and found him to be unhelpful. He terminated our conversation in mid-sentence during my attempt to explain the implications of his Bill for the motorcycling community.

I have also spoken with Alistair Carmichael, the LibDem spokesperson on transport, and MP for Shetland and Orkney. The LibDems are the key supporters of Mr. Stringer’s Bill. Mr. Carmichael also seems not to understand the impact of the Bill on motorcycling and drew comparisons between agricultural tractors carrying number plates without paying road tax duty and racing bikes also carrying DVLA approved number plates but still being road tax exempt. I did point out to Mr. Carmichael that tractors and racing machines were not entirely comparable in terms of their use and construction.

I have a statement from the Conservative Party saying that they will vote against the Bill. Plaid Cymru and the SNP have not responded to my enquiries.

If Mr. Stringer’s Bill is not stopped it will become law in the Autumn of this year and 2007 will see the end of motorcycle racing in Britain.

So what do you do? You need to write to your MP now, immediately. You need to ask him/her whether they are supporting Mr. Stringer’s Bill now and whether they will vote for or against it at its Third Reading. I would suggest that you explain what will be your reaction if the Police arrive at your house, confiscate your race or custom bike and remove it for destruction.

One further point that I would stress is that Mr. Stringer’s Bill is a Private Member’s Bill and is not a reflection on government policy. The Conservative Party has already indicated that it is against the Bill and we need now to ascertain whether the Labour Party will join the Conservatives. We also need to establish what is the individual reaction of LibDem, Plaid and SNP MPs.

If you never write another letter in your life - write this one now!

To write to your MP, put his or her name followed by MP. Address your letter to:

The House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

If you don’t know who your MP is you find out easily using this link: http://www.upmystreet.com or there is an easy to use form at this address: http://www.writetothem.com

When you find out the views of your MP, let your local TV, radio and newspaper know. In short, show your MP that their response will be publicly and openly recorded for voters to remember.

You can follow this story by reading Steve Farell's reports in Motor Cycle News and tomorrow's Daily Telegraph will also carry a feature in the Motoring Section of the paper.

Frank Melling frank@thundersprint.com

© Chris Baddiley / JAWA CZ Owners Club of Great Britain and Ireland

Last Updated: 06 July 2008 - Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Email Us