Dusting Off History With Pristine Jawa 500 Barn Find

Jawa is on the rise again. Royal Enfield’s former nemesis is gaining momentum once more with the goal of giving the Royal a run for its money. While for the past few decades, the Czech brand has been flying under the radar, it doesn’t mean it didn’t come up with a few rides worthy of mention. Especially when one of them shows up in a barn in pristine condition.

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Search & Rescue: the art of the barn-find

Reddit is a goldmine of barn and crate finds, little dusty time capsules found in forgotten garages. This time, the user apparently got his hands on what appears to be a 1977 Jawa 500  Speedway DT-894 with a modified saddle, guard, and rear wheel. When you lay eyes on it for the first time, this looks more like some sort of bobber-type bicycle with an engine mounted within the triangular frame than an actual bike.

What we are looking at, however, is a proper motorcycle powered by a 492cc, four-stroke, single-cylinder engine. This super lightweight machine is capable of producing 60 horsepower for only 187 lb, thanks among other things to the miniature 2-liter (or half a gallon) gas tank. According to an original Jawa owner’s manual, the bike has actually been built for racing purposes, for dirt or paved tracks of up to 500 m (roughly a quarter mile), thus the appropriate “Speedway” nomenclature.

When I said earlier the motorcycle looks like a bike, I wasn’t exaggerating. The exposed steel tube frame is very similar to that of its pedal-powered counterpart and the entire front portion could be mistaken for a bicycles with the dangling exposed wires and absence of a front brake.

Some users have speculated that the bike could fetch up to $2,500, while certain versions of the model have sold for more, including a world-championship winner that sold for $21,600 last year at Bonhams’. There’s no mention of a location or a mileage (there’s no odometer!) and while the model was fairly popular in its heyday, this is the kind of find we can all appreciate for its quirkiness.

Sources: Reddit, Jawa Motorcycles, EBN Racing, Cyber Motorcycle