JAWA Motokov is a motorcycle manufacturer based in Czech Republic. It was founded in Prague by František Janeček, who bought the motorcycle division of Wanderer in 1929. The name JAWA was established by concatenating the first letters of Janeček and Wanderer.
František Janeček started the company after working several years in the armament industry. Although he didn't have any experience with motorcycles, he was familiar with production techniques. Janeček chose between the Austrian double piston two-stroke motor of Puch, the Berlin two-stroke of Schliha, and the new Wanderer 500 cc. Janeček chose the Wanderer. Because of the collapse of the German motor industry, Wanderer had already decided to stop the production. This is because they didn't think it would be profitable to directly compete with BMW. The first model was introduced on October 23, 1929. This was a 500 cc 4-cycle engine with 12 kW of power (18 hp) and fuel consumption of 6 liters per 100 km. Although priced highly, through the first years (and several constructional fixes) this motorcycle was successful and was considered reliable.
Due to the economic recession of the early 1930, a cheaper and simpler motorcycle was needed. Year 1932 marked the introduction of JAWA 175, with its 3.6 kW engine. This light (70 kg) machine was capable of speeds up to 80 km/h and fuel consumption of 3.5 liters per 100 km. The first year of production was an immediate success, selling over 3000 of the JAWA 175, almost three times the number of the 500 cc model over three years of production. The production of this model was finally stopped 1946. In 1938 JAWA was the first to offer test rides during exhibition show. This test motorcycle was a custom JAWA 175 equipped with dual handlebars, second pair being in the back for the instructor. Over the years total of 27,535 units of the JAWA 175 were built.
