Motorcycle Monday - 1938 CZ 250 sport.

[TAKerry]

I know there are a couple of guys that like motorcycles and for those that dont just look at it as an old piece of machinery. I got this out of the garage yesterday to clean up and decided to take some pics. 

1938 CZ 250 sport.

2022-07-10_02-49-59 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2022-07-10_02-49-30 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2022-07-10_02-49-23 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2022-07-10_02-49-15 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2022-07-10_02-49-44 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[Studeous]

Greetings. The aree outboard of the exhaust port, lighter color, with screws- is that for decoking the ports of the cylinder? That is a very nice looking scooter. Thanks for sharing. 

[Str8-8-Dave]

4 hours ago, TAKerry said:

I know there are a couple of guys that like motorcycles

I owned a number of contemporary motorcyles and rode them all over for 50+ years, finally quitting after a self-inflicted stomach tear while trying to ride my Ducati 996 after I gained weight and had no business being on it.  Some 7 years later that injury took me to the OR for emergency surgery after my intestine got trapped in the hernia.  

 

That said I don't and won't ever regret the motorcycle experiences I had.  After building my first motorcycle from a Schwinn Stingray bicycle my dad became concerned for my safety.  The Schwinn was assembler titled and licensed for legal use on the road and I was riding it all over the place.  He knew the bicycle tires and rims were not safe after the bike was powered with a 5hp Lauson motor which with me on it was clocked at 50+ mph.  So, my mom and dad bought my first real motorcycle, a 1966 Yamaha Trail 80.  

 

Many years and many motorcycles later I worked at Ford in a HVAC development lab.  One of my good friends ran the machine shop for the Chassis Lab across the hall, a Brit named Dave Matson, owned the largest collection of The Vincent HRD motorcycles in the Midwest.    Dave rode various models to work and pared them in the motorcycle lot behind the Chassis Lab, including Black Shadow, Rapide, Comet single and a Black Prince fully faired touring bike.   Dave also travelled to the Bonneville Salt Flats to campaign a modified 1300cc Vincent twin powered bike he fabricated the chassis for and ran in gas classes, fuel classes and open and faired classes eventually getting into the 200 Mile Per Hour Club.  He quit racing after a nasty accident in which a welded header developed a pinhole right next to his left footpeg burning a hole in his boot and severing his great left toe.  

 

Another bunch of guys, the LaFollettes road-raced, first on Moto-Guzzis for Blackies Cycle in Detroit and eventually racing stock class Honda 750 super sports.

 

Ahh- those were the days...

 

A 1966 Yamaha Trail 80 like the one my mom and dad gave me for Christmas in 1966.

 

I replaced the first Yamaha with a 1967 Yamaha Trail 100 which had bigger wheels and tires, but never ran as well

as the 80 did.

 

I had 2 of these.  My older brother was the original owner of the first one when he co-oped at Ford.  He left the

keys sitting out where a mischievous teenager who got home from school when no one was around took the 

liberty of "borrowing" them and learned to ride a real motorcycle before I ever had my first.  The neighbors were

horrified to see me riding my brothers 1966 Yamaha Catalina 250 without a helmet.  That thing was pretty fast

with a 15yr old 95lb rider...

 

My first BMW- a 1973 R75/5 long wheelbase, a really good motorcycle...

 

Grass is always greener so I traded the R75 to a guy in the Ford Chassis Lab for his 1970 

Moto-Guzzi Eldorado.  It had piston slap noise that drove me nuts.  I didn't keep it long.

 

Not mine but I spotted one of these, an RCMP surplus Triumph

flathead sitting by the side of the road on my way to work.  I 

wound up buying and restoring that bike.

 

I bought one of the first Honda GL1000 Goldwings in 1975 from Anderson's Cycle World in Bloomfield Hills, MI. 

 

Again, not mine, but I bought a brand new 1975 XLH 1000

Sportster just like this one except it was burgundy.

 

The Sportster was a cantankerous vibrating, oil leaking lump so of course, in the Ford

way, I bought another Harley, a 1976 1200 Super-glide Liberty Edition.  I put a Harley

handlebar fairing on it, replaced the 3.6-gal tank with Harley dual 5-gal tanks with speedo

and ignition switch mounted on the tank.  I also added Harley white fiberglass saddle

bags and installed a Harley leather tractor seat and spring post which made it, well, 

semi comfortable.  The bike below is not mine but similar to the stock bike I bought

before I modified it.  

 

Then a miracle happened, I bought a new 1977 BMW R100S from Howell Cycle.  Howell Cycle

was owned by a very interesting German chap named Oren Glassel and his motorcycle shop

was always an adventure to visit.  He was an Ithaca gun dealer, a BMW/Kawasaki motorcycle

dealer and in a separate building across the parking lot from the motorcycle showroom he 

sold Scwhinn bicycles, had hundreds of them hanging upside down on the roof rafter cross-ties.

He also flew 2 Shoestring Midget bi-planes and a sail plane, all on display in the bicycle shop.

That 1977 BMW R100S gave me the most fun and enjoyment of any motorcycle I ever owned.

Many years later I bought another from the president of Bell Helmets and restored it. 

 

This is a 1986 Honda VFR 750 like one I bought used and restored.  It turned out to be a really good motorcycle.

It featured a water-cooled V-4 that was silky smooth and fast.

 

I was always fascinated by V-twin motorcycles so when the 1000cc Honda Super Hawk came out I traded the 

VFR in.

 

For many years I rode a Honda RC51 like this one back and forth to

my job at Ford.  The RC51 was a V-twin successor to the Honda RC45

which Honda raced in World Superbike with great success.  Honda sold  

RC51s right out of their race shop to homologate them for superbike racing.

Carl Fogarty had a field day with the Hondas riding his V-twin Ducati's

which had Desmodromic valve train that could out-rev and out-horsepower

the Honda.

 

I bought this Husqvarna 250 Mikkola wide ratio replica out of a barn in New Lothrop, MI

wherever the hell that is, it was out in the sticks.  It only had a few miles on it, was covered

with mud and the 2 original Trelleborg knobby tires were flat as pancakes.  I brought it 

home and tired unsuccessfully to get it started and running.  I finally got frustrated with 

it and took it all apart to clean it up, re-paint it and restore it.  One day I took the flywheel

off to replace the points and condenser and discovered the reason it wouldn't start was 

because the previous owner removed the condenser... 

 

This late model Harley Sportster was scheduled to be given away at a local Police fund 

raiser.  The lucky ticket holder didn't want it so the shop bought the bike back and I bought

it.  With its 1200cc Evolution engine and belt drive It was a little better than the 1975 iron

head sportster I owned but still featured bad lighting, wandered around on it's twitchy

front fork geometry and had barely 100 miles of range with the little gas tank.   That's my

1997 Porsche 928 S4 hiding in the garage...

 

My next bike was a 2001 BMW R1100S which I bought from a Grand Rapids doctor.  It was a mess when I brought it home but the price was right so I restored it and

rode it for a couple of years.  I often rode it from Port Huron, 410 miles to our cottage in Garden MI in the UP.

 

I almost lost my marriage when I bought this 2000 Ducati 996 on E-bay from a seller who bought it new from BMW Detroit, rode it a less than 700 miles, then was transferred

to Florida by his employer.  He had the bike prepped for storage and shipped it to Florida and never rode it again.  I bought it in 2011 and had it shipped to Port Huron where

I completely restored it.  Originally it was a "Bi-posto" (dual seat) model an using all OEM Ducati parts I converted it to a Mono-posto (single seat) model.  I tore my stomach

muscle trying to ride it after having gained some weight, the ergonomics of this motorcycle with its high back tank and low clip-on bars, well, it was designed for young skinny

riders, which I was not anymore.   I had it up to about 145MPH at 8,000 rpm that day, still breaking in the engine.

 

The last bastions of my motorcycle career ended in this stall of my garage in 2013.  I converted one stall to a motorcycle display room.  

Edited July 11, 2022 by Str8-8-Dave (see edit history)

[intimeold]

I like it

[1912Staver]

Those 1930 's German machines sure have a distinctive look. A small number of British machines were similar as well. But the Germans almost all went with it.

 

Nice Husky in the big strip of bike photo's as well. The dirt bike I always wanted to replace my 250 M Elsinore with. Never did get a Husky , still have the Honda, but I am getting too old to do anything but put - put around the yard on it. 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[TerryB]

Nice to see that Husqvarna in the mix!   My road going motorcycles were mainly Suzuki models with a Honda or two for a change.  My off road rides were Husqvarna and Honda.  My first off-road was a 1972 Honda Xl 250 in 1973 and my last off road was a 1985 XR350R.

 

Kerry’s old CZ is something I have never seen before.  The CZ brand was a somewhat popular off road competition brand in the 1960s and early 1970s.  A friend owned a CZ motocrosser in the early 1970s, might have been a 400cc.  It was great at showering you with rocks when you rode behind him.

[TAKerry]

Str 8 Dave. Great motorcycle lineage!  I never dabbled in the Vincent realm but knew a few that had them. One thing about those bikes the owners drive them! My first Harley was a '75 sportster. I bought it from a guy I knew in HS for $900. He dropped it and tore the paint up (alcohol and moto vehicles do not mix). I tore it down, had it painted fire engine red and rode the heck out of it. Yes it was a cantankerous machine, loud, vibrated in all of the wrong places, uncomfortable to ride, hard to start at times (kick start only), but I had a blast with that old Harley. My first street bike was a 73 Kawasaki Mach III 500. My oldest brother bought it brand new, I had it as a hand me down.  I have had a string of Harleys and my street bike now is 2000 Road King. Simple yet effective. I wanted a bmw in the worst way, my brother bought one a few years ago and with my stubby legs I just did not fit. So that idea went the way of the dinosaur.

 

Terry, most people know the CZ/Jawa as dirt bikes.  CZ was a division of Skoda Arms Works, and started making their first bikes in 1932. Those were 73cc and 98cc lightweights. 1936 they started building the 250cc machines. Complete with pressed steel frames, which is similar to the early BMW's. Sometime in 1938 or shortly thereafter motorcycle production ceased in favor of arms production. 

 

After the war the CZ works were nationalized by the communist govt. of Czechoslovakia and they were merged with their rival Jawa.

 

I have seen 2 Jawa motorcycles of the same vintage as my CZ (although I am not 100% sure it was not the same bike 2 diff. times) and it is very similar in build. I was going to buy it at auction but at the last minute it was pulled from the lineup. I have never seen another CZ like my bike. I doubt there is more than 1 in this country and I doubt there are many in Europe. Though I have seen some pics when doing a google search. This bike has obviously been restored quite a few years ago, but there are a couple of pieces that are believed to be original and still in their white (but badly yellowed with age) paint. 

 

 

[TAKerry]

3 hours ago, Studeous said:

Greetings. The aree outboard of the exhaust port, lighter color, with screws- is that for decoking the ports of the cylinder? That is a very nice looking scooter. Thanks for sharing. 

I know next to nothing about mechanicals, but that sounds like the right idea. I will check with my brother, he knows these kind of machines very well.

[zepher]

4 hours ago, Str8-8-Dave said:

For many years I rode a Honda RC51 like this one back and forth to

my job at Ford.  The RC51 was a V-twin successor to the Honda RC45

which Honda raced in World Superbike with great success.  Honda sold  

RC51s right out of their race shop to homologate them for superbike racing.

Carl Fogarty had a field day with the Hondas riding his V-twin Ducati's

which had Desmodromic valve train that could out-rev and out-horsepower

the Honda.

 

After cutting my teeth on a 1981 Yamaha FJ 550 Maxim that actually belonged to a friend, I purchased a brand new 1989 Honda NT650 Hawk.

It has a 650cc V-twin engine and wears the RC31 designation with the Elf single sided swingarm suspension.

I rode that bike all over, even doing a 140 mile round trip commute for a number of years.

I rarely ride it these days because being on anything with two wheels in So Cal almost amounts to a death wish.

 

This isn't the one I rode but this looks just like it.

 

 

This is my '89 Honda Hawk just after a bath.

[zepher]

@TAKerry that is one gorgeous motorcycle.

It looks years ahead of its time.

[TAKerry]

14 hours ago, zepher said:

@TAKerry that is one gorgeous motorcycle.

It looks years ahead of its time.

Funny you say that. I have a 1939 BSA that I once had amca judged. It was in the lineup with other 1930-1940 motorcycles. All but my brit bike were Harleys. The BSA's styling was so far ahead of the Harleys. They were what one expects from the period and the BSA looked out of place, styling that looked like 1950's-1960's. They were ahead of their time styling wise I think, but we all know what happened when the Japanese started building motorcycles. And the Harley's? (not knocking them as I have had my share and still drive one) well, their styling really hasnt changed that much since about 1930!