Board trackers aren’t your everyday motorcycles, mostly because they aren’t super practical on the road, being so slim and scrappy. But not everyone’s ready to relinquish these beauts — which were most popular in the ‘10s and ‘20s — to the museums just yet.
Conceived of and created by Dmitry Golubchikov out of his Moscow-based custom motorcycle garage Zillers, the Jawa 500 Tracker is a particularly gorgeous specimen.
The bike was released this past April in St. Petersburg at a custom convention, where it took Best in Show. It also recently made the Bike of the Week slot on Bike EXIF, who describe the way Golubchikov reduced the valve timing to lower compression to a more “streetable” 11:1 (it was 17:1).
Streetable? Maybe.
Street-style? In spades: 21-inch wheels, a seat and steering column of finished oak, a copper exhaust system and copper housing for wires. And a tidy little tank hugging the top bar is the crown jewel.
Jawa (4 images)
A filial resemblance to the bicycle is also on full display: the open, handmade frame is delicate as can be, the components as meticulously crafted as a ship in a bottle.
Which, come to think of it, might not be a bad way for this piece to be preserved and displayed after all. Just let us take it for a spin first.
jawa 2 (2 images)
Learn more here (note: it’s in Russian).
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