The first historical motorcycle was restored in the Restoration Workshop of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at VSB-TUO

According to Lukáš Kudrna, who, together with the students, participated in the restoration of the motorcycle, the worst thing was to get original parts. “Since the motorcycle was not renovated, but restored, we did not want to use replicas that would be visible.” Fortunately, about 14,000 pieces of these motorcycles were produced, so all the necessary parts could be obtained. Now the motorcycle is fully operational.

The design of the motorcycle is very simple. In 1930, George William Patchett, an excellent motorcycle racer and designer, was invited by the Jawa company to design it. The future of the motorcycle is still under discussion. “We would like to register the motorcycle in the motor vehicle register and use it at various events. Everything will depend on an agreement,” says Lukáš Kudrna.

On the motorcycle, the Restoration Workshop applied, for example, material analysis of a part of the engine or a 3D scan, thanks to which they obtained a digital model of some parts of the machine. “In our case, it was the engine that we then printed on a 1:1 scale on a 3D printer. It serves as a physical model for excursions and promotional activities,” he adds.

The Restoration Workshop also closely cooperates with the Department of Metallurgy and Foundry of the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, VSB-TUO and the PROTOLAB 3D Printing Center. “We will cast some parts. Thanks to 3D printing, the entire casting technology is speeded up and simplified.”

 Another motorbike, the Jawa 350 SV from the 1930s, is already prepared in the Restoration Workshop. “This is most likely not to be restored but to be renovated, which will be very interesting, and we will be able to compare the two procedures,” concludes the young researcher.

The Motorcycle Restoration Workshop was established at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of VSB - Technical University of Ostrava in 2019 with the financial support of the Moravian-Silesian Region. This project was realized as a follow-up to the tripartite negotiations of the VSB-TUO management, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, representatives of the region and academic sculptor Miroslav Rybička, who donated a large collection of historical motorcycles to the region five years ago, which are preferably restored in the workshop.