Czech this out
Creating space in a garage or workshop is sometimes vital, but nature doesn’t like a gap and wants to fill it...
CZ were still a force to be reckoned with in the early Seventies, of course a few mods can make one even better.
Arriving early at Northampton Classic Motorcycle Club Ltd’s scramble meeting at Woodford the other April, I was greeted by a scene of calm activity, only the dedicated club workers were on hand knocking stakes in and mapping out the circuit with rope before adding the spectator safety fence as per the regulations.
There were a few bikes there too, belonging to those who’d come a long way and made it a long weekend or, as with this 380 CZ, bikes owned by one of the organisers. After owner Colin Hill had finished attaching tannoy speakers to posts he had only a few moments to speak to me, confirming the entry for the weekend would be a varied one and said as long as photographer Gary Chapman and I signed on the ‘officials’ sheet we could go anywhere.
Then his radio chirped up and he had to dash off to attend to one of the many things a course organiser has to deal with, and if you’ve ever been involved in setting out a scramble, trial or enduro then you’ll sympathise.
Before he had to dash he agreed to let us photograph his CZ though doubted he’d have time to talk to us about it.
CZ by 1973 were pretty much establishment in motocross, having burst on the scene a decade earlier to the surprise of the press, almost as an overnight success. The thing with an ‘overnight success’ is it often takes years to achieve and while the results and press of the early Sixties seem to portray CZ as instantly successful, newcomers to the company had been making motorcycles since the Thirties and already had a good track record in such events as the ISDT.
In this prestigious international contest, which was instigated to show how good production motorcycles were, CZ were extremely successful from 1947, with 15 wins up until 1982 and pretty much at the sharp end when they didn’t win.
Their first MX world championship in 1964, when Belgian Joel Robert took the 250cc crown, made the rest of the MX world sit up and take notice. Not only did Robert and CZ dominate the 250 series that year, there were five other CZS in the top 10 finishers. CZ were here to stay.
Their success in the smaller classes prompted riders to tackle the bigger classes too, which caused a bit of a fuss, as the idea of a lowly 250 daring to challenge the 500s was unthinkable… except they began to beat them because lightweight, adequate power and reliability is a winning combination.
Now, the riders of bigger bikes, certainly in the GP scene were not unfit, but if you start with a weight disadvantage then at the end of the GP when the flag is in sight the less tired you are the better you’re going to do.
This was not lost on either riders or organisers so the FIM introduced a minimum capacity for the 500cc class… so CZ responded with a bigger bike and carried on winning. It was Paul Freidrichs in the 500 class who ended Jeff Smith’s hopes of a third world title.
As the Seventies approached and indeed opened, CZ were still riding high as Freidrichs was putting his CZ in the top three in the world of 500cc MX and Joel
Robert had won two more 250 world championships – he would win again in 1970 but this time it was for Suzuki. The Japanese were on their way but for the time being CZ were still at the top and would carry on with Jaroslav Falta as their top rider.
It was some time after our photoshoot when we caught up with Colin Hill to see what was what with his CZ. We learned there’s been a bit of development gone on with the bike, as Ashley Wilson, the son of a friend of Colin’s, was now racing the bike and doing quite well on it.
But we wanted to know what the bike was like in our photos. Colin says: “On that day the bike was pretty much just as I’d bought it and I only bought it on a whim. I’d just sold a TRIBSA and there was space in the shed and the price was okay, so…”
How many readers are nodding their heads right now thinking ‘yes, been there, done that…’ “I bought it mainly because CZS hold their price, if you need to sell one someone is always ready to buy, especially as this motor’s been put together by Gerard Copping,” Colin tells me.
“He’s been right through the whole thing and it was as fresh as it’s possible to get a CZ, though to be fair there’s nothing really to go wrong with them.”
On the day we took our photos, Ashley hadn’t raced a bike for nearly two years, but jumped on this one when Colin said ‘fancy a go?’ and won three races straight out. The event at Woodford was the first time out for the bike, it had been standing unused for a while so there were a couple of adjustments to do to make sure it was working right – oh and a fork seal blew due to being old.
The 380 was pretty much the bigger version of what Jaroslav Falta was winning on in the 250 class and indeed Falta would have ridden a 380 too but he was focussed on the 250 championship.
The frame on this bike is standard, it’s a better bet than earlier frames which need a firm hand from the rider and the forks are production units from CZ which run in standard fork yokes too. Also standard is the swinging arm, though it’s controlled by YSS shocks from John Slenzak – John is a known name in YSS world and MX too, plus he’s local to Colin and helped set the suspension up.
Inside the engine is standard and Gerard Copping replaced things such as the big end and bearings throughout, the gear cluster is the original one… there’s been a few sets of chains and sprockets though. Not standard though is the Mikuni carburettor, it’s not that the Czech original is horrible it’s just not as good as the more modern Japanese Mikuni which was an option for works riders in the Seventies as well as an after-market tweak for privateers. Firing the mixture is an Electrexworld electronic ignition system which fires twin plugs for a better combustion path and a little more power.
CZ wheels are noted for being good, or at least the hubs are, as many a rider in the past has used them on other bikes. In the good old days European machines would be supplied with cheaper steel rims while the American racers would get alloy rims. Colin’s bike has alloy rims on and he’s not sure where they came from but look fairly common rims such as Akronts.
Colin is more sure of the tyres though: “Michelins, Tim, Michelins.” On the day Renthal alloy bars were fitted as most riders use one of the various bends
available from them and the rider’s preferred dog-leg levers control the clutch and the brake while Gunnar Gasser’s MX twistgrip gets that carb slide up to the top of the carb body pdq!
Though the four-speed gearbox is pretty bulletproof there are some mods which can be made to the gear change… a linkage from Pete Jerred bolts on the case and makes changing gear a lot faster less athletic.
“The original gear lever has so much travel the rider’s knee is almost up to their chin with the movement. Gerard Copping does a modified case option too.” Colin continues with: “there’s a glass fibre airbox to house the Twinair air filter, after market mudguards and a new seat foam under the original cover. I have EP90 gearbox oil in the cases, the clutch is dry and for twostroke mix I run Rockoil at 25:1 in Shell V-plus petrol.”
Realising my CZ knowledge is not vast, Colin also tells me the all-metal clutch has copper friction plates and though the unit runs dry the primary is wet.
Any ‘must do’s’ for maintenance or areas to be aware of? “No, not really, for club riders the CZ is pretty much unbreakable and has few real issues, it’s worth pointing out though if the engine has to be apart for any reason then change the selector spring as if it breaks then the engine has to come apart… again. It’s one of those things everyone who works on a CZ does as a matter of course, other than that it’s wash it off, oil the chain and air filter and keep racing.”