But now the Czech company is ready to capitalise on its heritage with a retro-styled 350 that harks back to 1960s iterations of the machine.

However, the new model isn’t a two-stroke twin – although that bike still remains in production, for sale only in certain parts of the world. It’s now a single-cylinder, 400cc four-stroke called the 350 OHC (overhead cam).

While we’re conditioned to think of multi-cylinder strokers as performance machines, that wasn’t the case with the old Jawa 350. In fact, the new single-cylinder four-stroke version, which uses a Chinese-made copy of Honda’s XR400 engine, makes more power than the original twin. Not that either has a lot; the new bike makes 20.4kW, up from 17kW for the old smoker.

It is far cleaner than its two-stroke look-alike, and able to meet modern emissions limits thanks to fuel injection. So the door is open to global sales.

The addition of ABS (yes, ABS on a Jawa!) means it also meets the other key element of Europe’s latest regulations.

Other breakthrough tech includes five speeds in the transmission, compared to the four gears the old model labours on with, and an electric starter with a back-up kickstart.

The new bike is relatively expensive in its home market, where at CZK99,930 (A$5630) it is 44 per cent pricier than the similar-looking two-stroke model.

Jawa has also applied similar 1960s-inspired styling to another new model, the 660 Vintage, which is derived from the existing 660 Sportard and uses the venerable Minarelli-made 660cc water-cooled single that’s fondly remembered from the Yamaha XT660 and Ténéré.

In its homeland the 660 Vintage is priced at CZK179,830 (A$10,100), the same as the Sportard with which it shares its mechanical parts.

  By BEN PURVIS