The two-wheeler industry is home to millions of motorcycles around the world. But no matter how deep you scour, you’ll only find a few common engine configurations - inline four, V4, V-twin, parallel twin - spread across the masses, and with good reason. After all, mass production of motorcycles comprises multiple steps, and the more complex the construction, the costlier the product will be. However, when it’s an individual creating a product just for the fun of it, the limits vanish and, as a result, we often see mind-bending projects coming to life. Case in context today is a custom Jawa motorcycle with 10 cylinders, built by Czech engineer Marek Foltis. And it's road-legal too!
The Custom Motorcycle Is Based On A 1953 Jawa 250 Type 11 Perak
Foltis' obsession with pushing motorcycle boundaries started young, as he built a jet engine for his Jawa moped aged just 17. Since then, he’s graduated as an engineer and has been working professionally in the field, all of which helped him bring his second project - a 10-cylinder rotary engine motorcycle - to life. The build began as a 1953 Jawa 250 Type 11 Perak, a motorcycle Foltis chose so he could keep the final product in line with Czech norms.
These norms only allow one major motorcycle part to be customized, and as you can guess, Foltis chose the engine. It’s easily the most interesting engine we’ve seen in a long time and not just because of the 10-cylinder configuration, but also its construction. You see, Foltis has used ten 50cc engines from Jawa 21 mopeds to create a 500cc, two-stroke mill that boasts 10 pistons (and cylinders) stacked in a radial, twin-star shape.
The engine casing, crankshaft, roots blowers assembly, and master conrods are all CNC’ed by Foltis himself, while the cylinders, pistons, slave rods, transmission case, and clutch are all stock Jawa parts. Besides this, there are truckloads of hand-crafted parts too, including the octopus-like exhaust. Concurrently, the two-star layout gives the motorcycle its name - Bistella - meaning two stars in the Czech mother tongue.
The Bistella 500 Can Breach 200kmph
So what is all this good for? Well, according to Marek’s calculations, the Bistella 500 can produce a maximum of 120 horsepower that can propel it to 220kmph (136mph). This isn’t something the maker recommends, though, considering the wheels, brakes, chassis, and suspension are all bone-stock from the 1953 model, which surely can’t withstand such performance. In fact, Foltis has limited the motorcycle’s power to just 12 horsepower for road use. Talk about putting a leash on a beast!
The Bistella 500 may be an engineering marvel, but it also has a deeper meaning. In the 2.5 years of building this, Foltis faced unlimited challenges, and the engine blew up five times before he finally got it right. So his message with this project is to keep going and never give up, no matter what the challenge. More importantly, he hopes to inspire others to push themselves to achieve whatever they want to and conquer their inside dragons (self-doubt, fear, and false excuse).