CLEOPATRA'S JAWA

 By Mario Mager

(Now with Thumbnails)

 (Based on a holiday in Turkey. October 1996)

  We landed in Antalya in the middle of the night. Despite the darkness I was still able to spot a Jawa 559 in one of the 36 petrol stations we passed on our way to Sidé. Sidé by the way is said to have been the location where Cleopatra and Anthony spent many romantic times. This is why I chose Cleopatra's Jawa, as the title to this story. Just a little reminder to readers of Torque, my articles on Turkey are in no way   intended to be anything but a Jawa maniac's view of Turkey, so those ordinary holiday nuts out there, do not expect explicit detail of any of the locations I mention. You will be able to glean quite a bit of information though, but in general, this is deliberately intended to be a "Maroon tinted spectacle view" of Turkey. There are of course many things to say about the lovely views and places we saw, but this is after all a JAWA-CZ Owners Club magazine, so my ramblings will be biased on the mechanical Sidé of our holiday! Sadie and myself will of course be more than pleased to relate to anyone asking, much more details about the places we visited in Turkey. So if you want to know more, just come along to the next National Rally, and Sadie and I will more than glad to "fill you in", and answer any questions regarding holiday locations in Turkey.

 Sidé turned out to be a very flat place indeed. In fact the one hour transfer journey was on an almost level and straight coastal road. I just do not know why there were so many petrol stations on such a length of road. We decided that the actual town centre of Sidé would be the first place to explore, as it was only a couple of miles down the road. So a couple of days later, off we went on the Dolmus (Turkish minibus) to explore Sidé. Sidé has recently been pedestrianised, so the Dolmus was not allowed into the town itself. We were dropped off on the outskirts of the town, where we hopped onto a tractor drawn trailer, which took us closer to the town. As we approached our drop off point, near the main entrance to the town, I was pleased to see an 559 parked up along the roadside. Now that's what I call a welcome! We enjoyed Sidé very much. There were tourist type shops off all sorts. You were really spoilt for choice for watches (all fakes!) and all manner of gold items. It was a women's paradise! I don't imagine for one minute that these shops were here when Anthony and Cleopatra came here, do you? But apart from that solitary Jawa, there were no others to be seen. Prestigious shopkeepers seldom ride Jawas to their gold shops! I noticed that nearby, that there was a large market town called Manavgat. In the past, I have always found market towns to be much better for hunting Jawa. So I planned a solo expedition to this nearby town, when the others wanted a lazy day by the pool.

 MANAVGAT

 Manavgat did turn out to be a much more interesting town. It has a large bus station, plenty of all sorts of shops, including shops that had tractors on show in their shop windows. The town was divided into two by a large river. There was a mass of riverboats anchored up on the banks, which were for tourist trips up the river, to see the sights. I started exploring the Sidé streets near and around the bus station. Within one hour I found a small shop which sold motorcycle parts! There was quite a few Jawa items on display, but as it seemed quite a small shop, I was determined to press on a try and find somewhere larger. There were quite a few interesting bikes to be seen parked up the streets. One of the most interesting, was a Chinese bike called a Xing Fu. The Xing Fu is a copy of the Indian Jawa copy, the Jawa Yezdi. So in fact the original Jawa 559 is the grandfather to this strange offspring. It still bears many similarities with it's ancestral Jawa. It is has 250cc single cylinder engine, with a twin port barrel. The unique kick-start gear lever mechanism, is also faithfully reproduced. It is a shame that we cannot find out much more information about these machines. If they have gone to all the trouble to make such Chinese copies, I wonder if they stuck to the same internal engine dimensions? If so, then China might be another source for spares for our ageing 559s! You need not worry that we don't more about these machines, as things like con-rods and many other parts are still readily available in Turkey, and will be for a long time to come.

I noticed a nice Jawa 640 "Style" outside a newsagent's shop. It was unusual by UK standards, as it was a "Silver Style". A colour not seen in the UK! I bought a wad of postcards from this shop, and enquired as to who owned the Jawa outside. By chance it was the shopkeepers bike! And by another remarkable chance, he spoke good English. Most of the shopkeepers in this area, I found spoke excellent German, as in general, most of the tourists were from Germany, so it is only natural for such shopkeepers to learn the lingo to assist their sales figures. I lost count how many times a shopkeeper would greet me in German! I used to get my own back by replying in Turkish! This would stop most of the shopkeepers dead in their tracks, as the Germans seldom learn even very basic Turkish phrases. You will be surprised at the favourable reaction you get in a foreign (to us) country when you use just a few simple native words. This particular shopkeeper said he speaks English, as he has a girlfriend in Sheffield! I showed him my photos of my old Jawa-559. He like many Turks, was most surprised to see photos of such a bike in the UK. I asked him, if there were any large Jawa shops in Manavgat, and could he direct me to it please. He said that there wasn't one in Manavgat, but there was one in Antalya! I got out my map of Antayla and asked him to indicate where the shop is located. Antalya is a large city, on a par with Manchester, so one would never be able to stumble down the right street by chance. He marked the street and also wrote down the name of the shop.

I decided, that as it was still early in the day, that I would waste no more time in Manavgat. I would hop on to a main route bus, and go to Antalya. I went back to the bus station, found the appropriate ticket office and purchased a ticket for Antalya.

ANTALYA

Antalya was indeed a very large and busy place. I disembarked from the bus and set about finding the right road. Just by chance, it was a very long main road, very close to the bus station. I set off heading west, in search of this mystical Jawa shop. Within about ten minutes walk from the bus station I stopped dead in my tracks by a very surprising sight! There on the pavement was a brand new Motorcycle, with the word "Satlik" (for sale) posted on it. This bike was a "Yezdi Classic". It was also interesting to note that it was advertised as a 1997 model! Now I was led to believe that the Yezdi plant in India had ceased producing such machines! This apparition proved otherwise! It was very similar to the Jawa-Yezdi road king, except it was in black and chrome. The old 559/360 style Jawa tank was fitted to it, and there was a considerable amount of chrome on it. The fork leg covers and the front mudguard were in chrome, and looked really smart. It looked very similar in many ways to the Czech built Jawa Chopper. It still retained though the modernised Indian built 250cc twinport engine, which boasts 12v electric's with electronic ignition. It really was a very smart machine. The only trouble was that it was far too large to fit into my suitcase! So after a taking a few photos, and after the surprise had worn off, I plodded on down this lengthy street to find the Jawa shop.    

I soon found a shop selling new Motorcycles. There was among the selection outside the shop, another Yezdi Classic. All the other bikes were either of the Turkish and japanese variety. I thought, that this surely could not be the shop I was looking for, so I plodded on into the distance. After I had walked about three miles, and the shops started to peter out , and where there was now many large hotels to be seen. I began to wonder if I was in the right street. I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket where I had the shop's name written down. I went up to a hotel gate guard and asked him if he knew where this shop was. He pointed back towards the city centre! So off I went back tracking my route, wondering how on earth could I have possibly walked past a shop full of Jawas!

 I ended up outside the motorcycle shop that I had previously seen. I compared the name on the piece of paper to that on the shop front. What a clot I was! This was in fact the shop that I was looking for! But it did not look anything like the Jawa shops that I had haunted in previous visits to Turkey! I went inside for a look around, but still, all I could see were new bikes. There was only the one Jawa-Yezdi outside. I asked a guy in the shop in my best Turkish, if he had any Jawa-Ogar exhausts. He shook his head with a negative gesture. I was not going to give up that easily! I spotted another chap, who looked more like a manager. I asked him the same question, but got the same response. I was determined to find out where I could get parts for older Jawas, despite this language problem. I them brought out my secret weapon. My photos of my 1973-Jawa-559. Now this got their attention! The next minute you know everybody who

worked in the shop had a good look through my collection of photos. They were no ordinary photos, as it was a collection of photos of the restoration of my bike, from "as found" to "as finished". I then managed to glean from the manager that he is in fact a "service agent" for Jawas, and only sells new machines, and only carries out warranty work. Spares were sold only through spares outlet shops. I got out my map and asked him to indicate where one of these shops could be found. This is where I began to feel faint. Guess where the Jawa spares shop was located? It was right behind the darned Bus station! Before I carried on toward the bus station, I decided that it was time to take a break and buy a nice cold drink, as I was quite hot, and cross with myself, for wasting so much time and energy! After my refreshing break. I set off towards the point marked on the map. Would this be the shop I was looking for? Or would it be another wild Goose chase?

 When I eventually found the shop, I was amazed at how close it was to the bus station! It was tucked away right behind it. It was in the opposite direction to that I had travelled earlier. It was till a hard shop to find, as it was quite a small corner shop. It was a "spares only" shop, and there wasn't any room outside the shop to sell any, even if he wanted to. It took me about ten minutes to be able to cross the road to actually get to it, as it was on a very busy junction. When I eventually got over to, and into the shop, it was crammed packed with motorcycle parts of all sorts of popular makes, which are commonly found in Turkey. I could see a lot of Jawa parts all around. I also noticed a lovely framed "60 Years of Jawa production" poster behind the manager's desk. I was very lucky here, as the dealer spoke just a little English. So with my few Turkish words, and his English, I was able to make him understand what parts I required. When we got stuck, I just showed my photos. Once again. My photos were an instant hit! I was sat down, and offered some Turkish tea, which is customary in most shops in Turkey. It is real relaxed way of shopping. As long as you didn't mind attending to other people while he was also working away to your own shopping list. But if you are in no hurry, who cares? I was in no hurry to leave. I must also point out, that that as the weather was so hot and sunny, I was sweating like a pig! A sit down in a shady shop was most welcoming.

 One of the most important items on my "wanted" list was a pair of silencers for my 1964 JAWA-354 project. The dealer said that he has some, and gave me a price. I couldn't see any in the shop though. He sent one of his colleges out to fetch them from somewhere. Where I don't know, but it was a full twenty minutes before he returned so I imagine that he must have had another storehouse somewhere, for the not so popular items. I got the silencers out of the box, so that I could put the brackets in my bag. I was surprised to notice a small dent in one of the silencers! When I pointed it out to the dealer he duly sent his pal off to change it for me. I am now glad that I did take them out of the box, as if I had only noticed this fault when I got back home in the UK, I would have been steaming! In all fairness though, this is the first time that I have come across a dent in new Turkish silencers, even with the ones we had posted over to the UK. But this is indeed a risk that one must take when one is buying something through the post. So all in all, it eventually was a successful day out. I had only to walk around the corner to the bus station to catch my bus. From the Bus station to Sidé was only a one hour journey. I was most happy to arrive back at the Hotel complex heavily laden with all the goodies that I had just purchased. I decided to finish the day of in style, that I would have couple a glasses of Turkish beer (Ephes Pilsen) in a local outdoor bar. So if any of you out there ever end up in Antayla, the Jawa parts shop is behind the Bus station!

 I will not bore you with the details of the actual holiday, like the baking hot sunny weather, the warm outdoor swimming pool, the topless German girls, the river cruises, the day trips out, the wonderful food, so for the purpose of this article, I will stick in general to a Jawa biased account of things.

 A couple of things I have not mentioned yet, was that I gleaned two interesting items of information from him. He told me that if I wanted to se lots of old type Jawas (559s) that I should visit Alanya. Alanya is about an hours journey from Sidé, but in easterly direction. So I asked Sadie, if she fancied a day out to explore Alanya. So the next day, we did in fact visit Alanya.

 ALANYA

 We hopped on a local Dolmus which was going to Alanya. As I said earlier, it was an hours trip to Alanya. As we approached Alanya, about five miles out I would guess, the coastal scenery was very exotic. There were Banana plantations on the roadside, with small stalls selling fresh Bananas. The beach was also very nice and sandy. Bit I look past these scenic points to notice, that I was beginning to see more and more old Jawas parked on the roadside. I soon gave up counting, as we soon saw one every few hundred yards. Things were looking good. If there were this many Jawas on the outskirts of Alanya, how many would I see in the town itself? The Dolmus eventually came to a halt near the harbour front. Alanya was indeed a very pretty place. It had a harbour full of boats. Beyond that, was a beach that went as far as the eye could see. On a mountainous peninsular, there was a ancient Castle overlooking the bay of Alanya. The Castle along, I think would have taken a day to explore. Sadly, we were only here for a day's visit. so we would be unable to explore as much as we would have liked. This day, was also very close to the end of our stay in Turkey. We had several day trips planned in the next few days, so we regarded this visit as more of a reconnaissance mission. It took only a hour for Sadie and I to realise that Alanya was indeed a very beautiful place. We found that not only were the prices in the shops to be much cheaper, but more of the shopkeepers spoke English to us as we approached their shops, as opposed to German! But how was Alanya in the eyes of a Jawa nut? It was truly fabulous. There was literally an old Jawa in every single street we walked down!

At first, I thought that someone must have been moving a particular bike around each corner as we walked along, as each old Jawa we saw seemed to fitted with white footrest and twistgrip rubbers! What I regarded as an oddity, turned out to be a local trend. Nearly every Jawa I saw, had these unusual white items fitted to them. Some even had yellow twistgrips fitted to them. One can only assume, that the Jawa owners in Alanya liked bright colours! We walked along the harbour front toward the harbour. Parked by the main harbour area, was a mass of Motorcycles. Believe it or not. They were all Jawas! There was even a Yezdi Classic there. One weird bike was an old Jawa 559 fitted with a huge Sidecar! It was so huge, that it had a bench seat, so that it's passengers could sit side by side! How on earth this bike hauled such a chair, goodness only knows! So it was time once again to overheat my camera. As I was doing this Sadie, said "One of these days, someone is going to come out from somewhere, and ask you for money for photographing his bike!". I said that if such an event occurred, that I would simply show him my "International Jawa Passport", (my own Jawa photos) and all would be explained. I have never ever had anyone object to me photographing a Turkish Jawa in all of our visits to Turkey. The Turks are just not like that!

 CONCLUSION

As a holiday , this was our third I Turkey. It was truly the best we have had so far! The location and hotel were superb. The food first class. Each time we came to Turkey, we seem to have found a better place. Our conclusion was that ALANYA was such a beautiful place, that Sadie and I want to base our next Turkish holiday, actually in Alanya. No doubt, if we do, I will be able to film miles of footage of Jawa scenes with my Camcorder. But what about those mysterious Indian and Chinese Jawas? Should I pop over to China or India to give Torque subscribers an accurate account of the source of these related machines? THE END

© Mario Mager