ESO (motorcycles)

ESO
Founded	1949
Founder	Motorcycle racing rider Jaroslav Simandl
Defunct	1964
Fate	Taken over by Jawa
Headquarters	Divišov, Czech Republic
Products	Motorcycles
Parent	Jawa

Eso was a Czech motorcycle factory producing only racing machines from 1949 until 1964, when it joined Jawa. ESO was founded by a motorcycle racing driver Jaroslav Simandl, and made bikes in 250, 350, and 500 cc, primarily for speedway, moto-cross and ice racing.^[1]^[2] Engines were sourced from J.A.P. during the first year, and then an engine of ESO's own after 1950, first copied from J.A.P. and later of their own design.^[3] The factory produced a prototype microcar in 1959, The ESO-T-250. It had a fibreglass 2-seater body with many components from Jawa-CZ.^[4]

Notes

^ About company, JAWA Divišov, a. s., 2009, archived from the original on 2009-05-13, retrieved 2009-05-12, A motorcycle racing driver Jaroslav Simandl became founder of the company having transferred his tools workshop from the borderland to Divišov in 1948. By request of his co-drivers he raced with in 1949 in England at the six-day motorcycle race he began to manufacture in his workshop spare parts for JAP engine. A great demand for these parts made Jaroslav Simandl to build the complete JAP engine. The first engine of its proper own design was manufactured in 1950, it was a short stroke S 45 later named ESO. The engines soon began to be mounted into frames of own production there through a manufacturing of complete motorcycles ESO was begun. Motorcycles for motocross and road track races were also manufactured in Divišov in parallel with speedway motorcycles. In 1963, the Divišov plant was incorporated into concern JAWA Týnec nad Sázavou.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ Tragatsch, Erwin (1964), "E.S.O. Eso, Národní Podink, Divišov", The world's motorcycles, 1894-1963: a record of 70 years of motorcycle production, Temple Press, p. 54, CS 1949 to date. Only competition machines for speedway, moto-cross and road races come from this Czechoslovakian factory which concentrates on the manufacture of 250-, 350-, and 500-c.c. single-cylinder o.h.v. engines; in the last years for speedway and moto-cross only.
^ The Complete* Motorcycle Compendium - E -, Total Motorcycle.com, 2009, archived from the original on 21 July 2011, ESO Czechoslovakia, 1950 - 1963, In 1950 Jaroslav Simandl bought the rights and all of the spare parts from Josef Linhart for the JOLI engine, which was a copy of a JAP engine. They made speedway and ice racers. Taken over by Jawa in 1964
^ "On the Four Winds". The Motor Cycle. 103 (2948). London: Iliffe & Sons: 617. 10 December 1959.