CZ

A Rare Bike

Here’s a rare one. Never-released CZ Observed Trials bike. Back in the early 1970’s, it was generally believed throughout the industry that Trials was going to be the “next big thing”. Requiring relatively little land, featuring low-impact on the environment, and representing very little in the way of noise issues, Observed Trials conceivably could have been the answer to many off-road issues. Combine that with very entry-level-friendly-type competition, low-maintenance requirements of the motorcycles utilized, and small, lightweight bikes utilized, there were suggestions that Trials could become as big as Motocross. As a result, virtually every manufacturer either introduced a Trials model, or at least worked at development of one. Apparently, CZ experimented a bit, and here is the result. Some quite-interesting features, here. Shouldered rims, alloy tank and fenders, and quite well-tucked-in exhaust system suggests this one had potential. However, Observed Trials never did generate the high level of interest which was hoped for, and after a couple of years only a few manufacturers continued producing specialized Trails machinery. That leaves this CZ as one of those what-if bikes, that never was. Our thanks to Wes Habermehl for locating this super-rare image.