The new Laurin & Klement Slavia B Cafe Racer Design Study is a one-off concept payingtribute to the company’s legacy. Read on for more details
Before making cars, the Czech marque was known for making bicycles and motorcyclesunder the Laurin & Klement nameplate
Romain Bucaille, one of Skoda’s designers, is behind the modernisation of one of thebrand’s most iconic motorcycles from over a century ago.
The Laurin & Klement Slavia B, which has now been imagined as an electric cafe racer, hasan ultra-futuristic design that makes it look like it’s come out of a science-fiction movie
These include a horizontal LED headlamp, a wide fuel tank, low-set handlebar, a floatingseat, and a leather tool bag housed underneath the seat. The engine bay area of the oldmotorcycle, where the engine was located inside the frame, has now been left empty, featuringa floating Laurin and Klement logo.
Skoda had provided it with a 240 cc air-cooled single-cylinder engine tuned to produce1.75 bhp, having a top speed of 40 kmph
The Laurin & Klement Slavia B motorcycle was revealed in 1899 and soon after, in 1901, itwas part of a three-day long 1,196 km race (from Paris via Aachen and Hanover to Berlin), giventhe founders of the company - Václav Laurin and Václav Klement – were big racing fans.
Given the fame the motorcycle got from the race, Skoda did manage to sell 540 units ofthe Slavia B in Mladá Boleslav by 1904