Luxury Czech motorcycle debuts with sky-high price tag

Czech carmaker Praga has unveiled a limited-edition motorcycle that blends modern construction with historic styling. And it comes with an eye-watering price tag.

Presented at luxury car specialist Premier GT in the UK, the Praga ZS 800 is powered by a 773cc air-cooled parallel-twin engine and weighs just 142kg without fuel.

It is a homage to the 1928 Praga BD 500, and takes on a classic appearance, while not compromising on advanced engineering.

But it starts from €91,000 which equates to approximately $146,000AUD. That price will leave it in very limited company.

Only 28 hand-built examples exist, with 20 examples still available.

There is also a black carbon and gold special edition, which will sell for €98,800. There are only five of those within the 28-unit production run.

Designer and engineer Jan Žuži spoke about the inspiration for the ZS 800 and its unique features which include hand-woven carbon rims.

“From a young age I was truly inspired by Praga and the BD 500, a motorcycle which was very modern for its time and became an icon in Praga history for setting a new endurance record,” Žuži said.

“The understanding of complex, high-grade materials is at the heart of the ZS 800 project. We selected strong and extremely lightweight materials such as carbon, titanium, chrome molybdenum steel and aviation duralumin to make it possible to transfer the BD 500’s elegant historical design elements to the present day.”

In addition to the ZS 800, Praga also pulled the covers off a €1.43m and 700hp Bohema hypercar prototype, which is further confirmation of the brand’s exclusive status.

The Prague-based manufacturer was born in 1907 and originally produced cars, trucks and planes. It entered the motorcycle game in 1929 but has produced only a handful of models in the years since.

So far, the Praga ZS 800 is only available in Europe, with test rides taking place in the UK throughout June.