Frantisek Janecek began the company after a career in the armament industry, selecting the Wanderer 500cc motorcycle design after evaluating alternatives from Puch and Schliha. The collapse of the German motor industry following the First World War meant Wanderer had ceased production. The first Jawa motorcycle, a 500cc four-cycle machine producing 18 horsepower, was introduced on 23 October 1929.
The economic recession of the early 1930s prompted a shift to cheaper, lighter machines. The 1932 introduction of the Jawa 175 — a 70kg motorcycle producing 3.6 kilowatts and capable of 80 km/h — was an immediate commercial success, selling over 3,000 units in its first year and eventually reaching a total of 27,535 units before production ended in 1946.
By the 1950s, Jawa's 250 and 350cc motorcycles featured compact engines, rear suspension, and numerous innovations that enabled export to more than 120 countries. The best-known model was the 350 Perák, and in the 1970s the 350 Californian. The distinctive black and red colour scheme made Jawa motorcycles recognisable from the United States to New Zealand.
In the early 1960s, Jawa invented the first automatic centrifugal clutch for motorcycles, designed for the 250/559 and 350/360 models. This innovation was later replicated by Honda in the Honda 50 Cub without licence, resulting in Honda retreating from that design, paying a fine, and paying Jawa a licence fee for each motorcycle sold.
Production milestones reflected the brand's scale: the millionth Jawa motorcycle was produced in 1964, the two millionth in 1976, and the three millionth in 1987.
Jawa's motorsport record was substantial and historically unique among Eastern European manufacturers. In track racing, Jawa maintained a presence in the FIM Road Racing World Championship through the mid-1960s, achieving respectable results given the company's limited budget relative to Western manufacturers. In motocross, Jawa built an impressive competitive record until four-stroke engines were superseded in the discipline by two-stroke machinery.
In speedway, dirt-track, and ice racing — disciplines where four-stroke engines retained an advantage — Jawa became and remained a dominant force. Multiple Speedway World Champions rode Jawa machinery, including Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Ove Fundin, Ole Olsen, Michael Lee, Tony Rickardsson, and Kelvin Tatum.
In 1962, Jawa amalgamated with ESO, which produced speedway motorcycles, further consolidating the racing side of the business. The competition motorcycle operation eventually became a separate company following the privatisations accompanying the fall of communism in the early 1990s.
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the transition away from the communist economic model led to the separation of Jawa's consumer motorcycle and speedway competition divisions into distinct companies. A successor consumer company, Jawa Moto, was formed in 1997 in Tynec nad Sázavou, continuing the Jawa brand. In the 1990s and 2000s, Jawa Moto produced machines powered by 650cc Rotax engines across three variants: the Classic, Style, and Dakar, the last being a full-scale enduro in the manner of the Honda XL Transalp. The Jawa 660 succeeded the 650 series between 2011 and 2018.
Jawa had a significant presence in India through a licensed partnership. Ideal Jawa India Ltd, based in Mysore, produced licensed Jawa motorcycles beginning in 1960 under the Jawa brand and from 1973 under the name Yezdi, continuing until 1996. The brand accumulated a cult following in the Indian market.
In October 2016, Mahindra and Mahindra, through its subsidiary Classic Legends, signed a licensing deal to launch motorcycles under the Jawa brand in India and other East Asian markets. Classic Legends launched three models in November 2018 — the Jawa 300, the Forty-Two, and the Perák — all manufactured in Pithampur. Despite COVID-19 disruptions, Jawa sold 50,000 motorcycles in twelve months in India. An Indian-adapted version of the Jawa 300 CL began export to the Czech Republic in autumn 2020.
Jawa's historical significance rests on two foundations: its commercial reach as one of the most widely exported European motorcycle brands of the mid-twentieth century, and its sustained motorsport activity as the most prolific Eastern European competitor in international racing. The speedway legacy in particular, with multiple world champions riding Jawa machinery across decades, represents an achievement without parallel among manufacturers from behind the Iron Curtain.